Back To Glamping

Day 137

Monday August 7, 2017

Miles: 1481.0 - 1493.0

Time: 7:00am - 3:15pm

Weather: Cool Morning, drizzle then rain

What in the world is happening to Shortcake and myself? We are back to glamping. Two days on the trail after our zero and we find ourselves back in the lap of hiker luxury. A little rain and we were scrambling for options to get out of the woods.

14.7 miles was our POD (plan of the day). At mile twelve we were almost wet and had choices. I say almost wet because we had donned our rain gear that was working nicely. So, we could call the local trail hostels, stealth camp illegally, or hike on in the rain up over Mt. prospect then down a steep slippery side trail to a shelter 4 miles away getting us in about 7pm. The first option would have us dry and showered by 4pm. It was a no brainer.

Our first option was full so we settled for the Bearded Woods Hostel run by Hudson and Big Lou. Once here we realized it wasn't a "settle for" by any chance. Wow! This place is so charming and the owners so hospitality. I am glad we decided to get out of the rain. Our faith in hostels has just been redeemed. 

Screened in dining patio. 

The attention to detail here is impeccable. It's scattered with Appalachian trinkets but not too much to feel cluttered. I love the license plates, one from each state the trail passes through. 

Why is it when we have a bad experience we tend to assume that anything else in that same field will result in the same outcome? Shortcake and I had some not so nice outings at other establishments so we try to avoid them like the plague. If we wouldn't have bent our own rule of no more hostel stays we would have missed this gem.

Hopefully this will be a lesson learned for me on not being so set in my ways. It's so easy to get a particular thing in my head and stick to it. It's a little harder to be flexible. In being flexible we can go with the flow and might actually change our thinking for the better. Wish me luck on that one. 

Happy Hiking.