Spending the Night at Standing Bear Hostel

This morning we slept in as late as we wanted to at Standing Bear. We’re planning on getting to Hot Springs tomorrow and staying there. And it’s only 30-40 miles away from here. So if we leave too early today we’ll practically get all the way there by the end of the day. Which means we can sleep in and have a chill day!

Eventually I got up and moving. Then ate some leftover pizza for breakfast and made a hot mocha. There were also a bunch of leftover strawberries and whipped cream so I snacked on those. We had a good bit of food to get through before heading out. And I know I’m going to be packing out a ton of goodies to eat today as well.

Last night around 9-10pm two guys showed up at the hostel who I actually recognized. They both were on the AT in 2023 and came down to help out with some of the Helene efforts. The hurricane did major damage to the trail and local towns north of here. There is still alot of work to be done and it’s great to see previous hikers coming out to assist.

Those guys were still hanging out the next morning too and got a fire going. It was so nice to eat breakfast and chill by a fire for a bit! This is the true AT experience out here. We spent last night sitting by a fire and here we are, at it again. This sure is luxury.

Later on in the morning Jarred came and hung out with us. Then showed us around the property a bit. They have really been trying to get Standing Bear in tip top shape and “turn it around”. As it got a pretty bad rep over the years. But with Jarred there I think the 2025 season should be great. He really cares about the place and wants it to be the best possible experience for hikers.

The adorable little quails at Standing Bear! Jarred raised them from eggs.

They have chicken coops and quail on the property, so we got to check those out too. Then he showed us a geo dome that he’s been building. The ceiling is glass so you can sleep in there and look up at the stars! That’s going to be an epic place to stay once it’s open soon.

I think Standing Bear will be a great stop for the Nobo bubble coming through soon! We sure had an amazing experience there. But I think spending the night at Standing Bear with basically no other hikers there is a one in a million experience. It was so nice to just be able to chill out and do our own thing. I have a feeling a lot of the hostels are going to be like that as we continue north. Which will be a very unique experience. When I came through here before everything was slamming busy with the bubble. It’s a completely different journey this time.

The iconic AT marker at the top of our first climb of the day.

As the morning went on we slowly got packed up. I went through my boxes that I got delivered to Standing Bear. Bowl&Kettle sent me 6 meals which I’m so excited to eat! The last box was absolutely delicious so I’m stoked to have some more. I also got a bunch of Japanese and Korean candy, and a pistachio filled chocolate bar. So this should be a fun section!

I packed out two delicious oranges thanks to Popeye! And ate them as we walked today.

Just after 10am we were good to go and said by to Jarred. Then walked back down the road to where the AT picked back up. We had a long climb coming out of there, which was a surprise to me. I don’t really check the maps that often so I didn’t realize that there was a 4+ mile climb. Checking doesn’t really change anything though, so I don’t always care to know. We’re climbing the mountains either way!

I also packed out 3 pieces of pizza! I probably ate more food on trail today than I have all year.

The climb was graded pretty well and I was feeling really strong. After feasting last night I was good to go. I probably took down 4,000 calories last night alone. The half gallon of chocolate milk was about 2,000 calories just by itself! That’s why it’s been my secret weapon this year. So the climb felt pretty easy as we made our way up to the top. Then we enjoyed some brief downhill before beginning the climb up to Max Patch.

Climbing up out of Standing Bear.

The climb up to Max Patch came in waves. It started pretty steep and then leveled out for miles. Then toward the end it got steep once more. Before once again leveling out as you made your way up onto the wide open field of grass that is Max Patch. As always, the area was wildly windy once we got up higher! Last time I was here it was super windy and the visibility was pretty low. This time the wind was freezing cold, but the skies were bright blue with 360 degree views. We passed some day hikers on our way up. Which were the only hikers we’d seen all day. I have a feeling the trail is going to be quite quiet from here on out. We’ve gotten way out ahead already of the small bubble of hikers. Over the last week we have passed hikers whose starting numbers were between 40-60. I was number 212, so it seems like we’re close to the front now.

Climbing up over Max Patch.

We made our way across Max Patch pretty quickly because of the wind. It was super cold up there and now we had about 6-7 miles of downhill to go. So I threw on my wind layer to stay warm for the leisurely descent. On our way down we passed a couple more section hikers. Then made our way toward Lemon Gap, where the trail would begin climbing again.

I knew we had about a mile of climbing to get up to the next high point. There’s a shelter up there that we were contemplating staying at. But when we arrived there was another hiker set up inside. His name was Guido and if I recall he said he was hiker #22! We’ve gained on a whole lot of people these last 10 or so days. But starting out in early to mid January must have been brutal. There was a ton of snow and a lot more bad weather rolled in over the weeks. So it would have been very slow going.

The views off of Max Patch today.

After getting to the shelter we decided to go a bit further. There would have been plenty of room inside, but it was a pretty cramped shelter. The capacity was probably 4 people max. So we let him enjoy his space and decided to head down the hill and begin the next climb up to Bluff Mountain. There was supposed to be a tent site about half way up the climb.

It felt good to move uphill because it was so cold out. I had taken my layers off for the next climb which felt great. But then after hanging out and chatting with Guido at the shelter I cooled down quickly. We stopped off for water before camp and then continued along. Getting to the tent site a little ways before dark. It wasn’t the best site in the world. The spots were pretty slanted. But we figured the next site up would be even more exposed to the wind. Which was whipping pretty hard already at this point.

I got my tent set up but it was a pretty rough pitch. The site wasn’t level at all, but I made do! It would work for a night like tonight. Especially since we’re not supposed to get any rain. Once I was set up I boiled water and made a Bowl&Kettle meal for dinner. The chicken tikka masala is my favorite one. The chicken is charred before it’s dehydrated so the flavor is unreal.

After dinner I was still feeling snacky so I got into some candy. The Asian assorted candy that I got has been very fun to try. Just about every piece is different which is exciting!

This is one of my favorite pieces of candy that I’ve tried so far out of my Asian assorted bag. It tasted like sweetened condescend milk.

By the time the sun went down it was absolutely freezing out. Definitely already into the low 20s. It going to be one cold night out on this mountain! Today we did about 7,000 feet of gain over just 21.7 miles. But it didn’t feel nearly as hard as it sounds. The climbs were gradual enough, and the steeper pushes came and went. Now we’re only about 12 miles from Hot Springs.

The owner of a place in town called the Mushroom Cottage is going to let us stay the night tomorrow. Laughing Heart used to be the main hostel in town. But it sold last year and the new owners don’t want to be a hostel anymore. Which is too bad. Because that was the spot for hikers! But the Mushroom Cottage seems like it wants to fill that void and help out hikers anyway they can. I’m excited to see the place, which is only just down the road from Laughing Heart, about .3 miles down the road to the right. Rather than turning left toward the center of town. It will be nice to have a place available for hikers when the bubble comes through! Hot Springs definitely needs all the hikers to stay and spend money in town to keep the town afloat after Helene.

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