april 10 - vomit and feces everywhere

"Vomit and feces everywhere" was part of the warning we found by the first shelter we came to. The epidemic is seemingly getting worse. The hostel got a call in the morning from the appalachian trail conservancy that between hot springs and erwin, there have been many sick hikers, or so ive been told. I havent seen any sick hikers yet. Seems theyre always a day ahead or behind. Though im happy not seeing them myself. Getting sick out here would suck. It was a late start out of the hostel. We hung out by the shop for a while before we left. Ma started to warm up to me when i went to pay and she saw that im a lefty. She gave me some cayenne peppers grown in the garden there, and told us about when she used to hike on the trail. We thanked her and left. There wasnt enough space in the car so Marc drove the girls back to the trail while me and dumptruck started walking . Apollo had left before, and was almost by the trail by the time marc came and picked me and dumptruck up and drove us to the trail too. We said goodbye, marc thanked us for helping him. It was alot of fun though, and we didnt mind doing it for the free stay. We began hiking, planning on about 12 miles. I saw a snake while we hiked. Whistle said it was a ribbon snake. She has a degree in biology and knows alot about reptiles, amphibians, and especially bugs. We had only gone 4 or 5 miles when another hiker ran back the trail to tell everyone that the trail is closed up ahead. There was a controlled burn planned. Thats when the rangers purposely start forest fires to help the forest grow better. They say it helps. So we went as far as where the ranger was, then took a side trail to a campsite on a hill that was cvered in hay. From there we had a view of the burn, and were able to seee fires on a mountainside across the vally. There was alot of garbage on the hill though. It seems to be a popular place for locals to come, and many cars came through during the night. The rangers also sent a car full of waterbottle to give them out to hikers. After we ate dinner, we sat on the side of the hill and watched the sunset. It began to get very windy after the sun went down, so we went to our tents and had an early night. The plan was to wake up early and do a long day of hiking.