We spent the day in Hot Springs, where the talk of the town is the wildfire and arson. Leftovers from last night’s burrito bash made for another free meal at breakfast! The hostel was booked tonight so instead we are at the local campground. Lots of hikers are here and the talk of this town is a nearby dumpster full of beer. (It’s expired or a local business closed?) The dumpster has been locked but that hasn’t seemed to stop anyone, there is beer everywhere. From our spot on the river we can see the mountain burning. Tomorrow we will have to get a shuttle past the section of closed trail, so about 14 miles up. It’s disappointing but fortunately this is an are we will be coming back through after we finish, so it should be easy to take a day and do the segment we have to bypass.
Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, Continental Divide Trail, and Beyond
Hiking Hammonds 
I think you should stay until the beer is gone, then hopefully the trail is open again and you can hike on. Before you started, did you not make a rule stating not to move on if there is free beer?
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Wow, things are getting exciting. A 14 mile shuttle ride sounds good to me….. Ha ha
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I am with Kelly. It seems like something of a crime to leave beer, especially free beer behind. I think waiting the fire out and drink till the beer is gone is a good R&R strategy too. Paul needs time for his feet to heal….hey maybe he can soak his feet in the beer?
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Can you even visualize hundreds of cases of beer, thousands of beers all for free. It was a 3 day shitshow.
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Dumpster full of beer
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