  We discuss how long strings can arise at the stretched horizon and how they
can account for the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy. We use the thermal scalar field
theory to derive the asymptotic density of states and corresponding stress
tensor of a microcanonical long string gas in Rindler space. We show that the
equality of the Hagedorn and Hawking temperatures gives rise to the tree-level
entropy of large black holes in accordance with the Bekenstein-Hawking-Wald
formula.
