Date: 2009-04-27
From: Fontana Hilton

To: Spence Field Shelter
Miles today: 16.7
Weather: clear sky

Leaving the ¢Fontana Hilton¢ shelter was sad, but we couldn¢t wait to hit the Smokies. As soon as we woke up, we headed to the Fontana Dam Welcome Center to drop our backcountry permits into the drop box. For every single person heading into the park, a backcountry permit is necessary. It is the park¢s way of keeping tabs on who is staying where and how many people are entering into the park. For thru-hikers, reservations at the shelters are not required, but this means that if a regular hiker comes through and does have a reservation, then a thru-hiker must relinquish his/her spot and tent up for the night. Pilgrim was already at the Fontana Dam, as he was there to use a payphone in order to speak with the Dean of Admissions at Wake Forest Law School. And, he got in! So, congrats to Pilgrim! He is going to have to maintain his true allegiance to Duke, though. From the welcome center, we trekked across the dam and up a gravel road, where we saw the famous sign letting us know that we were entering Great Smoky Mountains National Park ¢ the most visited park in the country. The initial climb was pretty drastic, raising 3,200 ft. in just under three miles. By now, our legs were strong and well rested for the steep climb, so it wasn¢t as bad as we initially thought it would be. Belding and I tried to belt some Scottish and Irish tunes on the way up, but we kept getting winded and were unable to keep up with singing and climbing at the same time. Pilgrim managed to catch up to me and Ninja and kept flying through. The three of us hiked the next little while together, passing through various gaps and balds and two shelters. The black flies were absolutely merciless yet again, biting and gnawing at our skin in the noonday sun. The sun was hot as can be and we were sweating bullets, stinking like hell almost immediately. So much for the shower we took the day before. The second shelter that we came to had a bear cage all across the front of it to prevent bears from getting in. It looked really dirty and creepy. There have been many bear reports in the past that these types of shelters attract bears because hikers believe that the cage will preclude them from hanging up their food. Instead, the bears come straight up to the cage and hikers have the tendency to feed them from within the cage (imagine a shark cage), which is just the wrong thing to do. After this shelter, the views were not as beautiful as before, but the mountain flowers were spectacular! White, violet, and even small yellow daffodils. Beautiful! We arrived at the Spence Field Shelter at 4:30, a pretty respectable hiking day of 16.7 miles. Our legs were feeling pretty good. One hiker, named One Hand, was already in the shelter when we arrived. One Hand is a late 40¢s PE teacher from San Diego, California out here on a section hike. He¢s one of the nicest guys I¢ve met while out on the trail. His name comes from when he was descending into Hiawassee and tripped, placing his hand out to brace his fall. Snap! Before he knew it, he had two fractured fingers and needed to get set up with a make-shift cast/split. His injury did not deter his love of nature and willingness to press on, which just shows a little bit of his congenial character. Yet again, I was starving at dinner time, eating Hawaiian Chicken and Rice with a pack of almonds, my Endurox, and a cache of Jelly Belly¢s. Pilgrim even passed me the extras of his mashed potatoes, but I was still HUNGRY!Moe just arrived in the shelter, bringing her bubbling personality to the well-being of the inhabitants of the shelter. We are hoping for either a 14-mile day or a 20 mile day tomorrow. Looking forward to it.