Date: 2009-04-09
From: Fontana Dam, NC

To: Russell Field Shelter, NC
Miles today: 13.5
Weather: broken clouds

Jeff drove Kuz and I back to the Fontana Dam Visitor's Center a little after 8 this morning. The sun was shining and it looked like a beautiful day. Jeff pointed out the fire tower that we would pass sometime during the day. When we arrived at the Dam, Kuz was gone in a flash to the visitor's center to take some pictures of the dam I suppose. I walked across the dam and the lake was like a mirror and showing some awesome reflections of the mountains on its surface. I took some pictures. After crossing the dam, the trail followed an asphalt road for about a mile. Then it headed up. The trail up to Shuckstack Mountain was actually in pretty good shape. I didn't see much snow and it wasn't very muddy. I got passed by numerous hikers throughout the morning. I made it to the fire tower on Shuckstack Mountain around 11:30. I climbed to the top and climbed up on the roof. The ladder to the roof was a little short and I almost wasn't tall enough to get up there. But I eventually figured out how to get up there and the views were awesome. I could see for miles in every direction and it was neat to see Fontana Lake and the dam where I started this morning. After leaving the tower, the trail started to become a muddy mess. In some places it was still covered in snow, but the many hikers in front of me had made tracks and made it a little easier to get through. It became extremely slushy in spots. In other places, it was a muddy, soupy mess. It was very hard to walk through. I got passed by Circuit Rider (I called him Short Circuit earlier Oops) and Sherlock again. When I turned around Sherlock was running down a hill. I thought he was crazy, but he said that he started sliding and didn't think he could stop. They said hey and commented that every time they see me I have a different hat on and then they were gone. I arrived at the Mollie Ridge Shelter at 3:30 and a ridge runner was there encouraging all the early arrivals to go to the next shelter. He said they had 27 hikers at that shelter last night with everybody leaving Fontana after the snow. He said the hard part of the hike was over and the next shelter was an easy hour and fifteen minutes away. I looked at my data book and decided that I could do the 2.5 miles, so off I went. I have to make a comment about the gnats that drove me crazy today. They just buzz around and get in my ears, eyes and nose. All I could do was put my buff down on my ears to at least keep the buzzing noise away. The last 2.5 miles was just more soupy mud. I did a lot of flailing around trying to keep my balance. In places the mud was extremely deep. It took me longer than an hour and fifteen minutes, but I finally made it. There were several hikers here and they'd had actually hiked through the snow earlier in the week. They said it was easier to hike through the snow then through the soupy trail we walked today. I am once again with a whole different group of hikers. There is a father and son from Loveland, OH who are section hiking for a couple of days. Timothy, the young boy, seems to be having a good time building a fire and roasting marshmallows. I am glad we had good weather today. Tomorrow's forecast is once again calling for rain.