Date: 2014-04-13
From: fontana dam

To: spence field shelter
Miles today: 16.8
Weather: broken clouds

Sunday, April 13: day 15Walking into the smokies. Canadians, atl runners, nice weather. Started from the dam, went up fire tower - 4 high school kids, not a lot of water, lots of hills with a heavy pack. Must eat more food. Starting to Think about the food I miss - Chinese, ribs, stuff with lots of fat and grease, buff is an essential hikers tool, platypus still leaking. Started the day out at dawn, like most days, but today I ate breakfast to lighten my load before the Smokies. Apple, orange, granola bar, 3 oatmeal packets, & sausage. Pretty good breakfast and a good load lightener. Took off after breakfast over the dam and into the Smokies. The beginning walk into the smokies was a pretty strange thing. Walked in on an access road and into a off shoot parking lot. A couple cars were already parked and a small path to the left with a small sign denoted the beginning of the trail in the Great Smoky Mountains. I dropped my permit in the hiker box in the side of the trail and started up a long climb to 5000 feet. I immediately got overtaken by 4 day hikers, I felt bad about it but them shrugged it off. I'm carrying 35-40 lbs and they have 5lbs of granola bars, sandwiches, and water bottles. Up and up I went. Climbing higher and higher into the mountains. Hill after hill. I passed a couple of guys who got up earlier than me in Fontana Dam and then took it a but easier. Lots more hills and elevation to climb, don't over exert yourself. Finally saw where the day-hikers were going to - a ranger tower. I laid my pack at the bottom of the hill to the tower and climbed up to the tower. At it's base was and old chimney, probably from and old station, now just a fire watch tower stands in its place. Climbed to the top where the 4 high school day-hikers were and saw the gorgeous view. A great opening view to the Smoky Mtns! Jutting peaks and overlapping mountains as far as the eye could see. Can't wait to climb over some of those great peaks!As the day wore one my pack got heavier and heavier. Dang, I need to eat more meals, if only to lighten my load. As the miles wore on, I started too think about all the food I'm finally starting to miss. Ribs, and burgers. Chinese food from 3G's party (oh that stuff would be so good now, I should have eaten more!) and all the fatty, greasy foods and snacks that you can grab at the grocery store but aren't supposed to. All those were running through my mind and my stomach. As it got later in the day, the one hiker item that I've used daily but never really thought that much about has been my Buff. It's been way more invaluable than I ever thought. I've used it as a bandana, neck warmer, pot holder, sweatband, & even a wash cloth. It's been the one thing I'd add to my essential gear list from now on on hikes. It's that crazy beneficial. Walked past the first shelter of the Smokies but talked to a nice ridge-runner (volunteers who help notify the rangers of the trafficking the trails and he'll enforce "trail laws"). As I finished the days hike into a shelter area (you have to camp in a shelter, if there's room) called Spence Field. It was a beautiful area surrounding the shelter. Old trees, maybe even apple trees, and grass surrounded the area. The first beautiful meadows of the whole trip. And even as you walked into the shelter area you walked under an arch of old trees. Pretty stunning first night's residence. As I stopped I noticed I'd caught up with the Atlanta runners, and an older hiker named Tom (who I met a few days before), and even the Michigan family that I met slack-packing a couple days ago. As we were finishing up dinner, 7 crazy Canadians came running down the hill and took the whole camp site over. Chaos. But it was alright after a bit. Got to end and talked to Earth Mother before bed. Nice girl, 24, dreadlocks, from Chattanooga, ER nurse. Chatty girl. Went to bed after a quite lengthy conversation, in hiker terms. Bedtime 9:30