Date: 2005-04-02
From: Fontana

To: Fontana
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

4.2.05Day 2012:25pm I'm fast becoming a permanent resident of Fontana Village. I can't seem tohelp myself. There's this invisible cord wrapped around my waist (either that, orsomeone put a giant magnet in my pack), yanking me back every time I think I'veescaped. The nasty weather system that the meteorologists kept forecastingyesterday finally rumbled in around 11pm, thunder growling and lightning flashing. And rain. Lots and lots of rain. Any doubts I may have retained aboutspending another night in Fontana were alleviated then and there. And the rainhasn't stopped yet. It was coming down steadily this morning, when I finally got up-- I wallowed in the luxury of sleeping in until 7! Positively scandalous. I metup w/ the whole gang of hikers at breakfast, where I watched the fallingprecipitation indecidedly shift from rain, to snow, and back again. Lover-ly. But,I was so eager to get hiking again, I didn't care. Hiking in the snow is actuallypreferable, i!n my opinion -- not as wet as rain. So, following a meal of french toast andpotatoes, I headed down to the post office to see if my elusive pole from Leki hadarrived. I encountered Jax, sitting outside of the laundromat, wringing out histent. "Got a little wet last night," was his understatement of the day."How's the trail coming down from NOC?" I asked."Pretty awful," was the reply. "I'm just waiting for the post office to open."Glancing at my watch, it was after 8:30. "It isn't open yet?""No, it's Saturday."Sh#t. Guess I won't be getting my pole today after all. This incident brings tomind something Pittsburgh, the Georgia AT shuttle driver, said. He told us thathe'd like to take one day a week off, like Wednesdays, but that "hikers never knowwhat day of the week it is. They'd be standing around, wondering where I was." Well, case in point. The Saturday PO hours foiled my plans. So, sighing, I headedto the registration building, to check out. Again. I ran into Gray Walrus andPathfinder, who I first met in Franklin. When I asked about trail conditions,coming into Fontana -- "Pretty awful." Hmmm. Sounds familiar. "It's really muddy,and slippery. And wet." Yep, the rain was still falling. Bu, I resolutely handedmy key over to Donna at the front desk, and tossed my pack in the shuttle. At themarina, I disembarked, heaved my monkey onto my back, and prepared to head up thetrail. I spoke briefly w/ Graybeard, who was waiting for the shuttle."The trail's pretty awful up thataway. Pretty slippery up there."I sense a theme here. But, I just resolved to take it slow. No rush. I started myway up. Yeah, it was wet. And muddy. And slippery. 10 minutes up, I see 2 hikersheaded down toward me. The man in front said to me... no, wait, I'll let youguess what he said..."It's pretty awful up there. Coupla inches of snow when you climb a little higher. Muddy and slick."He glances down at my fet."Sandals? Boy, you're in for a real treat."Great. As they start to continue on, I ask if they've seen Cuppa Joe and Break. "No, but, are you Scholar?" It was No Worries! Another meeting of M Companymembers. He wished me luck, as he headed toward a roof and a shower. But, Icontinued my uphill climb. Sure, it was slippery. Yeah, it was snowing. It waschilly when you stopped moving. But, it was the trail. And it was beautiful, thesnow coating all of the trees, a silently falling blanket draping across thelandscape. The trillium are on the cusp of blooming, w/ their trifold leaves andupright soldierly blooms. A few yellow violets had opened their buds as well. Itwas a winter wonderland. Snow was already accumulating to the sides of the trail. I proceeded slowly and cautiously, careful foot placement keeping my socks dry. But, as I continued to climb, my magical wintry scene turned nightmarish. The trailwas a slippery mudslide. The wind picked up. And the snow increased its descendingpace. Bu!t, I just tucked my head further into my rain jacket, and kept walking. Then,Brownie and Soulma come down the mountain. An exchange of confused looks,then:"You're going the wrong way. And, it's pretty awful up there." (Huh? Really? Ididn't know...) "Several inches of snow. And the trail is pretty dangerous. We'vebeen sliding all morning."I told them I'd be careful, and headed on. But, as I walked through the increasingmuck and snow, I began to have doubts about the sanity of my decision. Things werepretty dang nasty, and didn't seem to be improving. I was hiking south, theopposite direction of everybody else, which meant no one was coming behind me, andno one was really expecting me. So, if I were to fall, it could be a while. The snow wasn't stopping; it was picking up. It was cold. And windy. And thetrail was treacherous. At one point, I found myself sliding downhill faster than Iwas climbing uphill How's that for progress? It was, in a word, awful. Itwas also bloody stupid, for me to be out there, alone. So, I performed anabout-face, and began my slow descent down the mountain. I had made it about 2miles, but, frankly, it wasn't worth it, in my mind, to keep going. I slipped andslid my way back to the marina.