Date: 2017-03-13
From: Fontana Village

To: Knoxville, TN
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

3/13/17 Fontana Lodge/Knoxville, TNMiles hiked: 164.4, Miles to go: 2025.4So, the plan was to spend the night at Fontana Lodge, cross the dam this morning, and head up into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park with Rooster. Hydrator is spending the night at the lodge with his girlfriend, then planned to head out tomorrow. I was going to hike the 42 miles to Newfound Gap, where my daughter-in-law Eleanor was going to pick me up Wednesday afternoon and take me to Knoxville for two zero days with her, Chris, and Marguerite. Well, the weather has put the kibosh on all those plans. Right now, it's a pretty day on Fontana Lake; however, it's supposed to turn rainy this afternoon, then to snow tonight. And then the cold moves in. Predictions are for highs in the teens, lows in the single digits, and wind gusts upwards of 40 mph, with below zero wind chills. The forecast is for 4-8 inches of snow or more in the mountains, on top of what came down earlier this week. The road to Newfound Gap is already closed from the previous snow event. The problem is that once you enter the Smokies, the only place to exit before Davenport Gap (80 miles up the trail) is Newfound Gap. The rest of that time is spent on top of the ridges at 5000-6000 ft elevations. All the thru hikers are scrambling to make alternate plans for the next couple of days. Rooster is heading back to Lonnie's hostel, where Hydrator will join him tomorrow. Several people are hunkering down here at the lodge for a couple days. Some are hopping over the Smokies to Hot Springs to continue North and will come back "someday" to pick up this section. A few hardy (and foolish) souls are heading on up into the mountains. Several of us are pretty worried about a 60-something woman thru hiker who appears to be woefully unequipped for the temps who headed out across the dam this morning. There are all these thru hikers haunting Fontana Village like Lost Souls in puffy jackets, quick-drying khaki pants with zip-off legs, and muddy boots. We wistfully glance up at the mountain peaks overshadowing the valley and mutter to ourselves. We have been out here two to three weeks at this point and are just beginning to hit our strides. The winnowing process has eliminated about half of those that started with us. We have almost convinced ourselves that we just might be thru hiker material. We are frustrated that we've hit this obstacle that has slowed us down and wonder if maybe we should have gone ahead and pushed on into the mountains. The tourists just shake their heads and think we are weird. I made arrangements for a shuttle driver to take me to Knoxville this afternoon, where I will hang out until Saturday. Steve, the driver, has been a back country outfitter in the Smokies for 24 years, leading fly fishing trips. He is also the he husband of Becky, the woman who shuttled us from Stecoah Gap to Lonnie's hostel. Steve is a very interesting man who thru hiked the AT last year. Between his fishing and AT stories, it was a quick ride to Knoxville. I'm now hanging out at Chris' house in Knoxville waiting for Marguerite to arrive Wednesday. It is pouring the rain here, so I imagine it is snowing like crazy above 5000 ft. Although I'm a little frustrated not to be making miles through the Smokies, I'm glad not to be in the terrible winter weather.