Date: 2016-04-29
From: cable gap shelter

To: fontana dam shelter
Miles today: 8.0
Weather: clear sky

Day 18- April 29, 2016This morning we woke up a bit later at around 6:30 but were quick to pack up and go. We only had a 7 mile hike to Fontana village that was mostly down hill. As we started out it seemed as if all we were doing was going up and up. At the top I was already exhausted and ready for a nap. Yesterday's climb must have taken the energy right out of me and one pop tart is not enough breakfast when working that hard. Dregs and I got talking and he ended up spending the next 5 miles telling me the detailed storylines of each character in the latest book of Game of Thrones. I had read the books up until the middle of the last book because they seem to drag on to me and I get bored. But Dregs's synopsis of the remainder of the book was captivating and exciting as we hiked through the woods. Intermittently he would stop the story do we could climb some steep hills but then he would continue. It made the miles fly by. We eventually saw water from Fontana Lake in the distance. As we got closer it seemed to be near and then far and then near again. We made it to the marina and caught a shuttle to the lodge. At the lodge we planed on getting our Smokies permit printed out and then getting food before heading out to the Fontana shelter known as the Fontana Hilton. Unfortunately, the Internet at the lodge was down. They said it would be about 45 minutes to fix so we caught the end of their breakfast. We were the only ones in the restaurant but the food was great! Dregs got a breakfast burrito and I got a three egg omelet with cheese, tomato, and peppers along with hash browns and toast. Yea, I had the better meal... We drank coffee and chilled for a bit. The internet was still broken when we finished so we decided to go to the post office and general store. We saw Squarepeg, Viking and funfact before we left the lodge. Once we got to the general store they said their internet was down too. The whole town in fact. We got a coke and went back to the lodge. There we hung out with Squarepeg and funfact. We all decided to go get lunch at the grille and found other friends there. Cypher was already there, funfact, Squarepeg, Michael ( now outlaw), Fiffal, and kilometer all had lunch with us. There, Michael was given (by dregs) the name Outlaw from his rebellious attitude towards the Smokies and their rules. Also, this is where my trail name was agreed upon. It was decided that I would be Chicken Hawk. You know, from the FogHorn LegHorn cartoon where the little chicken hawk tries to eat FogHorn the whole time even though he is so much bigger than the chicken hawk. This is due to my small size but eagerness to take on things bigger than I, such as my appetite and the fact I am attempting the AT through hike. We had a great time hanging out and then went back to the general store to resupply. There were many hikers at the general store hanging out and picking up packages from the post office. Second shift was there handing out brownies and Nowhere was handing out beer. Ninja was there as well. We resupplied for the 6 days in the Smokies and went back up to the lodge to check on the wifi. Still none. Eventually, Squarepeg took the initiative to call the Smokies Rangers and they were able to fax us our permits! We should have did that hours ago but we had a great time either way. A shuttle took us back to the marina and dregs and I walked quickly the last mile to get to the Fontana Hilton for camp. Once we got there it was packed with other friends of ours. All the people we were with earlier were there as well as Cosmo and rob from Baltimore and his uncle. We set up camp and hung out for a little while before bedtime.