Date: 2013-03-27
From: Brown Fork Gap Shelter

To: Fontana Dam -- Hike Inn
Miles today: 11.5

Left Brown Fork Gap Shelter at 8 a.m. and arrived at Fontana Dam, 11.5 miles north, at 3:30 p.m.Cold again last night. Snow four to eight inches deep and knee-deep drifts for the first half of the day. Temperatures finally got above freezing, making the trail wet, muddy, snowy, then wet and muddy and very slippery. Almost slipped off side of trail twice. Slipped and fell three times. Literally crawled two parts of the trail. Got passed by all but one of the other people who slept at the shelter despite my leaving first.The Awol Guide does not do justice to the amount of climbing there was today. You can, at times, see the Fontana Lake and dam for about an hour before you reach it.Arrived at Fontana and called Nancy for a ride to the Hike Inn. Into a room a little after 4 p.m., showered, got a ride to Robbinsville, NC., for dinner. Had shrimp fahitas and they were good. This is a dry county, so no margaritas. Blackbird called to update me on the horrendous conditions in the Smokies. Deep snow, windy, cold, and even well-equipped experienced hikers are getting into trouble. Backbird is worried that I may be pushing my gear and my own limits too far if I hike into the Smokies as they are now. They really do not want hikers up there right now. The recent snowstorm dumped more on top of the two feet of snow already there and 12 to 18 inches all along the AT for 400 miles to the north. It is going to warm up shortly, but that means ice in the morning, mud in the afternoon, then ice again at night. Dangerous. When snow melts in the Smokies, some stretches of the AT turn into icy streams. Been there, done that. IT's BAD. IT might take as long as two weeks for conditions to clear.Next issue is that if all the hikers wait around, there will be a mad rush and shelters, camps, and towns will be at or above overflowing with hikers. It was overflow at the NOC three days ago. I am taking two zero days at the Hike Inn before I decide what comes next. My goal this hike is to make the best possible decisions. So far, mostly so good.Sheltering the last three nights:Shelters are three-sided, open-fronted, wood structures with shed roofs and usually an overhang on the front. Sometimes there is a picnic table under the overhang. There is often a very drafty composting privy reasonably close and a stream or a spring as a water source. Some shelters are relatively nice. Others are dirty and primitive. The last three very cold nights, my prep for sleep has gone like this:1) In the sleeping bag goes my two water bottles so they do not freeze.2) The Sawyer water filter: Freezing kills it.3) Tent, inside its stuff sack, goes into the bottom of the sleeping bag to take up room. I am short and need to reduce the space at the end of the bag to help my feet warm.4) Last night I knocked the snow and ice off my boots and put them in the bag, too, between my legs. This was to keep them warm and dry them some. This was the first time I tried this. They were cold and wet to sleep with, but it was better than trying to put on wet and frozen boots with frozen laces as I did the previous two mornings.5) Extra glove liners and Glacier gloves into the bottom of bag, cell phone inside bag.6) Coolmax bag liner used as cover on bag. Also two pair of socks into bag.(7) Three empty stuff sacks in bottom of bag.8) Dress for sleep: Heavy wool socks for sleeping, medium weight long underwear worn during the day, Frogg Togg pants. On top: two t-shirts worn during the day, light fleece top with hood up, heavy fleece top, Frogg Togg top, stocking cap, liner gloves.READY FOR BED!!(Others are dressing similarly.)Then I crawl into the 20-degree bag, zip it up, pull up bag liner, then adjust the head part of the bag until only my nose sticks out a small hole. [Ed. note: This is known to hikers as "The blow hole." It's actually a very cozy way to sleep once you get used to it.]Time to sleep!Even with all that, the last three nights were shiverers.How many times have I mentioned that it's ... COLD.I have been shivering all day and I'm still shivering tonight in bed, but at least the pen is not skipping as I write. I am having trouble getting and feeling warm and the heat is on high in the room.