Date: 2015-03-21
From: Fontana Hilton

To: Spence Field Shelter
Miles today: 16.8
Weather: broken clouds

Started at 8, but made a quick stop in the bathroom to wash my socks. Hadn't done any laundry this (sorta) town stop, but they were muddy from the past few days and wet muddy socks suck, even with sandals.The trail took us immediately over Fontana Dam. Another hydroelectric dam, this one built by the TVA 70 or so years ago. And yes, they drain this lake for power as well, I guess the area gets quite a bit of rain in the spring or something.After the dam you immediately enter the smokies, and climb up 3k feet or so. Tough climb, but not as bad as the one out of NOC, if only because the day cleared up. Although I had purchased about a metric ton of food, as I was concerned it might take up to 5 days to get out of the smokies, and since they're supposed to be cold and rough I wanted to be safe. I posted some pictures on FB, but I had gorgeous views of mountains sticking out of the clouds still lingering in the valley. Lost my watch on the climb up though, so the only timepiece I have is my phone, which won't give me the time unless it gets a signal.Lunched at Mollie's Ridge shelter. Some girls, likely spring breakers, were there with a dog. BTW, dogs are not allowed in the smokies, but I don't know what a ranger would do if one happened to spot the dog, fine them and escort them out of the park?Met a ridgerunner at the next shelter. He was 74 and still walked a 5 mile section of the smokies. In the past he had completed both the AT and the PCT, and I stayed for a while listening to his tales of snake encounters and whatnot.Also met a man testing the water in the smokies. Acid rain apparently is a huge issue here. Tighter controls have been put on industries in the region, but its having no success in reducing acid rain. Its great that we have these parks to preserve the wilderness, but humans keep finding ways to screw it all up.Encountered some trail magic by a fellow who was hiking a section of the AT. He lives nearby, and fills up his pack with apples and tangerines and gives them out to thruhikers he encounters on his hikes. Little Debbie snacks and the like are good, but as thruhikers we eat so many of them. Its the fruit and vegetables that I really crave out in the woods, and the magic was much appreciated.Got to Spence Field and met Dirk, a very talkative german. He had gotten the 1 year visa to hike the AT (must be a special type of visa) and done some traveling before, and was planning traveling after. He was thinking of doing christmas in nyc, and then new years in new orleans, which are great ideas, but he also wanted to visit Albuquerque. There's nothing wrong with the latter, but if you have a few months to visit the US, I'm not sure I'd suggest that.A couple other thruhikers made it (I think most people leaving Fontana stop at the first two shelters for a slightly shorter day because of the long climb), and 2 groups of section hikers. Rocky Top is just a mile or so from the shelter, and hikers will camp here to climb to the top, sometimes twice to catch the sunset and sunrise.Overall, this day did a lot to improve my mood. This morning I was going to make myself finish the smokies and then see if I wanted to quit, but by the evening my enjoyment of the trail had been restored and I was happy to be out hiking.