Date: 2016-05-08
From: Fontana Marina

To: Mollie's Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 12.6
Weather: broken clouds

Arrrrrrggghhhh! Man, am I mad at myself!My new pack, now a week old, is somewhat smaller than my old, so I had to get creative to make sure all my gear fit. Everything ultimately did, except that there was no logical place to attach the pouch that held my phone. So, I temporarily rigged it to my shoulder strap, knowing that it was a stopgap measure for sure. When I got to Fontana, I made a list of everything I needed to do to my gear while I zeroed. But I forgot that I needed to fashion a long term solution for my phone pouch. Since it didn't make the list, I didn't focus on it. When this morning came around, and I was ready to get back on the trail after my zeroes, I realized that I hadn't figured out a better system for my phone. So, in my haste to rejoin the trail, I simply slipped my pack's sternum strap through a loop on the pouch. The sternum strap runs from one shoulder strap to the other and keeps those two straps from falling off your shoulders. The only problem is that you must unbuckle the sternum strap when you want to remove your pack from your back. I wanted to get an early start hiking but found out the shuttle to the trailhead didn't start running until 8:30 am. Since it was only 7:30, I decided to walk the two miles to the trailhead instead. After getting perhaps 1/2 mile down the road, two thru-hikers stopped their car and asked if I wanted a ride. Bingo! I unbuckled my pack, including the sternum strap, swung it off my shoulder and into the backseat. I hopped in, introduced myself as Blue Man, missed their exact names because they said them at the same time, and found out that the young man and woman were off the trail for a few days as she had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday in Asheville. They had rented a car and were on their way to do some trail magic for thru-hikers at the Fontana Shelter. We arrived at the trailhead several minutes later, and I thanked them for the lift and hopped out. After they pulled away, I quickly realized that I didn't have my phone or its pouch. Uh oh. I immediately took stock and weighed my alternatives. I thought there was an excellent chance that the phone was in the back seat of the car. I had to find that car. I thought I knew where they would be doing the trail magic, and had two options: I could head to the road and try to hitch, or I could begin hiking the 2 miles to the Fontana Shelter, where I expected to find them. Since it was Sunday morning before 8:00 am, I thought the hitching idea was probably futile. So, I hit the trail. Hard. Within 45 minutes, I was at the shelter, where I quickly learned that the young couple had just left ten minutes earlier. Damn. Dejected, I called the shuttle that, by then, was finally running. I had the driver take me back to spot where the couple picked me up and I checked up and down the shoulder, just to make sure the phone and its pouch didn't end up on the side of the road when I took my pack off. I didn't see anything. At this point, I was beginning to freak out a bit. How was I ever going to find that couple in their rental car? I had the shuttle take me back to my hotel, where I called Alison and related my predicament. We agreed that it was looking hopeless, and the best thing was for me to get on the trail. Alison was meeting me in Hot Springs in seven days, and we could visit the Verizon store and pick up a new phone. In the meantime, though, I would be hiking through the Smokies, without a phone, a camera, an ability to text, or the ability to upload my journal. I was not happy. At this point, I saw FloMo in the lobby and told her the situation. Her boyfriend had come to visit for the weekend, and he had a car. I asked if we could drive around town, looking for the rental car. They agreed, and off we went, looking for a needle in a haystack. No such luck. Now quite down, I asked to be dropped at the trailhead, and I started hiking the 12.4 miles to Mollie's Ridge Shelter, the AT's first shelter in the Smokies. I was not in a good place. At some point, it occurred to me that maybe one of the thru-hikers on the trail might know the young couple in the rental car, so I kept an eye out. (Thru-hikers are pretty easy to pick out.....just follow the scent, known as hiker stank.) After talking with a number of strike-outs, I came across Taser. Thinking that my driver's name might have had "spoon" in it, and thinking that the girl's name might have begun with an S, I asked Taser if he knew Spoon. He looked at me somewhat benignly, and said, "You mean Big Spoon?" Sure! That works! I asked if he had a girl with him. "Yup, her name is Silly." For the second time that day, Bingo! By any chance, Taser, do you have Big Spoon's number? "Well, no, but I have Silly's." Incredible! Can you call her? "Sorry, bro, no service here." Okay, please give me her number and when I get to Mollie's Ridge Shelter, I'll see if anyone has service and I'll text her. So, away I went with Silly's phone number and some renewed hope. When I arrived at the shelter around 4:30 pm, I immediately borrowed a cellphone and texted Silly. She responded quite quickly, saying they were in the process of returning the rental car and would look. A few minutes later...."Sorry, we scoured the car, but no phone." Dead end. Dejected. For an hour or two, I sat, reeling from having hope, and then having it dashed. At that point, FloMo came bouncing down the trail, calling my name, saying I won't believe it. "Dirty Girl has your phone!" What? How? Where? Huh?It ends up that two guys had found my phone on the side of the road, evidently where I got picked up, and they were taking it to the General Store, which serves more or less as the center of hiker activity in Fontana. Dirty Girl, taking a zero that day, was at the General Store when the two guys drove up. First offering Dirty Girl a beer (at 10:30 am), they said they had just found a cellphone. Dirty Girl saw the black pouch in which the phone sat, recognized it as mine, and asked to see the phone. When the two guys pulled out an iPhone in a blue protective case, Dirty Girl knew it was mine. He then texted FloMo, who was on her way to Mollie's Ridge Shelter, and had service at the time. I couldn't believe my luck! All I had to do was wait for Dirty Girl to hike up the next day. FloMo tried to text Dirty Girl back, telling him that I was going to wait for him at the shelter until he arrived the next day. But, she couldn't get service at the shelter and Dirty Girl never got the message. Still, my luck had changed, and I would have my phone back the next day. I went to sleep, relieved.