Date: 2009-03-31
From: Fontana Dam, NC

To: Mollies Ridge Shelter, NC/TN
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Cell noneOG notes We entered the Smokies today. We walked across the Fontana Dam to start our day, the water level is extremely low due to the drought they've been having the last few years. It was low in 2006 and it's even lower now. We took a picture of a piece of land that was an island the last time, now there is a land bridge there.Hiking into the Smokies from Fontana Dam is very challenging. You go from the low flooded valley of the damed up Little Tennessee River which makes up Fontana Lake. The Smokys lives up to it's name - The Great Smoky MOUNTAIN National Park; it is mountainous. We're heading toward Clingmans Dome which is the highest mountain on the AT - approx 6200 feet. We're in a crowded shelter tonight. The wind is blowing like crazy and we've had rain on and off. Everyone is glad to live in tight quarters under these conditions. Oh incidenatally the shelter has a large tarp that is keeping most of the wind out. That's about it for now, the story will continue tomorrow. C6 notesAs you can see, we identified the state of tonight's shelter with NC/TN. The reason we will be doing that for a while is because the NC/TN border appears to be on the AT through the GSMNP, and we're in the Great Smokey Mountain National Park now.Since the Hike Inn owners take hikers into town to let us get things we need, we stopped in the grocery store and picked up breakfast fare and invited Braid and OG to our room for breakfast this morning. Sausage, eggs to order (we each cooked our own), toast, coffee, and orange juice. It was a very nice way to start the day. (OG/Neal and Braid/Joe had rooms at The Hike Inn, too, and our room had a complete kitchen.The hike into the Smokies today was hard. Mostly uphill, cold, and VERY windy for the last 3 miles or so. This is a large shelter, but people make reservations for spaces in the shelters. Thru-hikers are at the bottom of the list of priority...3 spaces are alloted for thru-hikers, then all other thru-hikers are kicked out if people with reservations arrive. No matter what time they arive!! (Even if it's very late at night!)I've mentioned some new trail names recently, but haven't taken the time to explain them. So let me do a few now.Elizabeth and Dan - I just suggested "Serenade" (for Dan) and "Sneakers" for Elizabeth. Dan serenaded us with his guitar as we were preparing breakfast a few days ago. Elizabeth was having a terrible time with boots. She went through two pair, and then switched to sneakers. The sneakers are working out well for her.Windup and Saint - a brother and sister team. Windup (Sara, or knickname Bee) got her name because someone said she's like a windup toy when she hikes. Wind her up in the morning and she just keeps going and going. Saint's real name is Patrick, so when someone met him on the AT on St Patrick's Day they said his trail name has to be "Saint."Ian and Kendra (Kendra has dregs) - Kendra doesn't have a trail name yet, but Ian became "Mudslide" when he slid down a very muddy hill to the Sassafras Shelter. The shelter ledger says it was quite a slide - down the whole 10-12 feet, getting totally covered in mud...including in his pockets!Flying Scotman (Dave) - Got his name by wearing a kilt the first time he tried to hike the whole AT. He injured his knee and had to stop. He's trying again this year.Gater 65 - From Florida, and he's 65 years old.Rusty (real name Burt) - he's 65 years old and moans and groans a lot (but he has a wonderful attitude), so they said he's Rusty.Katchup - He seems to be always working to catch up with his hiking friends. He decided to spell it with a "K.""Half Step," because he's short, so two of his steps equals one step of his friends."Chuckles" - Because of frequently talks and laughs in his sleep. We didn't hear him do it the night we shared a shelter with him and his group."Knuckles" - He fell and scraped his knuckls."Early Bear" - Had a bear encounter on his 3rd day of hiking."Fireball" - Had his stove and fuel blow up on him when he didn't handle it properly."Rusticus" - That's part of he proper name for a barn swallow. He told a story that Navy guys used to get two tattoos of barn swallows. They signify "safe journey" and "safe return." He has two barm swallow tattoos, and signs the shelter logs with his name and a nice drawing of a barn swallow."Juggler" - (Rusticus' father. He left the trail yesterday, and Rusticus is going to Maine.) Juggler juggles, and said his whole family does, too. An interesting tidbit about Juggler's family - they own an old car and completely covered it in pennies!"Hellbender" - (Real name is Sebastian.) Hellbender is the name of a type of salamander that he studied. (The largest salamander in North America.) He majored in African Mammalogy. When he finishes the AT, he's going back get a PhD. It's fascinating to hear him talk about the salamander. Bad weather coming tonight. We're squeezed into the shelter, and luckiy there's a huge tarp covering the front of the shelter...or we'd be in gale force winds, pouring rain,and COLD!! Some folks have had to set up tents outside. I feel sorry for them because it's ugly out there!Old Goat & Check Six