Date: 2004-10-20
From: Russell field

To: Smokies TH near Fontana Dam
Miles today: 12.4
Weather: light rain

Today is Wednesday Oct 20th. Got up at six, got out of the motel at Six forty five. And actually got to trailhead at 7:10, but it was too Dark and Terry had to go to the bathroom. Drove Over into the campground, instead of picnic area, because the bathroom there was locked. We got back to picnic parking area but were Worried because they closed the picnic gate at sunset. And no overnight parking on any Kind. A lady was unlocking the bathrooms told us, they don't lock the gate. We can park here. So we get on the trail seven thirty. It wasnt really light enough to walk, but it was an old road . A really good road that went to a horse camp, where trailers were parked. Finally it got light enough, and we were still on an old Road. We went 1.6 miles on Anthony Creek Road, and then turned off on Russell field Trail. That was at 8:15 a.m. We had crossed Anthony Creek 4 times on the Creek Road. As we started up, we noticed how humid it was. We were just sweating like crazy. At 2 miles up that trail at 9:17 a.m, we hit the ridge arm, which was a little flatter. Then it started up again, and at 10 a.m. we hit the first bald. It was flat and then it went up again, and at 10:07 a.m. we arrived at Russell Field shelter our A/T starting point. We are taking a little break here, but I'm sure Terry wants to keep going. This is one of the old style shelters with the chain link fence across the front, to keep out the Bears. Reminds me so much of the old Laurel Gap shelter we stayed in years ago in the Smokies. On a freezing cold night with Jim and Mary Musec. We left the shelter at 10:27 am. We hiked on, it was flatter and then went down to a gap called Abrams Gap. Then we went up on some switchbacks and ran across 5 gals who you could hear a long way off. They were having a great time and we talked to them for a few minutes. They had spent last night at Mollies Ridge shelter and they commented, ¢women like to party and men like to sleep¢. Later we passed a guy who had spent the night at the shelter with the ladies, who told us they stayed up all night talking. He was worried his snoring might keep them awake, but they didn't really sleep. He offered to put his tent up at the shelter, but they said not necessary. Then two older hikers came by. One was 81 years old. They told us how they got stuck out one night at Birch Gap spring, away from a shelter, and without a tent. It had rained a lot that night also. They were Pointman and the older gentleman Go Ahead Slow. They were thru-hiking but didn't expect to make it all the way. They had a good attitude though. We finally made it to Mollies Ridge shelter, later than we thought, because of all our talking to hikers. 12:05 p.m. at the shelter. The sun is out, Terry stripped naked and spread his clothes out to dry. I would like to take a picture, but I can't do that. We are sitting here now having lunch, And the fog is rolling in. This is a nice looking shelter that would have been nice to have stayed overnight in. We are hoping it's not too far out to our car, and that we will get out of here before dark. We left the shelter at 12:42 p.m. There was fog rolling through and the Trail went up and down. Finally we could hear some people ahead talking loudly, and making some other noises, and we thought they must be on horseback. Sure enough, we find three guys with three horses and a mule around the corner. There mule was loose, and up on the hillside making some noise, foraging. There was a tree down on the trail, and it took a while for the horses and the mule to get out of our way, so we could pass them. They were taking a break at the tree, and had snacks stacked on the tree, which Terry knocked over when he climbed over the tree. Two of the horses had blue eyes, which Cindy calls piebald. The all white face and those wild blue eyes. We continue on, not knowing how far it was to Doe Knob or even the end of the hike. At 2:10 p.m. we came to the intersection of Doe Knob With Gregory Bald Trail. So now we know its 6.8 miles to our car at the Fontana Dam trailhead. We take a short break here, and then head on. We are passed shortly by the horses and the mule named Huey. We hiked another two miles to Birch gap spring. It's now 3:30 p.m. We hiked another .8 miles and take a short break at 3:55 p.m. Finally we get to Shuckstack and climb, climb, climb. At 4:10 p.m. we get to the Shuckstack Tower and climb up the tower. We sat in the tower and admired the mountains all around us. You get a great view of the dam and Fontana Lake. There are beautiful fall colors everywhere. We tried to guess all the Peaks we could see in the park, and tried to name them. At 4:37 p.m. we started down Shuckstack. Hopefully we have 3.4 miles to go on this hike. We passed two couples hiking up to spend the night at Birch Gap Spring. The trail down had some steep spots at the beginning and at the end, but wasn't as bad as people told us it was. The last couple of Miles were switchbacks going down. It was a very nice trail with no rocks or roots to trip you up. We finally saw the road at 6:22 pm. We got in our car and had to drive all the way around back through Townsend, into the park and on to Cades Cove picnic area. As we were told, the picnic gate was closed but not locked, so we were able to get our car out. We took the Saturn and park it at the Lead Cove trailhead. Drove into Townsend and stayed at the Scenic Motel For $45. We are semi packed for tomorrow's hike, but will get up early and finish packing. I don't know if I mentioned it earlier, but the five gals we met on the trail, were called Chicks With Sticks. 5 gals from five different states. We hope we might see those 5 gals and the older gentleman tomorrow on the trail. Weather turned out to be beautiful. Forecast today, some clouds in the morning, clearing in the afternoon. It was much drier on the south side of the mountains. It was mostly open forest on the south slopes of the mountain yesterday. Oh, and we saw our first bear on the Appalachian Trail today. About 1 mile from Fontana Dam trailhead. We only got to see him a few seconds, he was running down the hill away from us. And we've never seen a bear before, while hiking on the Appalachian Trail.