Date: 2006-03-25
From: Fontana Hilton

To: Russell Field Shelter
Miles today: 13.8

March 25¢Welcome to the SmokiesFontana Hilton to Russell Field Shelter (13.8 Miles). Although the Hilton was nearly 2000 feet lower than our previous evening at Brown Fork Gap (3720¢), we still woke up to another light dusting of snow. ¢So there¢s snow down here, and we¢re supposed to be hiking up into the mountains today¢¦¢ Night Rider thought aloud. ¢¢¦Great.¢¢There was a guy at Fontana Dam that said Clingman¢s Dome got six inches.¢ I informed him.¢Great. This should be interesting.¢ After a late start, I filled up with tap water at the bathroom (after only two weeks on the trail, I can say what a luxury it is to take water right from a faucet and not to have to purify it or worry about any extra unwanted sediment) and set off alone. I caught up with Betty (aka: The Energizer Bunny) halfway across the dam. At 63 (I think that¢s right), she may move a little slow, buy she will keep going and going and going.   Off to the right, the dam offered a nice view of Fontana Lake and the surrounding mountains. The entrance to Great Smoky Mountains National Park stands 1715 feet above sea level, and as Betty and I entered into the park, the ground was snow-free. Five minutes later I found myself ahead of Betty and hiking in an inch of snow. By the time I reached Shuckstack (4020¢), four miles later, the snow on the ground was three to four inches deep, getting more difficult every step of the way. This was to be my first negative day as a trash collector. I found 3 cigarette butts early on before the snow came and whitewashed the trail. I had stowed the butts away inside a Ziploc bag I always keep in my pocket now for such occasions, but somewhere along the trail the baggie escaped from my pocket, giving me a -2 for the day. If anyone out there happened to pick it up for me, I thank you. Please forgive my carelessness. I may be Sanford the junk man, but even the Redd Foxx can get ambushed from time to time.From Mud Gap onto Russell Field the snow had become six to eight inches. Every step up felt like three. In order to keep my feet dry I tried to step inside the tracks of previous hikers, but the snow still managed to gather and accumulate wetness. Gore Tex will only do so much, and because I wasn¢t wearing gaiters, little globs of snow and ice were getting in around my ankles and under my boot-tongues. When it clumped up too much I tried kicking it off on the trunks of trees¢only to have it rain down on my head and neck if the trunks were too small. But by the time I reached the shelter, my boots were mostly saturated anyway, and my socks wet.Like a lot of the Smoky Mountain shelters, Russell Field¢s open side was enclosed with a roof-high chain-link fence¢to keep away bears. The fence had been covered with large pieces of tarp and scraps of plastic, to which I was very grateful because I knew it would block a lot of the wind. I had no doubt that it would be another night in the 20¢s, and so far the only thing my silk liner had done was make things more confusing upon exiting the sleeping bag.   The shelter was also equipped with a fireplace, but there wasn¢t much of anything to burn.As much as I wanted to take off my boots, Restless told me to get water first because it was a good trek through the snow. He said I could round up some wood too if I wanted but judging from all the snow¢we both knew that wasn¢t going to happen.   Upon my return I did manage to get a small fire going, but with the lack of wood, it lasted maybe an hour. ¢Is it 5:00 yet¢can we eat dinner?¢ Buree asked.¢Fourteen more minutes.¢The goal was always to wait until five o¢clock so you wouldn¢t get hungry again in the middle of the night¢which always happened anyway when you slept as poorly as I did. Conversations like this one seemed to happen everyday between 4:00 and 4:30 when your body has finally relaxed enough to start to become really hungry. ¢Is there a register in here?¢ I asked.¢Not that I found,¢ Restless answered. ¢Somebody must have burned it up on a cold night like this one¢¦we need some more hikers to stop by¢some extra bodies to warm this place up.¢ Restless went on to tell us that back in 1980, a couple of unfortunate hikers had been killed in this same shelter during a lightning storm. A nice sunset fell to the west¢the sky had finally cleared again after the brief window of sunlight we had received around noon. Once again, the white branches were illuminated with an orange glow before giving way to dusk, and the onset of colder. It didn¢t seem that we would have to worry about lightning on a night like this¢maybe just freezing to death.¢I think Hiker Midnight is gonna come early tonight,¢ Redneck joked. Hiker midnight came early every night on the A.T., but especially when it was cold and all you do to be comfortable was snuggle up inside your sleeping bag. And before we knew it, all five of us were curled up inside our mummy-bags, Restless listening to the weather on his radio, Two Shoes reading ¢Nine Stories¢ by J.D. Salinger, and Buree, Redneck and I writing in our journals. Not long after, the sound of voices were heard from just down the trail and seconds later, the cage door swung open. Three hikers I¢d never met before, John, Lily and Hobbit had just marched in from snow and darkness and were looking for a place to warm up. It seemed that we would have a few extra bodies to help warm up the place after all.¢Do you know if there¢s mice in this shelter?¢ Hobbit asked me a few minutes later as he ate his dinner. ¢I think there¢s mice in all the shelters.¢Sometime later, after I had closed my journal and switched off my headlamp, I heard his voice again: ¢Does anybody want some tuna¢do you want some tuna?¢ The second question seemed directed at me since I was closest to him. ¢No thanks.¢¢I just, have a lot left is all¢I can¢t eat anymore.¢¢Nah man¢I already brushed my teeth.¢ Tuna was the last thing on my mind. An extra blanket, perhaps, but I was good on the tuna. ***Random Register Entry:                                              "Anger has become                                     Enchantment with the Smokies                                           One gorgeous ice storm"                                                                                        ¢The Tortoise