Date: 2006-04-22
From: The Shelter at Fontana Dam.

To: The Fontana Hilton room 123
Miles today: 0.3
Weather: light rain

I will freely admit that I wrote yesterday's journal entry today. After spending my longest day yet hiking through thunderstorm after thunderstorm, being hugely delayed only two miles from my goal by a super-muddy down slope, and then getting lost in the Fontana Marina parking lot (following a trail through a parking lot after dark is really hard). I didn't get to the shelter until well after everyone else there was asleep, sometime after 10 pm to be exact.It took me forever to get my stuff ready for bed without waking anybody up. Fortunately the "Fontana Hilton" is huge and even though a lot of people were there, there was plenty of room for me to slide in without disturbing anyone. Most of them expressed surprise when they woke up the next morning to find someone there who wasn't there the previous night.Yesterday was about the most miserable experience I've yet had so far on this hike. There were several torrential downpours over the night, but by morning it was clear. Unfortunately right before I was about to strike the tent, a HUGE storm rolled in, forcing me to retreat to the tent to ride it out.Once the lightning and thunder had passed, I decided, that one way or another, I had to get moving. I had to get close enough to Fontana to get my package before the post office closes at noon. So with the rain having slackened to a drizzle, I struck my tent, packed everything away, and hiked on.During the day I found myself in the midst of several thunderstorms and got completely drenched. There was no point in stopping my hike for these. I was out in the woods, there was no shelter to be had, and the chance of being stuck by lightning was about the same no matter where I went. The only concession I made was to not be on any mountain peaks while there was lightning."Librarian" and "Turtle", who shared that campsite with me, caught up with me at the first shelter I passed at six miles. Turtle pulled ahead then, but I saw her again at the next shelter another six miles away, and Librarian arrived right after I did. I saw neither of them at all for the rest of the day. It's amazing how totally alone you can be even when there's at least two other people on the same mile section as you. Whoever says that the AT is overcrowded needs to stop relying on the shelters. From the standards of nearly everywhere else it's practically deserted.Anyway, the rest I've already said, except that when I was lost in the Marina parking lot, I called the Fontana Inn to see if they had a room available for today. The first answer was "I doubt it" followed by "Maybe, call back tomorrow". First thing this morning I got up, walked .3 miles through the rain to a pay phone, and was told that yes, they had one free room.Apparently I lucked out hugely. The entire Fontana Resort is booked solid for some sort of car convention. No other hiker was able to get a room at all. I must have called right after a cancellation or early checkout or something. So I got a ride here (the resort provides a shuttle to and from the trail for $2), got my room, then went and got my package. My cell phone is now in my pack, though ironically, I get no service here. It's now a little after eight and I'm sitting in front of any ice cream shop drinking a root beer float while waiting for my laundry to dry.Despite everything in my pack being in waterproof bags, they still all got damp, and my tent was drenched inside and out. Fortunately, the bathroom in my room has one of those sun lamps. I draped all my equipment out all over the bathroom and have run that lamp all day. Everything is now perfectly dry, and it looks like I'll have good weather for my first days in the Smokies.The convention here that I mentioned is some sort of small car convention where people with small cars race around the mountain roads. It's kinda like what the people down at Two Wheels Only too, but the differences between the two groups are so huge. The guys at T.W.O. were respectfully, safety-conscious, and just generally more pleasant to be around. T.W.O. even had posted rules about keeping the noise down while in town.These car people, on the other hand, are sneering little punks who keep racing up and down the town streets as fast and loudly as possible. There's a group of them behind me now bragging about passing each other on the shoulders, getting speeding tickets, and being followed around by a police helicopter all day because they were a safety hazard.Give me bikers any day. I have been highly recommending T.W.O. to everyone, because of how friendly the atmosphere there was. Fortunately, Fontana Village isn't an official hangout for these people, and other than them, it's a really nice place. The dining room here was closed tonight for some sort of banquet, which was annoying, but it will be open for breakfast, which is good.Tomorrow, I enter the Smokies, which means that I have little control over how far I can hike in a day. I suspect the trip through the park will take six or seven days.