Date: 2011-04-02
From: Cable Gap Shelter

To: Fontana Dam Shelter
Miles today: 6.6
Weather: overcast clouds

Last night I was in my tent around 7:30pm as most people staying where I was at went to bed early and I felt rather lonely as it was the first time I would be staying without the group of ten I've been hiking with for the last two or so weeks. Around 8:30pm last night I heard the girls voices and got up to see what they were up to since it was already dark. They decided to night hike the 6.6 miles further to Fontana since they had a package to pick up the next morning by 10am. That would make a 21 mile day for them so that was pretty impressive. They said the boys stayed at the last shelter so that kind of sucked to hear but I knew I would see them tomorrow. Once again back in my tent and not being able to fall asleep, I heard voices coming from up the trail so I got out of my tent and saw 6 headlamps hiking down the ridge around 9pm and I could not have been more happy to see them! They had all set their stuff up at the last shelter, then packed everything up and all agreed "were going to catch up with Blue." I felt at home when they all showed up. I talked to a few guys at the shelter last night and they were all hating on the group not knowing I was a big part of it so it made me feel very out of place. The look on their faces when they saw the rest of them hiking in the dark to catch up with me was priceless. I was more than happy to see them especially knowing they did close to a 16 mile day just to catch up with me. It went from a lonely awkward feeling evening to a secure great night. I couldn't have asked for anything better to happen last night. It was 10pm by the time we were all in bed after a long day.We were all up this morning around 8am and the sky was as blue as could be. It was a perfect day to hike the 6.6 miles into Fontana. We could see the Dam the whole time while coming down from the mountains but it never seemed to be getting closer. Everything around me when from a brown dead look to a green lively looking woods as I descended down into Fontana. When I finally got to the road (28) there was a note from a few of the guys in front of me saying "hitch left into Fontana Village." The rest of us hitched a ride into the small village. We all had a few beers, hot dogs, and nachos. We all then resupplied at the small store with just enough stuff to resupply with. I planned to hitch a ride back to the shelter when a few guys asked what we were doing in Fontana Village. It ended up being a frats formal from Vanderbilt and they asked us to join their party in front of the many cabins they had rented. Therefore we wasted no time and quickly joined the party. It was great to be hanging out with all the girls and guys from Vanderbilt. They told us we could camp next to the pond in front of all the cabins so we started to set up camp. We soon found out it was illegal for us to do so when a officer kindly told us it was resort property and he'd love to let us stay but can't. He drove down the road to where he got service, called a shuttle, and got all of us a ride back to the shelter which was more than we could ask for. It was very nice of him to do this for us as he could have taken a completely different road with the situation at hand. We all ended up cowboy camping next to the lake as the shelter was full when we arrived and it was rather late in the night. I'm looking forward to starting the Smoky's tomorrow.