Date: 2013-03-30
From: Fontana Lodge

To: Birch Spring Gap
Miles today: 7.1
Weather: overcast clouds

Day Twenty-two - Fontana Lodge to Birch Spring GapWhat a day! I started out frustrated because the ATM machine was empty and I needed to take out cash to give to Bryan and Leah who is taking care of Melkie for the week. It wouldn't have bothered me so much but I am hiking with Quaker and I hated to make him wait. I finally have up on the machine and took Melkie over to Bryan's and he offered to take me to the nearest town. We hopped in his car and stopped to pick up my pack and then Quaker's pack, while at the lodge I checke the machine one more time and thank God it had been refilled (the nearest town was half an hour away and I was feeling bad making Quaker wait and Bryan go way out of his way). Bryan dropped us off at the trailhead instead and Melkie barked at me as they pulled away. I quickly realized that I had forgotten to take the Mountain Dew I bought out of the fridge before I left (that was to become my new water bottle) and that I had left my water bottles in Melkie's pack. Fortunately I still had Hobo's platapus and filed that in the restroom and bought a cherry coke for some quick energy. Then we were off! It felt good to be back on the trail, there was no snow and the trail was dry! Of course we started with an up and of course our packs seemed way too heavy. We arrived at Fontana Hilton (a shelter that has hot showers available in a nearby restroom and sleeps twenty people. Thru walker was there so we chatted with him for a few minutes and moved on. We weren't too sure where the trail was because there were no white blazes but Flipper helped us out and we were off to see the dam. The water levels seemed really low but the lake and the mountains were beautiful. Again the trail was poorly marked so we had to check the guide to find out where to go. There was a one mile road walk before the trail headed into the woods again. As the trail went into the woods there was a box for us to put our park permits into. We were in the Smokies! The permit was $20 and allows me to be in the park for 8 days. When I purchased it online at the Lodge there were a ton of conditions that went with it. Most of them were common sense like following the Leave No Trace (LNT) policy, basically if you pack it in then you pack it out. The rules that affect me most are the no pet policy and the rule about only staying in shelters (unless the shelters are full then I have to hang right near the shelter). Anyway I am pretty excited about being here (even if Melkie isn't with me). After about a mile (up of course) I realized I was a little disappointed. After reading all the hype about the Smokies I guess I had this unrealistic expectation that I would see tons of wildlife as soon as I was here. It is beautiful though! As the day went on and we got higher and higher it started to snow and then we started seeing the leftovers from the previous snow. It wasn't bad at all but we did start getting wet, cold and hungry. We were looking forward to getting to Shuckstack fire tower to have a bite to eat and I shouldn't admit this online but it was getting late (we didn't start until noon) and we were hoping to be able to sleep in the tower (I know, I know it's against the rules). We finally arrived at the tower just before five and it became immediately obvious that we wouldn't be sleeping there. There wasn't enough floor space for two, there were gaping holes in the ceiling, a few of the windows were broken and Quaker was unsure of the flooring. The place was amazing! It was crazy high, had incredibly steep stairs that we pretty much had to crawl up and it was just cool! Because it was snowing and we were surrounded by clouds there were no views but we decided to cook up there and while we were eating the clouds cleared and when I stood up(we were sitting on the floor) the views were stunning! I took a lot of pictures! We could see some clouds below us, mountains surrounding us and an amazing view of the lake and dam. I was so glad we went up! It made my day! We slowly went down the steep stairs and got to the bottom as another group of hikers arrived. We joked about the "unsafe" condition of the tower and headed on up the trail. There was no way we could arrive at a shelter before dark but fortunately there is a campsite marked in our guide,we know the rules say to stay only at shelters but we feel that if its in the guide for thruhikers it must be okay. It was only a mile beyond the tower and at a lower elevation (warmer) that the shelter and when we arrived there were several other thruhikers who we recognized (including Sirrochi and Bearcub who stayed in my cabin last night) already here. I let Quaker choose a spot since he needs a flat dry surface (there is several inches of snow on the ground here) and I only require two trees around twelve feet apart. We quickly set up and Quaker hung our food from the cables provided. This is the first time that there has been snow on te ground that I have not hung in a shelter. To be honest it's kind of awkward trying to take your shoes and socks off in a hammock when there is snow on the ground. I think I'm being a little smarter about things tonight, my wet shoes are inside my hammock hung from the suspension line as are a my wet clothes that I will need to put back on in the morning along with Hobo's platapus of water. I just hope I it's warm enough in here without Melkie, he was my furnace! I know that snow camping does not sound like fun and it's really not my thing but today was nice! It's definitely easier to climb up a mountain when it's cold than when it's hot and when it's cold there are no bugs! If only it could be warm while I sleep. Good night World!Trouble"Set loose, a child would run down the paths, scramble up the rocks, lie on the earth. Grown ups more often let their minds do the running, scrambling and lying, but the emotion is shared. It feels good to be here." Bill Walker AWOL