Date: 2019-04-04
From: Cable Gap shelter

To: Fontana Dam Visitor's Center
Miles today: 7.1
Weather: moderate rain

I have the most restful night in many days, only rolling around after 3 or 4 am. It's in the mid-forties and feels comfortable without bundling up. By 7 we're all up. I do some push-ups and back and core exercises to ward off lower back issues that I've had in the past. Keeping my upper body and core strength is important since my body will react to any calorie deficit by taking from my torso muscles to feed my legs. 35 minutes later I'm hiking up out of Cable Gap, skipping oatmeal in favor of snacks on the go. There's a sunrise view of Fontana Lake from the ridge through the trees with the Smokies in the background highlighted in golden bands. Understory shrubs are budding and about to leaf even at 3500 feet. The trillium are about to open, and as I descend to the lake they are in full bloom with dark red or yellow petals.I catch up with Fast Lane at the marina and walk down to the docks for an iced tea and one of last summer's Dixie cups from the bait shop. Houseboats are scattered around the lake, which is green and sparkling in the sun. The marina itself is roofed and full of fishing boats. Oddly the lakeshore is devoid of plant life for about 25 vertical feet, giving the appearance of a desert mesa. Either rain is down this year or they have drained off some of the reservoir.A guy named Tin Can is here, heading directly into the Smokies after resupplying and resting yesterday in Robbinsville. But most hikers are taking their break here in Fontana.The village shuttle is sitting here, but after talking to the driver we opt to hike closer to the park and get picked up at the visitor's center. So we hike on, coming first to the Fontana Hilton, known as the best shelter on the trail. It has showers, a charging station, an enormous deck with fire pit overlooking the lake, and room for 20. Smokey, Professor, and Reno are still here and say only a few hikers were sleeping in the shelter last night. But I'm betting The Bubble is about to arrive this afternoon to fill this place up. We hike down to the Fontana Dam Visitor's Center to catch the shuttle so we can start as close to the park as possible tomorrow. But we find the visitor's center doesn't open for the season until May! And there is no public phone to call for pickup like the shuttle driver promised. We have no cell service so we run around harassing nice couples to see if they have service. Finally UNICEF and I run up the hill a half mile to find service. I get three bars intermittently but can't get a call out. As we approach the Hilton, we run into Mudturkey and he lends us his Verizon phone. Service! We get the call in for the shuttle, then turn around and start back. A truck is coming up the lightly traveled road. Suddenly it pulls over and the driver waves us up. Fast Lane, Clammy and Smokey are in the back with all our packs. They scored a hitch from the visitor's center! We jump in, with the tailgate open, and white knuckle the three hilly miles up to Fontana Village, passing the shuttle in the process. It's a gorgeous open-air ride. Not an unusual situation for thruhikers though.They drop us off at a gas station at the village crossroads. We figure out that the lodge is uphill. After a twenty minute steep climb up the entrance driveway we finally find the registration desk. $20 bucks apiece for a stay at the resort is plenty reasonable! The rest of the afternoon goes smoothly. Shower, lunch, laundry, resupply at The General Store. While we wait on laundry lots of hikers arrive, many resupplying before heading to the shelter. The General Store makes for much better resupply than I've heard. A lot of people at the front desk were picking up resupply boxes they had shipped to themselves. Unless you have special dietary needs this really isn't necessary. I get some souvenirs for Sara and the kids at the same store and ship them home at the tiny post office next door. The nice lady gives me a free postcard stamp when I come up empty with small change.Grisu, the Swiss hiker from Neel Gap, pops out of the shuttle. He's headed home after his two-week test hike. His thruhike is two or three years away. Waiting on the dryer with my rain jacket still on, I chat with Stripes, a French-speaker from Montreal. This is his second thruhike attempt. Two years ago he injured his knee in the first attempt. He's been waiting two years to get an appointment with a specialist in Canada's government-run health care system. He actually started this hike before getting to see the doctor. He got off trail last week to go home for the appointment. He'll hike until he can't, regardless of what the tests turn up. There's a girl with a nervous dog named Riggles. He snaps at me when I come too close. "He's shy" she warns. She has to send the dog to the other end of the Smokies to a kennel because dogs are not allowed in the park.I recognize many hikers from the last two days but everyone is taking care of chores so I go back to the room to break down the resupply. We return to the Grill restaurant for dinner because the Bistro is closed due to "circumstances beyond their control," according to the front desk. It's early in the season and most of the guests are hikers. The Grill's draft tap stopped functioning during lunch until they figured out it was low on CO2. The stores all close at 5. The pools are uncovered but green and full of leaves. Warning - avoid the temptation of the Two-for-$12 appetizers. At lunch Fast Lane got an enormous appetizer that could have been a meal. I hit upon the idea of getting two and feasting. Not to be. Not only are the portions smaller when you order two, they are even smaller than the supposed discount you are getting. For Southwestern eggrolls I got 3 half eggrolls. What they did with the odd half God knows. The waiter, with a Russian accent, doesn't seem to get that I am hungry and not happy. To add insult to injury the check shows it as $14 not 12. "Yes, we will print up new menus" is all he has to say when I point this out. I have to ask him to fix it. Don't mess with hiker hunger!Afterwards, we walk way, waaaay down the hill to the gas station to get dessert. It closed at 5. Ouch! On the bright side, the walk uphill helps the digestion.So it's a quiet evening resting up for our entry into the Smokies tomorrow!PS - service is likely to be spotty to non-existent in the Smokies so I may not be able post new entries for 4-6 days.