Date: 2015-04-25
From: Brown Fork Gap Shelter

To: Fontana 
Miles today: 12.7
Weather: moderate rain

Day 13 - I was thinking nothing special happened today, but no! in the middle of the day I got to a road and saw a cooler with an invitation taped to the top asking us to partake of the trail magic. Alas, others had partaken first and the cooler only had empty soda cans within. So I stepped on into the parking lot just as a truck was pulling in. I slowed my pace down in case they were the trail mac people coming to renew the stash. Then I saw one of the two men who had gotten out of the pickup strapping on a revolver. Hmmmm. Well, we got into a conversation, and turns out they were hunting ramps. Possibly a father and son team. The younger one, Travis, had a small garden hoe in a loop on his pants leg. The older one, Cody (related to Wild Bill Cody, he said), had heard from someone that here was a big ramp patch up this way along the Trail. He'd lived in the area his whole life but never been up this way. We walked along together a short ways. They never did find the ramp patch (and, no, they hadn't come to re-fill the cooler with sodas for thirsty hikers, either.) I stopped at a shelter along the way (Cable Gap Shelter) for some water and to eat something. Shortly afterward a girl showed up. She'd been at the Brown Fork Gap Shelter last night with the crowd. Anyway, I left to tackle the last 6.5 miles and somewhere in the middle she passed me. She was sitting at the Fontana Marina when I arrived. I asked her if she was waiting for a shuttle, but no she was waiting for her friend. So I went into the bathroom there (where the flush toilets did NOT flush ... seriously less pleasant than a backcountry outhouse). After a minute in there a guy opened the door and hollered that there was a shuttle heading into the village. I rushed out and the girl and a guy named "Silverback" were climbing into a minivan. Turns out it wasn't the local $3.00 per person each way shuttle, but a hiker/trail angel. She drove us into the village, dropped me off so I could pick up my food box at the hotel, waited for me (!), and then drove us to a general store where I wanted to get an ice cream. Turns out the store wasn't open yet for the summer crowd, and there I was without a ride back to the Trail. This is where I really learned, I think, that the maps in the guidebooks while accurate are simplified. Or maybe I just picture things differently from the way they're depicted. Anyway, the walk back towards the Trail seemed way different from how I pictured it looking at the maps. I got back to the gas station - maybe half way between the unopen store and the Trail - and met Silverback and the girl there. I bought some ice cream and overheard a guy asking the clerk for directions to someplace. I saw her pointing in the direction I needed to go. So outside I asked the driver if he could give me a lift to the Marina. He didn't know where it was (he had been asking directions, right?) and I told him it was about a mile up the road -- in the direction he was going. Sure, he could take me. So I put my pack and the food box into his trunk and got in. He said he was from Atlanta and up this way to drive his sporty new car on the winding hilly roads, just having fun. I tried to say something nice about the car as it seemed important to him. It was a quick ride back to the Marina, I thanked him, and off he zoomed. Haven't seen the two hikers again.There's a crowd here at the Fontana Hilton, but they seem quieter than last shelter's crew. Of course, it isn't dark yet, the campfire isn't lit, and who knows how much beer is yet to flow.As long as it's not raining in the morning I can be out and on my way early. It'll be a long slog tomorrow entering GSMNP. The box Annie sent weighed 12 pounds, 10 ounces, according to the mailing label. Yikes! It really doesn't all fit in the food bag, so I put the bag of nuts and snack stuff into my clothing bag, which I can hoist on the bear cables in the Park.There's a 50 or so year old pontificating in the shelter to the kids. He's been handing out beer to people telling everyone that when he stumbled in at or after 8:00 last night someone handed him a beer and it perked him right up. So he bought a case and is paying it back this way. Other folks are showing up from town with bags of food. For some reason -- my not being in the general conversations at all? or that I'm clearly not one of the young kids? -- the beer guy never offered me one. The guy who just came in said his parents (79 -- or did he say 89 -- years old) gave him 10 pounds of granola. And his dad gave him a bottle of rum. My, oh my.[BTW, this place is called the "Hilton" for several reasons: it's spacious; it has a great view of the lake; there is a water fountain; there are showers nearby; trashcans available; no room service, but I imagine someone would shuttle people to stores or even deliver food and drink.](averaging 12.75 miles a day)