Date: 2008-03-04
From: Cable Gap Shelter NC

To: Hiker Inn - Fontana NC
Miles today: 6.9

Day 16 ¢ Tuesday, March 4 ¢ Hiker Inn Fontana NC ¢ Miles Today: 6.9 Total Miles: 163.9As the evening was warm, so was the night. But no thunderstorms last night!   Life is good. Or life was good until about 5am when it started to rain, although the temps were warm - probably upper 50s - close to 60 degrees. Since we had a 7-mile hike out before we could begin our day off, we decided to go ahead and get up shortly after 5:00. We were on the trail a bit after 6:00 in full rain gear in the rain with our headlamps on. We have coined a new term - brown ice. Brown ice refers to the brown dirt or the brown leaves on the trail that when wet are slippery as ice resulting in Grasshopper's fall #2.   But no injuries. And unfortunately, Grasshopper's count for getting lost also went up to #2. She took us to Fontana Hilton Shelter rather than to the Visitor Center where the trail went. When we eventually got to the Visitor Center, we called for our ride using the pay phone, as we could not get cell reception. About 20 minutes later our ride came. As we waited for our ride, we hide in the heated rest room - nobody was around - warming our hands under the hand dryer. Ahhh, warmth! So cool!!It was about a 6-mile ride to the motel and as we were driving in, the owner was telling us about how 2/3rds of the people don't make it past this point and he said that we were probably in the top 20 thru-hikers for this year. Not quite sure where he gets his numbers or if his stats are totally accurate but he's probably in the ballpark. Hike Inn at Fontana Dam is a small motel. It has 6 rooms, however, the owners keep one room for their cats, I guess, because he's allergic to cats and she wants her cats. So the cats don't live with them next door, but they live in Room #1. They've been in the business for 16 years and about 5 or 6 years ago switched to hikers only. No tourists - they decided that tourists leave their brains at home when they go on vacation and they didn't want to be in that business. This place also caters to the laundry needs of hikers!   We just walk to their home with our armful of laundry; hand them over and an hour or so later, back came clean clothes nicely folded and warm and everything. We spent the next numerous hours spreading out all our gear to dry, sorting through our food drop, napping and having two cups of hot chocolate in our room. Brakeman also shaved and I believe he has more cuts from shaving than he has from running into limbs and trees and debris on the trail. He obviously needs to practice shaving a bit more.The other neat thing about this motel is that the owners have a huge collection of arrowheads and other Indian memorabilia ¢ including knives ¢ in total probably thousands and thousands of artifacts!   We spent some time reviewing just a small part of their collection. Very nice! We also spent some time talking to the owners about some of the crazy hikers they have met over the years. Apparently there were a lot of people attempting a thru-hike in 2000, due to the desire to accomplish something ¢big¢ during the Millennium. Well, along with the large class of 2000, came a few psychos supposedly, including one female who had trouble keeping her clothes on!   She was too busy doing rain dances in the buff!   We had actually heard about her during our Hiawassee stay!   The Hiawassee Motel owners had told us about a female who walked around naked because ¢all her clothes were in the wash¢! They gave her a sheet to wrap around herself, though they mentioned it to have problems staying ¢up¢.This afternoon at the motel, we talked to a hiker who just came off the trail after hiking for about a week in the Smokies. He looked really shell-shocked. Glazed look in the eyes. Trouble forming sentences. Emotional.   Turns out that the owners of the Hike Inn had to rescue him off the mountain. I think the 50 mph winds; the thunderstorms and the lightning really scared the crap out of him.   It has been a couple hours since he was rescued and he was still quite shell-shocked. The next two days call for clear weather, which is good as we're headed for the Smokies, which can be quite tough in good weather. Unfortunately the forecast for our 3rd day calls for rain followed by snow the next day so we may have some challenges getting up and over Clingman's and to Davenport Gap at the far end of the park. This afternoon brought thunderstorms, tornado watches and flickering of our electricity but we were safe in our motel room, after having arrived at 10:00.   The other good news is that according to the motel owner, we do not have to take the 2-mile detour around Fontana Dam, which is closed due to repairs. Apparently foot traffic is permitted, so instead of doing 13 miles tomorrow, we can do just 11. YIPPEE!   We're finding our rest days are quite exhausting due to chores but desperately needed!   It's now 7:30 and way past hiker midnight, so we're going to call it a night and hit the trail tomorrow at 8:30.