Date: 2007-04-14
From: Sweetwater Gap

To: Fontana Dam
Miles today: 13.5
Weather: overcast clouds

well boys and girls....when last we spoke we were feeling proud, even cocky....lying in our tents basking in our excellent jaunt from the noc...while spending the night at sweetwater (should be called NO-WATER) gap...expecting rain...at 6ish we (I) heard the pitter patter of light rain on the top of our henry shire tarp tent..i convinced cujo to break camp before the rain got heavier...even tho she was still slumbering in her bag...in the dark...it sucks to break camp, find all the correct locations for all the "stuff" with the only illumination from your headlamps....her excitement was notable..and the decision seemed like a good one...to start the day on the right path...looking forward to a day as excellent as yesterday...right..there would be no duplication of yesterday...that is for sure...we were on the trail at 7:30...anticipating the energy to supercharge our legs...especially when right out of the gate we had a severe climb..not that tall....but straight frickin up...so up that if you were to try to stand up straight (which was impossible), the weight from your pack would surely drag your ass downhill....one thing we have learned....gravity does not play...we commanded our legs to go...they laughed...sputtered for 27 steps...then informed the rest of our bodies that they were on strike....perhaps something to do with no real dinner the night before...and no real breakfast this morning..we were to have none of this mutiny, especially since our feet seemed willing...so we over-ruled the whining ass legs and commanded onward...poor decision....we are still semi-rookies here, but quickly learning to listen to your body....it is NOT a body, but your hiking machine...food is NOT food (as you sea levelers know it), but food is fuel....water is coolant...shelter and clothes are warmth...and candy/powerbars are fuel additives when quick bursts of energy are required...there were not enough powerbars in the zip code to energize our legs on this mtn....we struggled for breath...thinking oxygen was what our legs needed...drank the last of our water...no help...and when we FINALLY got to the top...after 47 stops to try to figure out our malfunction...discovered how grouchy we both could be at failure...and why cujo is named CUJO...while my body is much larger....cujo's has been disintergrating daily....and requires a more steady refuelment than mine....when this fuel is withheld...it effects her...100% of her is effected....and she was quick, assured, and quite vocal in her unhappiness....to the point of "what the hell are we doing here!!!!!"...a bad sign i surmised..we knew 1 1/2 miles onward was a shelter...and i told her if we could suck it up, i would cook oatmeal and grits to begin an energy IV we were missing....your prayers obviously worked...as we limped...fuelless...waterless..bordering on defeat to the shelter....to find water....obtainable only after a descent down a mutha of a ravine..we filtered 4 liters...and brought back a bucket full to cook with...this shelter was about 12 miles from fontana dam...the start of the mighty smokies..(AND where clean sheets and bud light were calling) ..you know what suckers we are for sheets and beer...an hour later...after stomachs filled....and my pack repacked after reestablishing the proper places for cooking utensils...we attempted another start of the day's hike...weather reports on the trail are usually no more than gossip...teasingly put out by dudes with radios, who pick up signals occasionally, and do hear weather reports....hopefully from a city nearby...but weather anyway..and these folks gleefully share their reports...as accurately (?) as possible..(a reward in itself for toting the damn radio, and hoping it will work)...but for sure bad weather was just behind us....and pushed us all day....the wind was ever increasing..punishing us on the mtn ridges...taunting us as if a wolf stalking...the breakfasts never kicked in till oneish....and all the time between our bodies labored to go forward...candy supplied no relief...water no solace...we just sucked....and were slow...this hiking was work..the kind of work you NEVER wish to do...my pack became heavy and unbalanced...cujo's straps with her fanny pack entangled(to the point of verbiage unheard by anyone from loganville, ga)where she almost flung everything she had off the mtn....we stopped about 11:30 and had a word of prayer...no way we were going to make fontana...physically beat...mental wrecks...demanding more than our bodies could provide...so we ate lunch (gorp...jerky..pepperoni and cheese) on a log...and concieved a plan...we had 9 miles to go...at stone mtn we did 3 miles each hour...situations different, but the profile of what we had left this day looked pretty tame, after one big climb...so we rah-rahhed the spirits....decided to toughen up...and coupled our energy on our mission..we were blessed for the next 2 miles with some flat stuff, which we CAN do well...and when the grits and oatmeal were finally processed to usuable energy..we scaled the last big mtn..downhill from here....but a lonnnnngggggg downhill...we spied fontana lake, and prematurely thought our prize was in hand....3 hours later we hobbled into the village....tired, but not defeated and enjoyed a dinner and were in bed by 7pm....12 hours later...we are here..breakfast enjoyed...coffeed up..and i am sitting in the downstairs lobby....saw ib, dj, soko, so quiet,and whiskey joe came in with his lovely wife...he developed knee problems (the silent killer out here)and came off the trail after stecoah gap...he is going to have it checked out....good luck joe...but the biggest surprise of ALLLLL was last night...cujo and i sitting in the bar...waiting for the food that chases the beer away....when we saw quicktoz, e minor, and 62 pass the door going to the restaurant..we always feel better in a bar for some reason......but out of the blue cujo's voice becomes a scream.....SNEAKERTRAMP!!!!!lord have mercy...it is a young, dashing sneakertramp...right in front of us...albeit limping a bit...after hugs and kisses we seek details...just earlier we were looking at the smokies in the distance, and wishing good things for our philly phriends...seeing bad weather approaching... they had left on friday...for all you philly pholks following hangman and tramp here..sneaker made the hellish climb out of fontana...and seems one of his knees decided to grow twice its normal size..so he and hangman had an emotional moment, as sneaker had to UNclimb back down to fontana..and resides now at the fontana hilton shelter..more to come..