Date: 2016-05-26
From: Molly's Ridge Shelter

To: Fontana Dam Shelter
Miles today: 11.4
Weather: overcast clouds

Fewer Thru-hikers met on the trail today: 2 with no names, Solar Wolf, Simba, Dragonfly, Radar, Bear-anoid & Peeps, I was happy to be tenting last night because I had discovered the last two nights that my Xframe air mattress has a leak. I thought I'd be more comfortable sleeping on the ground than on hardwood floors in the shelter . The ground turned out not to be very soft; also the slow leak turned into a faster leak; so as soon as I puffed it up, it went flat. When I went to set up the tent, I discovered I had lost my little bag of tent pegs! I must have left them at Tri-Corner Knob Shelter 2 days ago when I stopped there for lunch and to dry out my tent. My tent is not totally freestanding, but with a couple of pegs I can make it work all right, if there's no wind or rain, which there wasn't. I still have three little wire pegs that came with the tent [out of 11 ¢ they're so easy to lose!], but they help. The trail was just about all downhill today, but that doesn't mean it was all easy. There had been a church/family group [10-12] camping near the shelter. They headed out a little before me because I was talking so much with the NOBOs. We passed each other a time or 2, but most troublesome was their dog, which kept wanting to walk with me. They weren't supposed to have a dog on the Trail, & they weren't supposed to tent at shelters along the AT. Service dogs are allowed, ones carefully trained to keep focused on their master ¢ this undisciplined canine was clearly not serving anyone in particular. I guess they figured they didn't have to follow the Park rules if they got on & off the AT by way of side trails.There were bits of rain on the way down, but I did get some views from the Shuckstack fire tower. At the bottom of the mtn, it is still a half mile across the dam, where I stopped at the visitors center, got some snacks, & looked at the exhibits about the TVA & this dam. Then on to the shelter.I believe Fontana Dam Shelter is a place I've stayed on both my previous hikes. When I got there, I found that the hiker box had a bunch of aluminum pegs a bit heavier than the ones I had been using; so I only took 6 of them, but that'll be enough for a reasonable set up.I was also able to get my sleeping pad into the lake where I could see the bubbles to locate the leak. I put a patch on it but had to let that cure over night; so I was still sleeping without it. I tried to use the tent for padding under me, but it has lots of little clips, bits of webbing, & zippers that make it not very comfortable. Not a good night for sleeping.This shelter is referred to as the "Fontana Hilton" because not only has the TVA provided a nice big shelter, they built showers nearby. A recent addition is a solar-powered charging station for cell phones, &c. It didn't seem to work; so I plugged in at the shower building anyway. Some workmen were putting a new roof [metal rather than shakes] on the shelter, & when they were leaving, they gave me a ride to the Fontana Village Resort. I bought a few things at the store & had dinner at one of the restaurants. Then I walked the 2 miles back to the shelter. At the shelter: Pepper & Bard, Shutterbug, Gar-Bear, Flounder, Ryan, Andrew, Amber & Chi-Town. Some were there for several days to let injuries heal.