Date: 2008-03-05
From: Hiker Inn - Fontana NC

To: Russell Field Shelter NC
Miles today: 13.5
Weather: clear sky

Day 17 ¢ Wednesday, March 5 ¢ Russell Field Shelter NC ¢ Miles Today: 13.5 Total Miles: 177.4Linda, the motel owner, drove us back to the trail this morning. We were hiking by 9:00. As we drove to the trailhead, she told us how they got into the motel business. Previously she was in Corporate America, climbing up the corporate ladder until she landed a job managing a large restaurant and bar in Florida.   She had a staff of 120 people and was doing quite well, but she really felt that the country was where she wanted to be.   Following her heart, she quit her job and bought this little house and 6 room motel from a little old lady who apparently sold them a bill of goods as the traffic for the motel guests was not what they were told it would be. Unfortunately as a result, they ran into quite a bit of debt issues early on.   One day out driving, they came across a group of thru-hikers hitching and took them in ... and that's how they started catering just to hikers. She said they get a thousand hikers a year; not all of them are thru-hikers, but also section hikers or weekend hikers. A thousand hikers at $60 a crack minimum, would help put them back in the black. I'm sure that some hikers spend more than one night.   And some income would be generated from the longer shuttles they do.Weather wise and generally overall today was a great day. We did not have to take the two-mile detour around the dam. It turns out that everybody here at the shelter with us - Josh and Amanda and Traveler, a 62-year-old thru-hiker, also did not take the detour although all the signs said you were supposed to. I guess we would have been the only fools to take the detour had Jeff at the motel told us not to.We put on sunscreen this morning because it was supposed to be a beautiful day. But all morning long we were surrounded with gray clouds and snow flurries - very light fine ones - that just coated the trees to a beautiful color. But at lunchtime the blue sky came out and we had warm weather causing all the snow that had collected on the treetops to fall on our heads. We took lots of pictures, though, because this is the first day that we've been in snow that we haven't had the camera tucked away in waterproof bags. We had a 2000' incline today but we're finding that we're quite strong and that the AT trail in the Smoky Mountains is what we're used to in this park; they're well graded so nothing is too terribly difficult. We actually hiked a little bit further than we anticipated. We were going to go 11 miles to Mollies Ridge Shelter but got there just after 3:00 and decided to go on to Russell Field Shelter. Today's weather was good and tomorrow is to have good weather, but the two days following are to be rain followed by snow. So we figured if we could push on and get the longer miles in today and tomorrow while the weather is good, that would position us to get up and over Clingman's Dome as soon as possible on the third day. Brakeman was a trooper today. Although he had stomach troubles all day long, he hung in there and kept up a very good pace. He hasn't eaten a ton today but hopefully tomorrow he'll be back on track as we're planning 15 miles. Already at the shelter, one mouse has been spotted so unfortunately it's not going to be a great sleeping night for Grasshopper. She¢ll have to put in her earplugs and ignore any little noises that might be made. It's 6:37 and in the upper 40s. I think we're going to call it a night. Again, it was just a gorgeous day. We had clear, good footing on the trail. We had no real snow except for what fell off the trees and we had beautiful panoramas of snow-covered trees in front of blue skies. We can't ask for much better than that. We're thinking we might get into Hot Springs early and rather than take a nero, we might take a nero and a zero. But we're winging it so we'll see what's happening. Goodnight from the Smokies.