Date: 2017-04-17
From: Fontana Hilton

To: Mollies Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 11.4
Weather: scattered clouds

The day started early as usual, I sat out and enjoyed the sunrise over the lake and a couple of loons were chatting with each other throughout the morning.Lookout packed up quickly and headed out after we had agreed on a shelter to meet at for the night. I had to hang out until the post office opened at 1145 and Liz had some work she had to take care of on a computer, so we planned to head up to the lodge via the shuttle.While we waited for the shuttle service to start at 830, Liz and I did a pack shakedown to try to cut what she's carrying to the bare essentials since her pack is pretty heavy for her. Liz also took a look at a guy's arm who had severely sprained/broken his wrist yesterday playing frisbee and fashioned him a sling out of bandanas to support it until he could get to a doctor in town.Once we got up to the lodge I got a breakfast burrito from the restaurant and then took a nap while my phone and battery charged, since I had nothing else I needed to do. Eventually the post office opened and I got one of my letters and sent some gear home (my alcohol stove which I had replaced with my canister stove from home, my old tent stakes which I had replaced with easier-to-use ones in Franklin) and Liz sent her unneeded gear home. One of my letters didn't arrive in time, which is unfortunate but not the end of the world... I just had it returned to sender and will take care of it later.Liz and I got the shuttle back to the shelter and hit the trail again. We stopped for a while at the dam visitors center and viewed the exhibits on how the dam had been built and how it affects the local area and people. We also got some TRAIL MAGIC from the visitor center staff who gave us some crackers they keep for hikers. We started our crossing of the dam at ~2 under the sunny skies and stopped often along it's ~1/2mi length to admire it's size and the lake it held at bay.Partway across we ran into MasterSplinter, a Smokies ridgerunner who reminded us about the basic bear safety tips we had already read as part of the permit process, let us know that most of the inconsistent springs in the mountains were running because of the recent rain, and that we were thru hikers 55 and 56 to enter the park today. Just as a point of reference, I was the ~80th thru hiker to start at Springer on the day I started (at 2pm), so naively assuming that those numbers are directly comparable, the numbers have started to dwindle a bit (~30% have dropped out) but there's still a ton of people out here.Liz and I dropped our permits in the hiker box which marked our entry into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and immediately started the first part of our ~3000ft ascent that would bring us up into the mountains. The sun was brutal as we climbed and it wasn't long before we were back to feeling like we hadn't showered in days. Thankfully (or not) clouds began to roll in and as we traversed a narrow ledge that offered a view we could see rain falling from the clouds not far from us and heading our way. There's nothing like impending rain to provide motivation and so we hustled up the next mountain in hopes of reaching the peak, and the firetower it was home to, before the rain set in. We made it 0.1mi from the summit before the first wave of thunder rocked the sky, making it too dangerous to go climb the giant lightning rod in hopes of a view (the only clear view we would've gotten of Fontana lake and dam). We quickly switched to rain mode... doning pack covers and rain jackets and once again, in an all too common occurrence, began running down a mountain from a thunderstorm. We moved quickly, putting distance between ourselves and the storm but could still hear the rumbling throughout the afternoon. The rain followed us and sporadically re-wet us before finally drenching is just before we reached camp.Not far from camp we startled a herd of wild boar who had bedded down under some rhotodendrons near the trail to escape the rain and sent the 15 or so black boars scampering off into the forest. Though we got thouroghly soaked by rain on the last climb into camp, the rain subsided for a few minutes as we arrived which allowed us to quickly setup our tents (the shelter had long since filled and there were ~15 tents dotted the area around), get our stuff inside, change into dry clothes, and head over to the designated cooking area under shelter pavilion to make dinner.I had Mac and cheese with ramen noodles and freeze dried chicken in a tortilla (gotta change it up every once in a while) and finished with a dessert of a KitKat and a freeze dried dark chocolate cheesecake mix (that I had bought years ago and never used as so had sent to me in my resupply to get rid of).After hanging my food and odorous items on the bear line I headed to bed after a long day. The rain came and went throughout the night but I stayed warm and dry in my tent.