Date: 2020-06-15
From: Fontana Marina, NC 28

To: Mollie's Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 13.0
Weather: few clouds

The bedroom in the Stecoah Wolfcreek hostel's doublewide trailer has glow-in-the-dark stars on its popcorn ceiling. I slept in til 8 since I needed to pick up mail at the Fontana post office, which doesn't open until almost noon. It was a relaxing morning with time for little chores like cleaning the eating utensils, backwashing the Sawyer filter, and clipping toenails so they don't hit the front of the shoe. Sunshine sawed off the ragged end of his broken trekking pole section so it would again nest into the middle section. His tent requires two trekking poles to erect, so even a stunted pole is better than nothing.Lonnie popped in on a break from his regular job. He's a manager for a utility construction company. Says they spend a lot of time building community-oriented park structures like ADA fishing piers for Duke Energy as well as infrastructure like substations. He's looking forward to retiring though and running his hostel full-time. He's not a hiker but he loves meeting new people and hearing their stories. I told him that's a part of why I hike too - but he doesn't have to walk 2000 miles so he seems to have gotten the better deal!Sunshine and I grabbed an early dinner ("lunch" to those outside the southern Appalachians) at the Stecoah Diner next door. The chatty waitress told us the snakes were very active this year, maybe because there are fewer hikers. Had a big slice of her homemade peanut butter pie for dessert. Lonnie had to get back to work, so his friend Fred drove us back to Fontana. Fred's retired and spends his time fishing, hunting, and helping hikers. He explained that the Fontana resort owner had given up the lease from the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) because the resort could only make money a few months a year, while the maintenance and lease had to be paid every month. Several owners had given up before her. In his view the TVA doesn't care whether a resort is viable there or not. If true, then next year's hikers will no longer have anything to stop for in Fontana. Hostel owners like Lonnie will be the best way to resupply for the Smokies. Oddly no hikers have mentioned this complete shutdown in Guthook - the hiker app - or elsewhere online.I grabbed my mail at the post office and we returned to the Marina. David was just about to hike out. Seems he is faster than he thinks if he's been catching up to us each day. He had 20 days of food when he started so he hasn't stopped in town at all. His pack was 55 pounds at one point, most of it food.I forgot to mention meeting a boy scout troop south of Fontana yesterday. Half a dozen boys and several leaders from Waynesville, GA. Very well-mannered. I just heard Philmont was forced to cancel their summer high adventure programs so I expect more troops will be looking for alternative trips like the AT. So far it's been far from crowded so a good time to do so.We passed the shelter known as the Fontana Hilton. Most of the amenities like a charging station and showers were shut off. Like the rest of Fontana it was a ghost town. The dam visitor center down the road was closed. Practically no one was around. The waters of Fontana Lake were high. Clouds drifted low over the mountains on every side. We passed a few dayhikers and backpackers as we entered the national park on a deserted drive and climbed 3000 feet to the ridge. I turned at one point to see a doe staring at me from twenty feet away. I stood still and she went back to browsing. For a minute I watched and filmed her until she heard noises from below and left. Walking ahead of me, Sunshine saw a bear practically falling down the hill below the trail. There has been bear scat on the trail every day since Amicalola but this was the first sighting.We had a brief drizzle on the lower reaches of the climb, but higher up a storm had soaked several hikers on their way out of the park, and they let us know about it! Most of the afternoon was partly sunny with cool breezes. It gradually cooled down and became cloudy. By the time I caught up with Sunshine at Mollie's Ridge Shelter it was cool enough to pull out the puffy. A light rain started just then and lasted less than an hour while we ate.No one else came to the shelter. Two woman had left earlier to get to the next one. We also had heard that Garrett, the thruhiker I met way back at Gooch Gap with a white streak in his beard, is just ahead, though apparently moving very quickly. Fred said he'd shuttled him and Garrett was trying to cover the Smokies (70 miles) in two days. Crazy.Tarps covered the front of the shelter, making it warmer than outside. We encouraged this by building a fire in the shelter's stone hearth. All the kindling and tinder were slightly damp, so on Sunshine's suggestion I brought out my bag of Fritos. The corn oil makes them excellent fire starters. When lit the little chip glows florescent orange. After much coaxing and blowing we got a decent fire. There was not enough larger fuel to really keep it going though. We found a five-foot branch that we couldn't break, but stuck one end in the fire. With a low expected in the 40s we'll take whatever it puts out.