Date: 2009-04-19
From: Fontana Village

To: Fontana Hilton (Fontana Shelter)
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: light rain

Reservations at the Fontana HiltonThis morning we got up early to send Einstein off on a one week vacation to Standing Bear Farm, since dogs aren¢t allowed in the backcountry of the Smoky Mountains. Curtiss, the owner of Standing Bear, woke us up early by showing up to the front desk and calling our room, which concerned us since we had snuck Einstein into the lodge.   Standing Bear Farm is a hiker hostel just north of Davenport Gap which marks the northern end of the Smokies. He charged us $120 to pick up Einstein and shuttle him to the farm, where he¢d be waiting for us as we emerged from the park. Curtiss was very nice and, except for telling us that he shoots the neighbor dogs with a bb gun to keep them away, we were confident that he was in good hands.We had stayed a day longer in Fontana Village than we had planned, eating a ton of hot dogs from the Pit Stop, a Harley Davidson themed gas station down the road from the lodge, because the lodge restaurant and local grocery both charged outrageous prices. While there we met Julia and Jess, an engaged couple who were hiking the trail together to celebrate their graduation from college and upcoming nuptials. Julia, renamed Graveyard later that evening because of her willingness to camp in a nearby graveyard and stories of partying in graveyards back in school, is a tough talking girl with Bo Derek braids from Queens. Jess is a good old boy from western Maryland. The met at the School of Forestry and Ecology at Syracuse, NY, from where they both had recently graduated. Both were as nice as can be, well read and very smart ¢ and we hit it off instantly. We spent the day doing laundry, letting Einstein play in the creek, and catching up on some TV and computer time. We also spent some time at the Hayak festival, which was far less than we were expecting but had some good authors, speakers and music acts. We got to spend some time with AWOL (David Miller) who was a former thru-hiker and wrote the Appalachian Trail Pages, a popular guidebook among hikers. That evening we stayed for the keg of cheap Yueng Ling Beer and the band Miles from Pangaea ¢ a jazz funk fusion band playing at the festival.   At the festival, Jess and Graveyard tipped us off to a blue blaze trail heading into the Smokies that had a great campsite and a bunch of river crossings ¢ which interested us greatly.So, when we checked out of the lodge the next morning, our plan was to meet up with them and try out the Eagle Creek trail. But it was pouring outside, and we ran into N¢Da¢Wind in the lobby who decided to stay another day. We didn¢t want to spend the money at the lodge, but we didn¢t want to hit the trail in the rain either, so we compromised by heading to the shelter at Fontana Dam, which sits on the shore of Fontana Lake and was nicknamed the Fontana Hilton because it was much more posh than most shelters. It slept 24, had running water, flush toilets, a shower, and nice benches built around a large firepit. Unfortunately, this meant we wouldn¢t be keeping up with Jess and Graveyard, who were headed for the campsite at Lost Cove they had told us about the night before, and the trail with river crossings.So, after setting up at the Fontana Hilton shelter, we took a walk over to the Fontana Dam ¢ which is the highest dam east of the Mississippi. There is a big visitor¢s center, which was closed until May, but had a place to register for our Smoky Mountains backcountry camping permits. The dam is enormous and overlooks Fontana Lake on one side and the Little Tennessee River on the other. Shortly after we hitched back to the village for a last minute resupply and were treated to some fresh morel mushrooms that N¢Da¢Wind had found that day and fried up for us on the camp stove in her bathroom with butter, flour and egg she bribed a cook at the restaurant to get. They were delicious. Later that evening we got a ride back to the Fontana Hilton shelter, and made a late dinner before turning in for the evening.