Date: 2008-06-16
From: Russell Field Shelter

To: Fontana Village Lodge
Miles today: 14.0

This day was full of surprises. We did see our Smoky Mountain bear this morning. Walking up Doe Knob I hear a noise in front of us off to the left and looked up just in time to see a young black bear racing as fast as he could across the trail between us and Tigger. In a flash he disappeared into the woods off to the left. I think we might have scared him a bit. I didn't even have time to say BEAR! much less get the camera out. I was disappointed not to get a picture, though the more I thought about it I was happy that our bear encounter was with a bear that was frightened of us. I think that's a good thing.Going up and over Stuckstack Mountain we saw at least four new flowers blooming that we had not seen before. Strange that there would be so many in one spot. Owl stopped to take pictures of each one and some she already had. There were large patches of Spiderwort and Firepink that just needed to be photographed.Our next surprise was a snake. We'd been told by a NOBO that there were rattlesnakes on Shankshuck Mt. so I was keeping my eyes peeled along the trail. But it's a long trail downhill and my mind began to wander to other things. Suddenly tromping away down at a fast clip a stick on the path right in front of me moved. I froze. Immediately my eyes went to his tail. No rattle. Whew! And not a copperhead. I don't know what he was, but he didn't care about me anyway and he slowly moved off the trail. Took a few minutes for the adrenaline rush to go away and I slowed my pace down to watch my step after that. No more snakes.We made it down the mountain in great time and found our way over Fontana Dam. There is an awful lot of asphalt walking in that area which is so hard on the feet. We were glad to finally come to the visitor's center and find the soda machines, ice cream bars, air conditioned restrooms... wonderful! We decompressed for awhile and chatted with other visitors to the center. One of the employees offered to call the lodge to get a shuttle for us, however there were two couples that Soaring had sat down and chatted with that offered to give us a ride. They were camping at the campground and said they would be driving right past the lodge and we could hop in the back of their pickup. I'm not sure why we are surprised by trail angels anymore, but we still are.Our last surprise of the day was the Fontana Village Lodge. Somewhere along the line we had been given the impression that this wasn't such a nice place. Wow, were we thrilled with what we found. A nice lodge room with a spotless bathroom, two swimming pools, a great laundry and grocery. There is even a disc golf course. We had a terrific burger for dinner at the grill. I'm not sure what's not to love about this place. Split between the four of us we paid the same price to stay here as we have at the hiker hostels we have stayed at and they don't begin to compare in comfort.We could have easily done a zero day here and really enjoyed it but that's not the plan. We're moving on early in the morning heading to the NOC for our next rest time. But for tonight we're in a comfy bed.God is still good!Rabbit, Owl and RooJoshua 1:9