The day started like any other, waking up with the sun. There was one key difference today, in that both my digital map and Mr. Fantastic's physical map ended 6 miles up the trail.
We both awoke rather exhausted from our long hike yesterday, but of course pushed forward regardless. Of course it was only a couple of miles before Mr. Fantastic broke one of his hiking poles. That's a pretty upsetting moment; but again, he pushed forward regardless.
After making our decent to the road we called for a shuttle into the Fontana Dam "town". It was an exciting drive on a road known as the Dragon's Tail where our driver explained that it's winding nature was a big draw. As a matter of fact there was currently a Mini Cooper convention going on in town, and things were popping. He said that it consisted of people from around the country driving their souped up Minis to town, braving the winding roads (with at least one accident each year), and getting them washed.
In town we stocked up at the general store, procuring enough snack foods to last us a few more days (plus a new map), and I went to the one local restaurant and had lunch with Dick Flap, talking comics and movies. After that we decided to wait until the ice cream shop opened at 1pm, and use their outlets to charge up our phones while waiting. Totally worth it.
We had a lot of downtime today. We're about to enter the Smokies and once there you can only camp at the shelters. That means we have to plan our hikes much more diligently, especially when a shelter is closed. So we could either do a 7 mile day and camp by the dam at the Fontana Hilton shelter (named so for its proximity to a bathroom and shower, and its 24 person capacity), or do a 17 mile day into the Smokies. We opted to take it easy for obvious reasons.
When we arrived, we immediately pitched our tents to reserve good spots, and washed up before eating. Dinner was very enjoyable, chatting with Just Brian, Optimus (whose name I learned was actually Optimist, but none of us call her that now), and Rowan with his wife whose trail name we haven't learned.
It was about 2 hours before sunset so Mr. Fantastic, Just Brian and I walked the third of a mile to the dam to watch. We talked Game of Thrones, Africa, and aviation while taking in the sprawling mountains and sinking sun. The sunset wasn't particularly spectacular so we started to head back and passed Optimus, Master Splinter with his dog Bruce (named after Bruce Campbell), Rowan and his wife, and a couple of guys I hadn't met yet. Optimus joined us, turning right around from the lackluster sunset.
The shelter was packed when we got back. Let me see how many names I can rattle off here: Dick Flap, Stonechair, Meta, Megamind, Queen Bee (who is trying to change her name to Snake Charmer), Barabus, Tea is Ready, Philly, Super Mario, Word Bringer.. and many others.
Word Bringer pulled out a guitar, which I'm still enjoying from inside my tent as I write this. The air is full with the serene croaks of tree frogs and the smell of honeysuckle. No pairing of smell and sound could drive me back to childhood any faster. Everyone is excited to be here, excited to meet everyone, excited to tell stories. Tomorrow brings a 12 mile hike with a 3000 foot climb, but tonight we live as kings (as Nat Geo would say). It'll be sad to say goodbye to all of the dogs for the next few days, but we do get some of the most exciting terrain and animal life on the trail. We think we've seen the last of Aspen Glow, he hikes many more miles a day than we do, but hope that CVS, Israel, and Reid catch up. We're a few days away from our second planned zero, and pretty excited for all that will entail. First though, we have to hike another 41 miles. Here we come!
