Samwise Hikes the Appalachian Trail! - Trail Journal -
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April 19, Fontana Dam - mile 161.7

    No snow on the ground when we woke up this morning, but it was still below freezing. Not cold enough to freeze my water bag, though, so that was nice. I actually slept in fewer layers last night, but still with my hot water bottle! I actually debated using it for a while - I seem to have some bruising going on in the ball of my right foot, & I was afraid the heat would aggravate it. But in the end, my fear of the cold won out & I put it in the bag & tried to keep my right foot away from it. It seemed to work out OK.

    Luckily the hike today was a short one - just 5.5 miles into Fontana Dam. Actually, we only had to hike to the marina on the edge of town, where there is a phone to call for a shuttle, which will give hikers a ride into town for $1. I got there a little ahead of Sara, so I hung out for a while, waiting for her to come down the mountain. While I was waiting, another hiker who I know came by on the shuttle & told me that most of the other hikers that we know were staying at the Fontana Inn instead of the hostel - it's the same price here when you share a room ($15 per person) When I considered a motel room with a full size bed, my own bathroom, shower & telephone, for the same price as a community bunk.......it wasn't too hard of a decision!

    So here we are, several hours later, cleaned up, with clean clothes, resupplied & fresh from dinner in the Inns dining room. What a great feeling! This is one place that I am so glad to have a mail drop waiting for me, because the grocery store was pathetic. This is only a resort village, not a true town, so we're here ahead of the real tourists, and it shows. Most of the little grocery stores shelves were empty and it would have been very difficult to put together a 6 day food supply. From watching Sara - it was! She's put together a lot of peanut butter, crackers & candy bars & that's about all she would find. The restaurant here tonight wasn't exactly five star either. The prices were sky high, the portions were tiny & the service was pretty bad. Eventually, after being ignored for over an hour, we all stood up & paid at the front. Most of us would have gone for dessert, too, since we were still hungry after our tiny meals. But we just got tired of waiting.

    Any way, I'm looking forward to getting into the Smokies tomorrow! For the next 6 days, I'll be hiking through the most diverse eco-system in the world WOW!
 

April 20, Mollies Ridge Shelter - mile 174.1

What a long day! This is definitely one of the hardest days I've had on the trail. I think there were two simultaneous things going on that put me in kind of a funk. First, it seems that trail hunger is really starting to hit me, & I'm sure I didn't get enough calories into myself over yesterday & this morning. The second thing I did was to call my office this morning & got caught up on every thing happening there. It was good to hear about all that's going on, but I also totally lost my focus on hiking. My mind was a thousand miles away thinking about work while my body was struggling on an empty fuel gauge to climb a steep 4 mile hill. It was torturous ! I vow never again to be cheap in town when it comes to food. Saving $7 to skip breakfast was not worth it.

    Since I was having such a rough morning, I decided to "treat myself" to something different. The torturous climb up the mountain had a fire tower .1 mile off the trail so I decided to go for it. I haven't climbed any fire towers, either because of the weather, lack of view or exhaustion, so I figured this was my chance. It was a gorgeously clear day, with extraordinary views of the Smokies in every direction.

    Even though the .1 mile was a bit longer in reality, I still think it was worth it, particularly since I felt much more like hiking afterwards.

    So here it is, nearly 8:00 & it's still light, & all the thru-hikers are in bed (in our tents) while a group of locals is raising heck in the shelter. I suppose it would be a lot to think they'll go to bed any time soon..... The shelters here are the most depressing things I've ever seen. Dark, damp, crowded little building with fences in front, like they're people cages. I've very glad I'm not required to stay in one like regular tourists are, I'd rather take my chances with the animals out here.