Bud and Vicki Hogan's 1996 Appalachian Trail Journey
June 4
Copy Gap to Fontana Dam .......................................................................................9 miles
Long steep downhill (again) to the road. We had no idea where we were or where we were going. I only knew that we had a mail drop at the Fontana Dam post office. Now, where the heck was it. Kept going, found the marina. Stretched out for a short break to consider our options, hit the road here or hike to the dam before going to the P.O. Decided to get our mail drop. I found a good spot beside the trail to hide my hiking sticks that I had picked up some time ago. I liked walking with two sticks, but I didn't want to carry them into the motel with me. Vicki, on the other hand refused to part with the stick that she had found just before Neels Gap.
Started the 2 mile uphill into the Village. We were hot and tired and hoping for a ride. No luck. We kept walking. Got to a slightly more level section, looks like were approaching some civilization, when a white Ford Mustang with red interior went passed us, pulled over and stopped. This couldn't be Don. Nope. It was Al. Here was some more trail magic. He had been carrying too much weight and had bad knees, and had decided to do some short day hikes. I'm glad. We really appreciated our old friend showing up just then.
Al drove us to the resort where we wanted to get a room for the night. When we asked how much the room was, we were told $70.00. $70.00!!!! This was ridiculous. I wouldn't pay $70.00 to stay here. I then looked at Vicki. She was beat. She was exhausted. And she looked like she was going to break down in tears. I know it sounds like she's a wimp, but remember, this is a girl who can't go a day, for any reason, without a bath. She has shoulder length, drop dead gorgeous hair. Full and thick. People are always complimenting her on her hair. She keeps it clean constantly. And this girl has now been without a bath and washing her hair for over a week. It's been a hot, hard walk, today, and we both are in pain from our blisters to our backs. I look at my wife and see her frustration, but I also see that she doesn't want to spend that kind of money for a room. I'm about to say "no thanks" when I look up at the clerk. I notice that he senses that we're about to walk, so he quickly offers us a discount for the night. The price for the room was lowered from "astronomically high" to only "outrageously high". It wasn't as low as I had hoped for, but, what the heck, it's only money.
Not a bad room, but too expensive. At this point I didn't care how much it cost, I wanted a shower and a bed. (I'm such a wuss). Vicki looked relieved. We settled in a room, Al drove me to the PO for the mail drop, which would also include a filter replacement for the water pump. We would now have clean, purified water to drink. All three of us then went to lunch. Hamburgers!!!! With fries and coke, naturally. My treat. We then went back to the room for some more conversation. Al was through backpacking for a while because of his knees. He resupplied us with Coleman fuel from his stock, he also gave us some drink mixes that he had prepackaged into quantities to mix exactly one quart of drink. They were sure heavy. Said goodbye to Al, then Vicki and I laid down for a late afternoon nap. This was great.
Later that day I called home to check on everyone. This is when I was told about the murders up in Shenandoah National Park. At the time we were told that the murders happened on the AT. We were nervous, again. We had just gotten fairly comfortable with being out on the trail.
The food shopping at Fontana did not offer us a good selection at all. Thank goodness we had planned on there being a bad selection at this place. Thanks to the preplanning books, the internet, and the e-mail from "Pilgrim", we were prepared. We had mailed enough food that we really didn't have to depend on this grocery store as a resupply stop. We went to look for a restaurant, almost got lost, figured it was because there were no white blazes to follow. Vicki writes "Man, my feet and legs hurt and I am limping a lot. I soaked my feet for an hour that night." We also had time that night to go through and do some more weight reduction. Unused items of gear and unneeded food would be mailed home in the morning before we resumed our hike. Tried out the water purifier with the new filter. The SOB still didn't work. Well, this piece of junk gets sent home. Iodine the rest of the trip.
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