I am back in my home away from home. My tent and portable sleep system. It’s so nice and cozy and the sound of the rain on the tent is soothing.
I was originally planning on leaving really early and covering the 10 miles to the first shelter. However, M’mot and Zeeba were not leaving until afternoon because they had to wait on the post office to open. I decided to delay my departure and hike with them. We have a similar pace and they get out of camp early. I figure good associations will help develop new habits!
We had breakfast and then met at the General Store around 1130am. Wayward was back along with many other hikers. We had seen Pippy at breakfast, she had literally hiked in this morning. We let Wayward know Pippy was around the area since she wasn’t expecting to see her again. (Different hiking paces)
After they retrieved their mail drop, M’mot, Zeeba and I called for a shuttle to the Fontana Dam Shelter. We were finally dropped off at about 1pm at the exact same spot where we started our slackpack hike the previous day.
The walk down to the dam was scenic, with great views of the lake. As we approached the dam, it was clearly humongous. But we could not appreciate the full scale of the thing until we went to the visitors center which afforded a view directly at the dam. The Fontana Dam is 400 feet tall and half a mile long at the top. It took us a while to get hiking because we were so in awe at the sheer size of this thing.
Once across the dam (the road and trail literally go across the dam), we entered the Great Smokey Mountain National Park. We had about 4.5 miles remaining to Birch Spring Gap, which has the only campsite that A.T. thru hikers are permitted to use. That was the aim point for the day, since we started so late.
We knew there was some serious climbing for the day. Truth be told, it was hard but not quite as hard as expected. The highlight of the day was Shuckstack Fire Tower on the top of… Shuckstack Mountain.
The tower was really tall and I actually freaked out while trying to climb it. I’ve never considered myself to have a fear of heights. However, this tower just freaked me out for some reason. I at least got video from where I stopped the climb.
After the tower it was another mile to camp. That mile went by soooo slooooow! But we finally made it, had dinner and everyone is in bed now.
It’s been a great day and it’s been fun to have hiking partners again. Tomorrow’s plan is a 10 mile day to Spruce Mountain Shelter.
Wandering on…
Mojo