We awoke rested from 18 hours in the shelter. Everything is damp and smells awful! The only dry clothes are the ones we slept in last night. Today promises to be hot and muggy so I dress in my wet t-shirt and socks, but at least I have dry boxers on! Most of my hiking clothes are quick-drying lightweight wool.
The rain has stopped, but the leaves above the trail are laden with water. Every time the wind blows we get showered!
Shortly down the trail, Just Gordon and I encounter a large tree downed by the storm. I take off my pack and throw it over the deadfall. The trail is extremely narrow where rain washed out big holes on the downhill side. We start clearing the remaining small ledge of trail for the hikers coming up behind us. Just Gordon elects to keep his pack on. While he is trying to lever a huge branch to the side, he literally somersaults down the hill! I am saying "Stop, Gordon, stop!" Like he can hear me!! Thankfully the tree arrests his descent before he goes any further.
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| Just Gordon wrestled with the tree |
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| Cable Gap Shelter |
We have 5 miles until Fontana Dam, and a decent uphill. If we hurry, we can be checked in and doing laundry and shower by 4 pm!
We have hiked for 8 days straight without one full day off. The lack of rest is really wearing on us. On the other hand, our bodies are adapting to the trail. Now, a couple of thousand feet is not a big deal - we are hiking faster without as many rest stops. We arrive at Fontana Dam and Gordon called for a shuttle. We are wet and stinky! The Fontana Lodge van arrives and the driver is a friendly former thru hiker. We check in and explode our packs all over the rooms. I elected to have my own room and Penny and Kelly are next door.
The afternoon is anything but restful. The laundry facility is a half mile down the hill. We grab a light lunch, then shower and finish laundry. We meet up with other hikers. Mike, Bill, and Croft are going to zero here tomorrow. They are exhausted from the rain yesterday. Mike's tent collapsed in the storm and his sleeping bag and clothes got drenched. Bill picked up a stomach bug at the NOC and needs to recover. Croft said all her stuff was soaked and she is worn out.
Heavy rain is forecast for tomorrow night and all of the following day, so they decide to hunker down here for a couple days. I am super envious, but don't want to spend time in town when we still have so many miles to hike. We have hiked almost 100 miles so far this section, but still have another 100 miles to get back to the car.
We finish dinner at 8:30 pm, but still need to go to the grocery store and pick up our resupply boxes from Hike Inn Hostel. They were booked for the rest of the week. Picking up our resupply boxes is proving to be a challenge, since we didn't stay at the hostels as we originally planned. The hostel is 30 minutes away. Fortunately Kelly has her car here. She is finishing her section and already hiked the Smokies, so we will say goodbye in the morning :-(
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