fontana dam parking lot to spence field shelter

woke up to the birds. i wanted to stay in the sack for another 30 minutes, but the sounds of quick packing up got me moving.

breakfast was the usual, but overlooking fontana lake with the sun rising from behind the smokey mountains.

we were on trail by 08:30, and had a short road walk to fontana dam. looking down the water chute, completely dry going to no where made my balls tingle. i’ve developed a fairly substantial fear of heights in the last decade, and that’s how it manifests. :shrug:

we filled up our water in the bathroom, and i took the opportunity to wash my socks in the sink and then hung them on my bag to dry for the day.

we crossed the dam and walked up a short road to where the trail turned back into the woods. just past the kiosk was a metal box where we were instructed to deposit our great smoky mountain national park (GSMNP) permits.

we then began the day, essentially a long day-long climb. we all expected the worst, but in fact discovered that the trail was nicely graded. i even thought at some point that perhaps it was graded for horses, and later when every shelter had hitching posts, discovered that the smokey mountains are the only place on the AT that horses are allowed. this of course made me think immediately of hackett. actually, i can see hackett on a horse, with brent carrying a giant rucksack behind her with all the gear, both happy as clams at high tide.

we hit a fire tower, and ran into a trail runner. generally at a quick side trail i grab my camera and drop my pack, but he told us in tje smokeys, there are enough crafty bears that your chances of gettjng your entire pack swiped is high. noted.

the trail was fantastic. once at elevation, it traversed through forests of i think silver birch. the ground was covered in spring ephemeral flowers.

the weather was also pretty good. after the clouds of the morning passed, not another cloud in the sky the whole day. the wind was moderate, but quite cold. on the windward side of the mountains it was pretty frigid, and i spent the day with my gloves on. on the leeward side of the mountains however it was quite hot. the trail crossed over the top so many times, quick and i took to yelling, “hot side!” and “cold side!” as we crossed over, sometimes multiple times in the same few minutes.

there was one point in the afternoon that we saw things falling from the trees. at first i thought it was blossoms in the breeze, but upon closer inspection we found them to be ice chunks, and in fact when we studied the tops of the trees they were still covered in frost.

we arrived at our intended destination, russell field shelter around 14:30, but ultimately had a few more miles in us, so after sending messages to intel and dan, continued another 3 miles to spence field shelter.

there were lots of tent sites, but all a bit crooked, but then i spied the horse hitching bar at the bottom of the hill and surmised that area would be flat, and in fact it was. i pitched my tent, called magz and promptly passed out. i woke up when quick came to grab his food for dinner.

i had dinner in the shelter and bugs (whose dad hiked with her from amicalola to fontana dam) showed us how to play a card game, 10s and 2s. i played a few rounds before hanging my food from the bear cables (thanks GMSNP!) and heading to my tent to journal. another killer day.

some other pictures from today: