4/19 Mile 154.5

Pushed some miles! Since I slept inside at the NOC, I didn’t have to tear down camp and could get moving at 7:30AM. Decided to see how far I’d go if I went pretty much all day with a fullish pack, and made about 17.5 miles or so. Not bad for early in the trail with some crazy elevation change. Pretty little solo site off on its own yesterday as well; haven’t had that many of those on this trail, so it’s fun when it happens.

4/20 Mile 172.3

Very full day today! Was trading places back and forth with a nice guy named Weatherman on the way to Fontana. Some nice trail magic that we both got along the way too, shout-out to Marvel and everyone else who provided that! Turns out that whole crew was actually from Bloomington, IL, which was a fun little surprise.

I got to the Fontana Marina, and it turns out that it’s basically a floating resupply spot! An Australian hiker named Mental who I’ve run into before and I had a beer and a lovely chat sitting at tables they had on sortof the “back porch” of the Marina Store area. We eventually did the final mile or so to the “Fontana Hilton,” a shelter that holds like 18 and is famous or being the only shelter on trail with a hot shower. I decided not to stay because it and it’s camping area were super full already, and it looked like lovely weather for some evening hiking into the Smokies. I did, however, take advantage of that hot shower before I took off.

There were 7 miles or so from the Fontana Hilton to the first campable place in the Smokies (the Smokies are unique in that you’re required to camp at specific places where there are bear cables). The first couple miles, though, took me to and over the Fontana Dam, which was really neat to look at! It’s huge, and is one of those very mid-century industrial type pieces of infrastructure. Built by the TVA, and you can tell.

I was really glad I kept hiking instead of staying at the “Hilton.” The evening light was lovely as I passed the dam and entered Smokey Mountain National Park, and once inside the park I didn’t see another hiker until I hit camp. I did do my first mile or so of night hiking on the trail, which was fun. Being in the Smokeys, I did assume anything I heard walking around was a bear. Shout-out to Aaron, who saw me looking around confused with my headlamp once I got here and led me to an available campsite. This place has a confusing layout during the day, but at night it was near impossible to see where the little site trails were.

4/21 Mile 189.8

Big wildlife day today! Just out of camp I saw a bobcat! He was directly on the trail, a little bigger than my cat Ollie, except with a little bobtail and ear tufts. He sped up and trotted away from me down the trail when he saw me. I also saw my first two bears of the trail! They were just past Rocky Top (stellar views there, by the way). I saw them through some trees and underbrush, and as soon as they saw me they grunted and took off in the opposite direction, so most of what I saw of them is their rear ends as they ran off. Today was my first time seeing either bears or a bobcat in the wild!

The Smokies are a wondrous place for solo hiking. This was some of the most uninterrupted solo hiking I’ve had on this trail, and it felt pretty magical. Huge environmental diversity here; the forest feels so old growth and lush, but then there are areas up above 5,000 feet that feel almost like high desert.

Also, for anyone who wonders about my reading habits out here, yes I do choose books by weight. I finished the first book I brought with me a few days ago. I passed it along to Josh, who had mentioned that he wanted it next. Since he’s a little bit behind me right now, I left it in the logbook box in a shelter that I knew he’d be passing the next day, then texted him to let him know where it was. My next book had to be something I could find at the Nantahala Outdoor Center (I checked the hiker box for anything abandoned first, a friend found a copy of 1984 in a hiker box once). Since my options were mostly things like hardback copies of A Walk in the Woods and guides to edible mushrooms, I ended up going with Walking With Spring, Earl Shaffer’s memoir of the very first AT thru hike, back in 1948. Seems appropriate.