Day 16

Wednesday April 22

Mile 164.7

Fontana Village, NC

Today was a short 5.5 miles down to Fontana. Woke up to a light drizzle of rain so i rolled back over for a few more minutes of sleep. It soon stopped so I got up and ready to go by 8:30. Most everyone was heading to the Hilton shelter so they were getting an early start to grab a spot.

The first mile out of camp was a long uphill but it wasn't too bad. Only had to stop a few times. Blazer and Sherpa flew up it as usual. Blue Turtle (Nicole) and I stopped near the top to talk to some section hikers.

I caught up to blazer on the ridge line and we hiked the rest of the way down together. It was a decent downhill and we flew down making great time.

We talked for most of the way about his thru hike. A lot about the mental part and adjusting to the trail. Good info from a successful thru hiker.

Got to the road and tried to hitch but no luck in 15 minutes so we called for the shuttle. It was supposed to be $3 each but nobody took our money.

Got our room and immediately took showers and cleaned and dried gear. After showers we walked to the general store with our laundry only to find out that the power was about to be cut off. So we walked down further to the pit stop and got roller food. 2 hot dogs, a sprite, and an ice cream sandwich was a great meal. Relaxed there for a while and headed back up to the store.

The power was back on so we did laundry and looked around. Ended up sending a box back home with extra food and gear. Almost sent my down jacket back but decided to keep it through the smokies.

After another ice cream we went back to the room with our clean laundry. Turned the TV on and watched Maury and Steve Wilcos. Wow. I forgot how bad those shows were yet so entertaining.

Went to eat around 6 at the restaurant. Had bacon wrapped buffalo meatloaf. Very good, once I had waited 20 minutes for ketchup. Very slow service. We are pretty sure they hated us. Many of the hikers had the same problem.

After about 2 hours there we printed our smokies permits. Waited until the last minute to get it but oh well. I'm still not happy with the fact that you can drive anywhere in the park for free but you have to pay $20 to walk through.

Blazer was looking for somewhere to sleep so we offered him the floor in our room so we are now 5 in the hotel room.

More TV when we got back to the room and I finished cleaning up my gear and everything seems to have dried out enough.

Hope for a good nights sleep and ready for a big day tomorrow entering the smokies.

Today was much better than yesterday. Feet were nowhere near as sore and did very well on the downhill. It was sunny and warm and just a very good day. Almost wished we had gone further just to take advantage of it. But the rest is very nice and for me very needed. I was thinking about taking a zero tomorrow but I think I will feel good enough in the morning to start the smokies.

I have 5+ days of food so my pack will be heavy and stuffed full. I had to send some of my food home since I couldn't carry it all. I will be able to get it when I go home in 2 weeks.

Can't wait to see the Smokies in the morning!