Sunday, May 1:

What a beautiful day to hike (no rain!) into Fontana Dam, North Carolina, and the Fontana Hilton. We hiked through Hogback Gap, Cody Gap, Yellow Creek Gap, Black Gum Gap, and Walker Gap, - in all, 11.6 miles – into Fontana. The Fontana Hilton is one of the nicer shelters on the AT – two story, sleeps 20, and is very close to restroom facilities and showers at the Fontana Dam. It overlooks the lake.

Fontana Dam is the highest Dam in the eastern U.S., at 480 feet. It was built by the Tennessee Valley Authority back during the 1940’s, to tame the wild Little Tennessee River. The Trail crosses over the Dam, leading into the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.

We went into Fontana Village to do our laundry and got some ice cream before we resupplied at the General Store. I got some Raviolis to take back to the Shelter for dinner. Then we went to the Outfitters to get some fuel and returned back to the Shelter to eat. What a beautiful view out the back of the Shelter, onto the lake. Very peaceful and quiet. Jack and I were the only ones there until about 7:00 p.m. when Happy Feet arrived. He did 13 miles today which is unbelievable for him since he has such bad eyesight

You have to have a permit before entering the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, so don’t forget to get your permit at the “Hilton”, and don’t forget that you can’t take dogs, or any pets, into the Smokies.

Monday, May 2:

We had to go back into town today on the $1 shuttle to get Jack’s maildrop before heading out. Then we headed North into the Smokies. The Trail ascends Shuckstack Mountain, and we are on our way to Mollie’s Ridge Shelter which is about 10.6 miles.  It did not rain today, but it was very cold – about 40 degrees. There were only a couple of other hikers at the Shelter – one was a retired Marine Major and the other hiker was about fifteen minutes behind us on the Trail. He had come across a rattlesnake. I do not like snakes of any kind or creed so I was plenty glad to have been ahead of him.

Mollies Ridge Shelter has been renovated since I was here in 2003. It now has a covered porch with benches. If you followed me before, you will recall that this area was named for a Cherokee maiden who froze to death looking for a lost hunter and her ghost still roams around here. It can get pretty scary if it rains because this Shelter has a tin roof.

Tuesday, May 3:

Guess what! There is no rain again this morning. I ate my breakfast (Pauline’s favorite – Poptarts!) and headed out for Devil’s Tater Patch. Wouldn’t it be interesting to know how that name came about. We got through Little Abrams Gap and on our way to Rockytop (remember that song?) and Thunderhead Mountains. The view along here is really something to remember. The deep valleys and farmland surrounded by mountains in the background. Thunderhead Mountain summit is one of the grassy balds in this area.

I don’t know whether you become a creature of habit the second or third time you hike the AT but I have basically stayed in the same shelters that I did in 2003. Not by planning, but it just happened that way. Like the last three – Brown Fork Gap, Fontana Hilton, Mollies Ridge Shelter – and tonight I will be at Derrick Knob Shelter. Probably it’s the mileage – I’m hiking about the same pace as I did in 2003. (Still no rain today!)

It’s just Baltimore Jack and I this morning. The Okies – Josh and Brock – are behind us somewhere. They are really taking it easy, but that’s okay. You do what you can do. We did run into some Southbound Section Hikers, but I have really been amazed at the lack of hikers on the Trail. Is it because I started late – in April – or have more hikers than usual dropped off – or maybe there were no as many hikers this year as in 2003.

We had a really good day. Had some tortillas, cheddar cheese, and hot sauce for lunch, and several bite size Snickers bars for dessert. Then we headed on to Beechnut Gap, Mineral Gap, and Sugar Tree Gap, and got to our final destination – Derrick Knob Shelter about 5:00. All total – 11.7 miles.

Jack hikes pretty slow. I could pick it up a bit, but I really like hiking with him so I go at his pace. He is a walking, talking dictionary of the AT. Well, now we start thinking about what’s for dinner. Probably Mac and Cheese. You know, some people bring along recipes for different meals and ingredients for fancy cooking, but it doesn’t last long. It’s just too much trouble. If we are only a few days between towns and hostels, we might bring a coke and some fruit which we eat the first day so that we don’t have to carry it more than a few hours. Sometimes, if we are in places where you can build a fire and don’t have to cook on the soda pop stove, we might bring beef, onions, potatoes, and carrots and cook a really good communal meal. But that might be only once or twice the entire hike.

Other hikers are coming in – let’s hope our night’s sleep is not disruptive.

Wednesday, May 4:

Not a pleasant night. There were four other hikers at the Shelter, and one was snoring so loud that about midnight Jack took his bedroll and went outside. About fifteen minutes later, I went outside. We were glad to be up and moving on this morning.

I’m glad I’m not a coffee drinker. Jack gets up early and makes his coffee, and I sleep.
I get up, pack my sleeping bag, grab a breakfast bar, power bar, or Poptart, and go. We are heading out towards Sam’s Gap, Buckeye Gap, and Silers Bald (mountain). The AT rises above 5,000 feet here and stays that way for about 34 miles. This is the longest stretch above 5,000 feet on the Trail.

From Silers Bald to Clingsman’s Dome, the Trail is narrow and twisty. It is the highest point on the Appalachian Trail at 6,643 feet. Thomas Clingman, whom the mountain is named after, was a Senator from Tennessee and he had a dispute with a Professor from North Carolina as to which state had the highest peak. Mount Mitchell in North Carolina was about 40 feet higher. The Professor won, but he fell off the mountain. He is now buried on Mount Mitchell.

Remember the great picture I got on Clingman’s Dome in 2003 which is posted on my 2003 Journal – I think the week of 03/31/03 or 04/07/03. I took some pictures here as I have been doing since I started and have mailed the disc to my “long suffering” sister-in-law. Hopefully, she will get them posted in the next week or so and then you can see the can of Pork and Beans I carried around the first day..

IT IS VERY SUNNY TODAY! Lots of tourists at Clingman’s Dome. There is one very annoying hiker here today, we have run into him quite often lately. Jack is going to have to get a move on so we can get ahead on him.

We hike 13.5 miles today and stopped at Mt. Collins Shelter for the night. This Shelter is in a thick spruce thicket, and there is a beautiful creek with small waterfalls on a blue blaze on the Sugarland Mountain Trail. Time for dinner – Chicken Fried Steak, mashed potatoes, salad, Sweet Tea, apple pie.

I was just dreaming while eating my Lipton Teriyaki Noodles.

Thursday, May 5:

Today it is raining again, but we are 2.8 miles from Newfound Gap. The drop from Clingman’s Dome into Newfound Gap is about 1,500 feet. When you count each mountain top and gap from Fontana to Newfound Gap, that is about 9,000 feet we hiked in four days.

We are going to hitch into Gatlinburg, Tn. I missed this pleasure trip in 2003 so Jack and I thought we owed it to ourselves to get a motel room, sleep on a real bed, and eat real food for a day or so. We had no trouble getting a hitch and were in Gatlinburg by 11:30 a.m.

We got a motel room and grabbed a burger and fries before heading to the Library to check e-mail and my messages from all of you out there. If there is anything you want to know about life on the Trail, let me know. This is a real touristy town. We walked around for a while and then did some laundry and got all nice and clean for dinner.

We went to Shoney’s AYCE and All You Can Eat, we did! Meat loaf, mashed potatoes, green beans, Sweet Tea, then some French fries and Macaroni and Cheese (the good kind, homemade and not from a package). My Mom thinks I’m crazy – I love potatoes and since I was little and went out to eat after Church on Sunday – I would order mashed potatoes and baked potato for lunch.

We headed back to our room to watch some TV and get some rest and drink a few Mountain Dews.

Friday, May 6:

We had no trouble getting a hitch out of Gatlinburg. Back on the Trail, we ran into a Section Hiker that had a stash of Guiness Beer. Jack was very glad to see him. Next is Charlie’s Bunion.

Back in 1929, Charlie Conner and Horace Kephart, both AT pioneers, came across the spot that was created by a landslide after a big rain storm. They thought it looked like a bunion on Charlie’s foot, hence the name. I have a good picture of this which will be posted soon. The slate makes up much of the ridge in the Smokies.

Beyond here are the Sawteeth Mountains – a narrow ridgetop that has steep cliffs on both sides. We hiked 14.9 miles today and stopped at Peck’s Corner Shelter. This Shelter was renovated in 2000 and now has a covered porch with benches. The Trail makes an abrupt right turn here where there are steep slopes and a steeper cliff so it is a good place to stay the night.

There are several Southbounders here, and all of them have mousetraps. They used peanut butter on the traps and caught about twelve mice. Very nice of them.

Saturday, May 7:

Today, I hiked 23 miles – I think this might be my longest day so far this year. Last year we stayed at Mountain Momma’s (remember the little pink cabin we stayed in – see pictures in 2003 Journal). Carolyn and John Thigpen run this wonderful hostel where they serve one of the best breakfasts on the Trail. They are very hospitable people, and you can do yourself a favor staying here.

However….. in 2003, after staying the night here, we ran into very bad weather the next morning, and you have to cross Pigeon River where the water was waist high and we had a very scary experience crossing this River holding onto a cable that we stretched across the water. We were all soaking wet, and it was about 40 degrees and had started snowing when one of the guys remembered a hostel - Standing Bear Hostel - only about 200 yards off the Trail that was not on the Data Book at that time. That hostel probably saved our lives, and Curtis and Marie who own the hostel are just great.

So I decided to bypass Mountain Momma’s and go on to Standing Bear Hostel. Jack decided to camp at Pigeon River. One reason I like Standing Bear is that Curtis also owns a Mexican restaurant in Newport Gap and he drives us there for dinner. We had a great Mexican food meal, and I enjoyed seeing Curtis and Marie again.

My buddies – Reststep, Beekeeper and Hatteras were here in 2003, along with BamBam, Nuke, Mylo, and Lady Bug whom I hiked with a long way back then. I have a lot of good memories of all those guys and was really surprised to see that Reststep left me a message on my Guestbook recently. I would like for my hike to somehow cross their section hike this year but I don’t know that it will work out that way.

This is an interesting story – While I was at Miss Janet’s last October (2004) after the Gathering, I met a hiker named Gnome Sherpa. Before starting his hike and while in Florida, he “borrowed” a gnome from someone’s house, carried it in his backpack, and took pictures of it at all the interesting places on the Trail and mailed the pictures back to the owner, whom he did not know. So the owner had great pictures of his gnome hiking the AT. Gnome Sherpa was at Standing Bear Hostel while I was there, and he told me he is going to Europe this year and is taking the gnome so he can take pictures of the gnome in Europe for its owner.

Well, I will sleep well tonight with a full stomach of Chimichangas and nachos and meet up with Jack tomorrow and head for Max Patch.

I was hoping to be hiking with Bgone and Appalachian Annie this year, but a surgery and a hospitalization kept them from the Trail. Good to hear from you, Annie, and also Bgone and you two keep in touch so I will know if you are getting any hiking in.

I was very glad to hear from an old friend, Babs Evers, in my favorite town of New Orleans. Let me know how you like your Antigravity Gear Tinman special (soda pop stove). I wouldn’t use anything else. Glad to see you are getting a lot of Section hiking in. Let me hear about your Pearisburg hike. If you get to Harpers Ferry, be sure and visit the Outfitters and tell Ron and Laura I said hello. I will stay with them again this year when I get there.

And a big, big hello to Doc, Llama, and Coy – Jack and I are really enjoying the Trail. The second time is better – you are not so uptight and you have had the chance to work all the kinks out. I can’t believe how light my pack is this year compared to 2003.

My ex-bossman checked in with me on my Guestbook – George Handy from Mountain Sports in Arlington, Texas. They have the best sports equipment store off the Trail, and I loved my time working there.

Next week its Max Patch and Hot Springs and hopefully on in to Miss Janet’s in Erwin, Tn. Ya’ll be good, and leave me plenty of messages so I won’t get too homesick.

Your friend, a full and sleepy Mountain Dew.