Entering the Smokies on the AT

This morning we woke up in the Cable Gap Shelter around 4:30am. I made a hot mocha, which has been a morning ritual for a while now. Then we slowly but surely got moving. Around 6am we were beginning the day with the mile or so climb out of the shelter. Then we had a few relatively easy hills to climb before dropping down into Fontana.

Cable Gap Shelter before Fontana Dam.

Yesterday Punisher’s inner knee started bothering him. So I wasn’t sure what the day was going to hold. Originally our goal was to do a quick resupply at the marina at Fontana. Worst case scenario we would get a ride down the road to the general store if the marina was closed. Then would hike out and enter into the smokies. We were hoping to do a 30 mile day, which would entail well over 8,000 feet of vert. 

The sun beginning to rise as we made our way toward Fontana.

But because his knee was still hurting him this morning, I was keeping the plans flexible in my mind. If I was the one hurting then I might want to take a day off to rest. Especially before heading into steep terrain for the next couple of days. I know from previous ITB and inner knee tendinitis that flare up’s can happen fast. And the more irritation that you cause, the longer it takes to calm back down. Taking a day off early on is a sure fire way to prevent yourself from taking additional zeros in the future. If an injury or tendinitis flares up too much then it can take days to calm back down.

Punisher up ahead along the trail.

We only had a couple hours of hiking before we made the final descent down to Fontana. Then headed down toward the marina, which would hopefully have everything we needed. I asked to see if Punisher’s knee was still giving him problems. And he said it was just as bad as yesterday, maybe even a little worse. That had me thinking that we might want to take the rest of the day off. That’s what I would probably do if I was in that situation at least.

The marina by Fontana dam.

When we got to the marina it was in fact open. But unfortunately they don’t begin stocking snacks and food this early on in the season. I remember that in early April of 2023, the store was loaded with snacks, drinks, and microwaveable items. But today there were only a few drinks and a single bag of chips. That wasn’t going to cut it. I didn’t need much food to resupply, but Punisher definitely needed at least a little bit.

The Fontana marina.

The guy at the marina was nice enough to call a shuttle for us because we didn’t have service. The lodge and general store are only a mile or two down the road, which isn’t too bad. So we headed back up toward the parking lot to wait for the shuttle. It only took maybe 10-15 minutes for a nice woman to arrive and pick us up. She was more than happy to help us out, and we really appreciated it.

Before we got into the car I asked Punisher if he might want to just chill out today. Give his knee some time to calm down and maybe resolve itself. Especially with a day full of stretching, exercises, and rest. So that was definitely a possibility. But we hadn’t fully decided on anything. Fortunately we had some options. Fontana Dam isn’t the most expensive place to stay, but it’s certainly no $65 room. If we were going to take the day off I was definitely leaning towards getting a room. But there is also the Fontana Hilton. A really nice shelter that has a water fill station and charging hook ups. So we could always spend the day by the lodge and then camp at the shelter. We’ll just have to see how it all plays out.

Outside of the general store and laundromat near the Fontana lodge.

We got dropped off right by the general store which was perfect. Then headed inside to do a small resupply and grab some breakfast. I only got flavor packets and hot chocolate for my resupply. I still have plenty of food for 2-3 days of hiking through the smokies. What I did get at the store though was a Yoo-hoo, chocolate milk, a hot coffee, and a cinnamon roll. There was a microwave too so I was able to heat up the cinnamon roll. After I demolished it I was still hungry. So I got a sausage biscuit to round things out.

Then sipped on my coffee while I used WiFi to get my daily blog and video uploaded. Today is also YouTube editing day for me. My weekly vlogs always end on a Tuesday. Which gives me Wednesday to edit everything, and allows me to upload on Thursday’s. But I know I’ll be too busy tomorrow to do any editing. So I got everything finalized and then just uploaded the video on “private”. That way I can just make it public when I get service tomorrow. And it won’t take long to do any editing or uploading.

The water by Fontana dam.

I was dillydallying a bit as I did all of this work. Because in my mind I was thinking we were probably taking the day off. But the weather today looks absolutely perfect. So Punisher really didn’t want to take a day off. He just did as much stretching and exercising as he could. Then we figured we’d hike out and do a shorter day if his knee continued to hurt.

That meant I had to speed up my editing and video work a bit. I managed to finished everything and set myself up for tomorrow. I’ll only need a brief moment of service to get my vlog uploaded tomorrow. By the time that you’re reading this blog, my week 8 vlog should be up on YouTube, @madisonblagden.

While we were in the general store one other hiker came in. His name was Zach and he recognized the two of us. Apparently a friend of his sent him one of our Instagram videos. Zach was super nice and we chatted with him for a little bit. Then got packed up and ready to hike out. The woman at the general store kindly offered to drive us back down the road. They usually have a designated guy who runs the shuttles. But he came down with a migraine and was hardly able to see, let alone drive.

It was just before 11am when we got back to the parking lot where we had been picked up. We had killed a little more than 2 hours at Fontana Dam, but that was ok! We’ll still be able to make it pretty far today. Significantly further than if we had stayed at Fontana for the night.

Leaving the parking lot we had a very small climb which brought us up to a ridge. We were overlooking the dam and water below. Then just continued to cruise along the narrow trail until we arrived at the Fontana Hilton. There was a water station there like the kind you would see at the gym. So we filled up and then continued on. Inside the shelter there was a sign about trail magic up in the parking lot. We were hoping that it wasn’t just an old sign and there might actually be someone there.

Grape’s sick van and epic trail magic set up! It was so cool to finally meet him.

When we walked up I was shocked to see it was Grape! A hiker who yo-yo’d the AT in 2024. He had this sick sea foam green Subaru van imported from Japan. And had a full set up there to help hikers. Grape was making pepperoni pizza tortillas which sounded amazing. And he had his dog Loaf with him. Who was the sweetest thing!

A pepperoni pizza tortilla made by the one and only Grape!

The other hiker Zach was there enjoying some trail magic. We joined him and began talking with him and Grape. Grape made all of us a pizza tortilla which was delicious.

We hung out for well over a half an hour, eating and chatting with Grape. Then after a while we decided we needed to hike out and get some miles in. Zach packed up right as we did as well. When we left the parking area all of us walked together down road. We had a couple miles of road before we would hit the actual trail leading into the smokies.

Entering into the Smokies!

Right around 12:30pm we turned off the road and officially entered into the smokies! That meant we had a whole lot of climbing to do. The climb off of the road wasn’t too bad. It started pretty steep but leveled out after a while. Then we would climb for a bit, and be rewarded with a short stretch of flat or downhill. That continued for the next hour or two, until we got closer to the fire tower. Then there was a steep climb going up to the spur trail for the tower. Last time I was here I climbed the side trail to the tower. But I just couldn’t be bothered this time around. Depending on where we wind up tonight, it has the potential to be a really long day. Punisher’s knee feels totally fine now after a couple ibuprofen and some stretching. So we can go as far as we’d like.

We officially got into the Smokies around 12:30pm.

After passing by Shuckstack fire tower the trail dropped down and leveled off a bit. Then we began another climb up to Doe Knob not long after that. We hadn’t hit a water source since the Fontana Hilton shelter, so we were hoping to pass by one soon. Early into the climb up to Devil’s Tater Patch we passed a water source. It was just off the trail so we had to climb down to it. But it was the only water for a while so we had to do it. Then we continued up to the top which was a pretty long climb. The grade was comfortable enough though to just keep going all the way up. We passed by a shelter and I was surprised to see it was empty. I was expecting to run into some hikers today, but not yet.

The first climb up into the Smokies.

After we got up to the top of that next climb we got to descend for a while. Then began another fairly gradual climb for a bit. It got steeper and steeper though as we continued on. When we passed by the Russel Field Shelter it seemed like the perfect place to take an early dinner. We’d made the decision to push out about 31 miles today. With our late start today it’s going to be a very late night tonight to get to our intended shelter.

I could feel myself getting irritable as we chugged along the trail. And knew that it was just because I was wildly hungry. So rather than pushing on a little further, we decided to stop off for a break when we were about 9 miles out from camp for the night. I was ravenous and ate a pulled pork packed and tortilla, and a huge hunk of cheese. We still had hours of walking to go so I knew I needed to fuel up as much as I could.

The weather today was absolutely perfect. I couldn’t ask for much more as we entered the Smokies.

After I ate I felt a lot better and was ready to push on. It was already 6:30pm when we left that shelter. So we knew we wouldn’t be getting to camp until well after 9pm. But it would help to make our lives a bit easier for the next couple of days. When we left that shelter there was a beast of a climb coming up. We began it just as the sun was starting to set. After a few miles we passed the spur trail for the next shelter. But just kept on going.

Right when the sun set was at its peak we passed an open area with exceptional views. The timing was absolutely perfect. Then we just kept on moving uphill for the next hour or so. The climb up to Rocky Top was such a beast. The grade was ridiculously steep and it took a lot out of me. Plus it was definitely less easy to navigate in the dark. The climb was super rocky up top, as the name might indicate.

Beginning one of the longer climbs of the day up to Rocky Top.

But after we got up to the top the climbing wasn’t over yet. We dropped down briefly and then had to do another rocky steep climb to get up to Thunderhead Mountain. By this point I could feel just how much elevation gain we had done for the day. We had already done over 8,500 feet for the day. And it seemed like most of the climbing was behind us. But we still had over 1,000 feet of climbing to go. And those last handful of miles were the hardest of the day.

Walking along the trail just before the sun set. Then we hiked for hours through the dark.

When we were about 3-4 miles out of camp we stopped off to get water. The source was on a spur trail which wasn’t ideal. And the water source itself was barely a trickle. It probably took us 10-15 minutes just to fill up. And I was not feeling very patient at this point in the day. I was just ready to get to camp and call it a night.

Leaving that water source we still had a few climbs to go. And each one was relatively short, but super steep and rocky. I had put some layers on because it was so cold out. But as we began the climbs I would heat up so quick and start to feel uncomfortable. Punisher was trucking along, eager to get to camp as well. So I had to push pretty well up each climb to keep pace. But I managed just fine. I was just worn out and could feel my body getting a little sore. Nothing significant had flared up, but my hips were tight from a long day of climbing.

Those few miles felt like they went on for forever. I couldn’t bear to look at my map and see how much further we had to go. So I just keep on pushing and hoped we would get there soon. We were also very hopeful that the shelter would be empty. Over the course of the day we hadn’t run into anybody. But the gap in hikers made me suspect that we might run into people at this next shelter. I would just feel bad getting in after 9pm and having to set up. And knew we would probably be getting up and out pretty early as well.

Finally around 9:30pm we made it to Derick Knob Shelter. After a long 31 mile day with just shy of 10,000 feet of elevation gain. That was brutal! It wasn’t the hardest day of hiking that I’ve ever done. But it was intense. Especially because we probably picked up the pace a lot toward the end, because we were eager to be done. My body was sore so I stretched right away. Then boiled water to eat a hot meal. Even though I was tired I knew that I needed to take down some calories.

After I ate I did some more stretching and exercises. Then managed to get some writing and video work done even though it was super late. I just knew I had to do it, no matter how tired I was. By the time that I actually turned over to call it a night it was around 11pm. What a day! Tomorrow we will probably sleep in a bit later than usual. But I know that morning will still be coming quickly.

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