Bama➡️Baxter Day 47 & 48

Day 47: 8.4 miles

This morning I woke up around 6:30 am and we were walking by 7 am. There were only 8.4 miles to go to get to the Fontana Dam Marina. And at one point yesterday when we got service I was able to call and book a room for us at the Fontana Dam Lodge for tonight. I was really looking forward to some rest.

The trail was mostly downhill to the marina other than one or two good sized climbs. So we cruised along for the first few miles and then stopped at a shelter to take a break. After sitting there for just a second a guy came up to us and started to quickly talk to us. It didn’t take long for all of us to feel uncomfortable from the interaction. He wasn’t necessarily a scary guy, but he certainly made us all feel weird. Maybe if I was alone rather than with the guys I may have felt differently.

That doesn’t happen a lot on trail but when it does I usually try to get out of those situations quickly. I looked over at Tom who gave me a look, and then immediately started to put his pack back on. We didn’t get to take much of a break or anything and just got right back to walking. You meet so many people out here and they’re pretty much all amazing people. So when you meet one who makes you feel uncomfortable or unsafe it’s always a surprise. We all got our packs on and then had to do the final long stretch of uphill for the day. I guess he was a good motivator.

After that we walked the final miles to the Fontana marina. When we got there we went over to the store and grabbed some goodies. I got a strawberry milk, a coke, and a pepperoni hot pocket. I also asked the clerk if he knew of any shuttle services that could drive us down the road to the lodge. Lucky for us he said that a shuttle ran all day, and he could call it for us whenever we wanted to head over there.

The shuttle picked us up about 10am and it was just $3 a head to get a ride over. When we got to the lodge it was too early to check in but our friend Jay was staying too and he let us leave our packs in his room. He’s taking a couple days off trail for some shin issues.

Once we were free of our packs we all headed over to the general store nearby. We’re going to try and do the Smokies in 5 days so that we don’t have to resupply in Gatlinburg. I’m happy about the decision but I’m going to need a lot of food. I was able to get everything that I needed at the store and I tried not to get too much. I usually always have an extra day or so of food and I’d rather not carry the weight.

We were able to check into our room after we got our groceries which was great. Then all of us showered and got our clothes together to do laundry. The laundromat was over by the general store so we walked down there again. While the laundry was going I hung out with John, Jesse, Tom, and Jay. We also saw a few guys, Smoke, Tim, and Linx, who we’ve been seeing here and there. Then once it was switched to the drier we went over to the nearby restaurant for lunch. I got the most ridiculously delicious brisket reuben.

When we finished up our laundry and our lunch all of us headed back to our rooms to chill. There I got some journaling and blogging done and I got my backpack situated and food packed away. Then I chilled at the room with John and Jesse for a while and managed to be pretty productive. Later on we met up with Tom, Jay, and another hiker Cregis for dinner. All of us got cheese pizzas like little kids. We were all joking and laughing so much it made my cheeks hurt. That’s the best feeling in the world.

After dinner the three of us headed back to the room to call it a night. I laid up on my phone writing for a while and then called it a night.

Day 48: 16 miles

This morning we slept in until around 7am which felt like a treat. Then all of us got up and packed our things before heading over to breakfast at the lodge. It was one of the better buffet style breakfasts I’ve ever had. I ate way too many hash browns. While we were down in the restaurant eating Jay came and sat with us for a bit. He’s gonna take another day or two to heal up and hopefully be back to walking soon.

After all of us ate we got ready to get the shuttle back to trail. A shuttle came every day around 9am to bring hikers back to the Fontana marina. We got in the first shuttle and were back to walking right around 9:15 am. The trail was gorgeous to start off the day. We rode on a ridge for a mile around the Fontana lake. Then we passed by the Fontana “Hilton”. It’s a shelter along the AT which is also right next to a road. It is absolutely massive and has a bathroom, shower, and a charging station. We opted out of staying there last night after hearing how crazy it can get.

From there we just had a mile or so until we entered into Smoky mountains National park. At the sign all of us took pictures. Then we followed along the paved road until we got to the drop box area for Smokies permits. John, Jesse, Tom, and I took a break there and had something to eat. We knew what we were in for once we set out from our break. The entire rest of the day today we’ll be going uphill to climb into the Smokey’s.

The first stretch of the climb was about 3-4 miles long and ended at the Shuckstack fire tower. The climb was definitely long but it was just gradual enough to be tolerable. I could really feel the incline in my calves though. There were a bunch of stretches that were so steep I had to climb up on my tippy toes, which really gets your calves burning. When I got up to the top where the junction to the fire tower was everyone was taking a break. I dropped my pack and jogged up to the fire tower feeling light as feather.

The tower was super steep and open so the climb had me feeling a bit nervous. But when you got up to the top of the tower the views were 360 all around. They were some of the best views I’d seen so far on the AT. Well worth how freaky the climb down was. I could have kissed the ground when I got down.

After going up to the tower I went back down and hung out with everyone. I made a stone “600” marker there on the ground because I have officially hiked 600 miles on my Bama➡️Baxter hike. Then we all continued along to do the rest of the miles for the day. The next 4 miles were all mostly uphill as well, though felt a bit more gradual than the last few. All of us pushed on for another big climb and then took our next break.

We stopped at Mollies Ridge Shelter to take our final break of the day. There were already a good number of people set up inside. But we really wanted to get a few more miles done if we could. So we wound up pushing on until Russell Field Shelter. Of course though when we got there it was completely packed. And it’s supposed to rain tonight.

John, Jesse, and I found a place to tent outside and Tom decided to continue on to the next shelter. I set up my camp and then made dinner. Then I laid up in my tent for a while writing on my phone before finally calling it a night. It’s supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow so the three of us have decided that we’re going to set out early tomorrow morning. That way we can pack our things away nice and dry and get miles in early before the rain.