4/03/01
I made it through the first AT thunderstorm early this morning when it hit at 4:45 a.m. and lasted over an hour! As I lay in the tent, snuggled in my toasty bag, I watched the lightning flash then counted the seconds until the thunder interrupted the stillness of the night. It was really cool listening to the deep rumble echo off the sides of the Smokies and the ridge we were camped on. The rain let up just long enough this morning to take the tent down. Once we hit the trail, the bottom fell out of the sky and it kept on raining all morning. Creeper couldn't move very quickly, and it was obvious to me that he was in pain despite his feeble attempt at convincing me otherwise. We hiked together, Creeper setting the pace, and managed 4 miles in 3 hours. We came to a road crossing that had a sign marking an exit point for hikers in trouble. Creeper decided it would be best to get off the trail and we separated, me continuing north on the AT, Creeper heading down a road to the "Hike In". "Oz" was at the road crossing so he and I hiked together to the Cable Gap Shelter and ate lunch. I took off again since I was cold and wet and was trying to reach the Fontana Shelter, otherwise known as the Fontana Hilton. Oz caught up to me about a mile down the trail and we hiked together all the way to Fontana.
I spent the afternoon at the "Hilton" drying out and catching up with a boatload of thru-hikers. Tonight there are 21 of us in the shelter plus a very old acquaintance of mine! Eddie Nickens who lived in my dorm at UNC is here doing a story on the Fontana "Hilton" shelter as a microcosm of life on the AT. He's spent two days and two nights interviewing hikers and capturing notes of stories about the AT for Smithsonian Magazine. Talk about a small small world! I haven't seen Eddie in 20 years and he's exactly as I remembered him. Anyway, we caught up on the college crowd. Tonight has been one big party at the shelter. It can easily hold 40 hikers as it's the last shelter before the Smokies. There are a few illegal substances floating around and it's a very happy group tonight. This is my first night sheltering and I sure picked "la crème de la crème' to hang out with the thru-hiker pack. I'm cutting the journal entry short to rejoin the party. Reminds me of the college dorm atmosphere. Happy hiking!! Stats: Lo 38 degrees, high 45. RAIN! Mileage: 12.7 Cumulative 162.8 (only 6 more miles and it's less than 2000 miles to Katahdin!)
