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| Spring Beauties |
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| Renata at the start |
Starting Point: Fontana
Destination: Mollies Ridge Shelter
Today’s Miles: 11
Total Miles: 11
We leave Standing Bear at and arrive at Fontana Dam at . Along with us for the ride is Backyard Boogie, a retired truck driver who has just finished a training hike to prepare for hiking the Pacific Crest Trail and is heading back home. Curtis’ stepson Ian drives us. He is a quiet college student from East Tennessee State
We fill out our camping permit at the visitor center and start to walk across the dam. On the far side of the dam lies the entrance to the Smokies, but there was just a little sign there to commemorate the start of our hike. As we take some more pictures, two thru hikers, Spot and Dan, stride past us. They are not being unfriendly; they are simply hiking at a swift pace. They are much too fast for AK, Jenni and I to keep up, but not too fast for Janet! I can see her fall into conversation with them as they charge up the trail. This would be her pace for the rest of the week.
It is an understatement to describe the climb up from the Dam as difficult. I fall way behind both Jenni and AK, but they are having a rough time too. This is much harder than I had expected. I had been working out and doing training hikes for weeks, and I expected it to be easier than this.
We climb from 1775 feet to 4020 feet over 3.9 miles to Shuckstack Mountain
We walk another 2 miles and stop for lunch near the Birch Spring Gap campsite. Here we meet Carl, a ridge runner. Ridge runners are employed by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC). The ATC employs three ridge runners in the park. They hike back and forth between their assigned shelters, monitoring the trails and the shelters, picking up trash, and educating hikers about the park rules. They live on the trail for 5 days each week. Carl checks our permit and asks about our shelter reservations. He is very helpful and cheerfully answers our questions. We later find out that Carl is 70 years old.
At lunch we also meet Spot and Dan, Janet’s hiking companions, and Sir and Lady No-Name, a young married couple thru-hiking the trail. They are an adorable couple with whom we will share several nights on the trail. Sir carries a chair and a huge pack, but he does not seem to mind the weight. Lady smiles a lot but doesn’t say much. Sir tells us that he gets a lot of flack from other hikers for carrying the chair, which he says makes him all the more determined to keep it with them.
After lunch, the hard climbs continue, but we encounter the first of many wildflower surprises. After Doe Knob, we see a white carpet of Spring Beauties extend from both sides of the trail and into the woods. This is a ground cover of small white flowers with thin lavender stripes down each rounded petal. They are stunning. We are lucky to see them, for they only bloom for about two weeks each April.
AK has been studying Leonard Atkins’ book, Wildflowers of the Appalachian Trail. She points them out as we progress -- white and scarlet trillium, violets, mayapples, and later in the week, crested dwarf iris. Her botany lessons enhance my enjoyment of the walk.
At our shelter for the night, Mollies Ridge Shelter, I receive a rude surprise. There is no privy! Instead, there is a “toilet area”, which is a hillside with small trails and strategically placed logs. There is also a shovel at the shelter for digging cat holes. The hillside is adorned with clumps of toilet paper, or “white roses”, as Spot calls them. Disgusting. Who would think there could be something worse than a privy?
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| Inside Mollies Ridge Shelter |
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| Mollies Ridge Shelter |
At the shelter we meet Survivor Dave (whom I recognize from WhiteBlaze.net, the website I frequent for information about the AT), El Flaco,
I notice that Sir and Lady No Name and Survivor Dave have set up tents. In the Smokies, hikers are required to stay in the shelters, as opposed to sleeping in their tents. Thru hikers are allowed to tent, but only if the shelter is full. As section hikers, we must sleep in the shelter and we must have reservations.
The shelters are three sided structures, typically. In the Smokies, they have stone walls with tarps tacked on the open front to keep the wind and rain out. Inside there are two wooden platforms for sleeping (upper and lower). They sleep about 12 hikers (more if it’s raining). The floors are dirt. They usually have a fireplace, but we are not supposed to use them. They also usually have a bench or two on the inside, and benches and a narrow table on the outside under an overhang for eating and socializing. I hate sleeping in the shelters. Shelters are known to house mice and other vermin. I prefer the privacy of my own tent.
I had debated whether to bring a tent and in the end decided to bring it along in case the shelters were full. Janet brought hers too, for the same reason. Janet and I both tent this night. We debated whether we should, since the rules require us to stay in the shelter, and the shelter is not full so we have no excuse not to. But when Janet pitches her tent first, I decide to do the same. It is just so much more comfortable in the tent. It’s easier to change clothes, step out to go to the bathroom, and I don’t have to worry about mice or snoring. I never did have a problem with mice in the shelters, but I did have a bad snorer later in the week.
After we unpack and get water from the spring, we get to enjoy what I consider to be the best part about backpacking—meeting the other hikers. Since this is prime thru-hiking season, many of the hikers we meet have started in Georgia Maine
Survivor Dave, for example is a beefy guy with large tattoos on both his calves. He used to be a chef. So was El Flaco. Mark Trail is from Florida Mark Trail Mark Trail
Also with Mark is Sweet Tea, a blond woman about our age from Dothan , Alabama Chihuahua perched on top of her waist pack. She skipped the Smokies last year because of the weather and is hiking just the Smokies this year.
Mark is in his element at the shelter. He carries a huge external frame pack that reminds me of Mary Poppins’ carpet bag. But instead of pulling out a lamp and a bird, he retrieves a large pot and makes us all popcorn, complete with butter and salt. We are amazed and we snap pictures, much to Mark's delight. Some people hike for the challenge, others for the solitude, still others to enjoy the scenery, the wildlife, the birds or the flowers. But I think Mark likes the company more than anything. By the way, he's doing his own blog, which is being published by his hometown newspaper in Jacksonville, Florida. Check it out here
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| Mark Trail and Sweet Tea |
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| El Flaco |
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| Mark Trail making popcorn |
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| Moon rising over Mollies Ridge |
