#4: Franklin to Fontana Dam

3/26: We woke up early so we could grab a free pancake breakfast from a church before we hit the trail. As we were riding to the breakfast, our friend Doc, who we hung out with the day before, gave me (Emily), a trail name! He came in the van and said “hi Hawk!” because he heard that I was good friends with Herky the Hawk in college. I’m so excited! I was worried it was going to be something terrible like Night Pee or something embarrassing, but Hawk is a cool name. After eating way too many pancakes, we took the shuttle to Winding Stair Gap from Franklin and started back on our way. It was a tough climb at first, but we knocked out 11 miles altogether. Plus we passed the Wayah Bald Watch Tower, which was our highest point yet. Once we got to camp, we saw Turtle! So of course we had a fire and Kori and I ate couscous for dinner around it. And then we went to bed around 8 because that’s just our bedtime now.

The view from Wayah Bald Watch Tower

3/27: It was another cold morning in the shelter. We got hiking around 8:30 and warmed up, stopped for water and got cold again, so we started hiking as soon as we filtered. We hiked 8 miles to Tellico Gap and took a lunch. There we met a couple who had thru hiked in 2016 and now they were hiking their first loop with their 8 month old baby who they were carrying in a pack. They gave us some advice about the next resupply points and we said hi to their baby. Coming out of the gap, there was 1.6 mile incline which kicked our butts that late in the day. But there was a watchtower at the top, and we climbed the stairs to look at the mountains rolling into the horizon. After the watchtower though, there was a downhill that also kicked our butts, but we made it into the shelter around 3:30ish. That night we had ramen bombs and talked by the fire until we went to sleep to rest up for another great day.

3/28: We slept in! The shelter had a long overhang and was in just the right position in the gap between mountains that the sun did not wake us up until 8am! Once we started moving we were excited for the easy 5.7 downhill to the Nantahala Outdoor Center. It was neither easy or all downhill. There were very short but steep inclines and large boulders to climb down. We reached the NOC and got our resupply box we had mailed to ourselves via amazon prime pantry and printed our permits for the Smoky Mountains National Park. We got a huge lunch at the restaurant right on the Nantahala River and sat on the porch so we could hear the river as we ate a Greek pizza with chicken and a jalapeño chicken sandwich. We made our way to the general store for snacks and ice cream. Sadly we were disappointed to only find 3 hot pockets left in there ice cream freezer. We met up with some friends from past shelters Salutations, Aria, and Paws. We were debating hiking on when they told us about a free place to camp on the river. Following their directions we hiked down the railroad tracks, around a gate, and on to a side trail to find some beautiful tent spots. Afterwards, we hung out with them as we cooked our dinner and shared stories around a fire. We also helped eat their bbq potato chips :) Overall, it was nice to not push as many miles and take it easy, because tomorrow is all uphill (literally). As we were blogging for the night, we heard something outside of our tent, so Kori opened it up to check and it was a gigantic toad! Luckily not a bear, so we’re ok mom!

The Nantahala River from our campsite

3/29: We left the NOC at around 9 and from then we just kept climbing. We hiked up about 2700 feet in elevation over 7 miles. Sometimes it got so steep that it felt like we were climbing a ladder. We clambered over rocks and fallen trees that we called “trail hurdles”. The rocks also moved, so that was a fun surprise when we stepped on them, but our trekking poles helped us keep our balance. Even though it was a tough day, there were tunnels of rodedendrum that we passed through that offered a respite from the sun, and it felt good to stop and eat lunch on some rocks. Once we got to the shelter, we stretched for a good while and set up our sleeping pads. It was Mediterranean curry couscous for dinner and another campfire to close out the night.

3/30: Another big day even though we didn’t hike big miles. Our legs were still sore from yesterday, so hiking sometimes felt like trudging. On the upside, we met the cutest little puppy who was in her first big hike with her family. There was a long, winding downhill to Stacoah Gap where we planned to eat lunch and it felt like we weren’t getting any closer to the road as we walked the switchbacks alongside the mountain. That isn’t to say we weren’t grateful for the switchbacks, because it’s better than straight downhill, but it was demoralizing feeling like we were getting nowhere. Then we glimpsed the gap through the trees, and we saw a picnic table! And chairs! There was trail magic at the gap! We BUSTED down the rest of that mountain and the kind trail angels made us veggie burgers and we ate potato chips, bananas, oranges, cake, cookies, donuts, jelly beans, and each had a pop. Ahhhh the thru hiker diet. With all that fuel, we were able to slowly clamber up one last big climb for the day called “Jacob’s Ladder” (usually they don’t have names). I swear it was 90 degrees uphill, with log stairs every 50 feet for a half mile. Our legs were burning, but we made it into Brown Fork Gap Shelter at around 3:30. We ate dinner (cheesy pasta) and went to bed hoping to heal our aching joints before tomorrow.

3/31: It stormed through the night, but luckily we stayed dry and warm in the shelter. When we woke up, it was snowing! The snow didn’t stick to the trail, but as we hiked, it stuck to the leaves and the undergrowth in the woods. It was beautiful, but we couldn’t stop for too long or else we’d get cold. We decided that morning that we were heading to Fontana Dam a day early because it was supposed to get down to 22 degrees that night and we planned to crash with a few other hikers in a hotel room for the night. So instead of the 9 miles we planned to hike, we were going to do 11 and a half. Our feet were tired as we clambered down the rocky trail that went to the dam. On the way there were breathtaking views of the dam and the lake, and flowers were starting to bloom on the sides of the trail. We finally made it down and called a shuttle to get to the hotel. There we met River Pickle, Zen Dragon, and Glen. Kori and I still had too much extra food so we boiled water and cooked one of our dinners outside. It wasn’t as good as margaritas, but it saved us money! We watched MSU beat Duke, which was an awesome game, and went to bed happy and ready for a zero day!

The flowers!

So that’s where we’ve been so far! We’re staying in Fontana an extra day to rest up before the Smokies, which are notorious for bad weather, but whatever those mountains throw at us, we’ll just keep hiking through!

Happy trails! :)