Days 12-13 Update

Not sure where I left off...but here goes...

Left NOC on March 22nd at 9:30 am after a huge breakfast. I ended up having 4 meals there...pretty good considering it was a "nero" day there.  The climb up - 8 miles with 3,000 foot elevation was suppose to be very tough but turned out not to be so bad.  So Nero, Shoe Fly, Jake, Battle Cat, Shepard and I decided to continue on down to Brown Fork Gap Shelter.  Big mistake.  The trail was much harder the last 8 miles vs. the first 8 miles...it ended with Jacob's Ladder which was almost hand over foot.  Very difficult...kept saying "what were we thinking?!". Then when we got to the shelter there was no room in the shelter and no campsites around the shelter (they didn't exist).  Moved on down the path and found a campsite in a saddle and set up my tent on the edge of the trail.  VERY windy that night...tent held up but I did not sleep much since the wind was howling and the trees were creaking.  Also, at 12:30 I remembered that I had an orange in my pack and I debated what I should do about it.  Do bears like oranges?  Do they smell oranges unpeeled?  Should I take a chance?  I decided to get up, walk down the path and heave it into a deep valley (since it's natural).  Didn't want to take my bear bag down from the tree in the middle of the night just for an orange - regardless of how special it was to have it.  Also should add that I saw my first snake today - just a 2 foot garder snake.

Day 13 - Up at 8:15 - sleepless night so thought I should have a hot breakfast given the long hard hike the day before and no sleep.  Good news:  we are going to make Fontana Dam today!  Budgeted two to three nights during this section and it only took us one night!  Got to Fontana Dam at 2:30 pm....fairly easy down hill climb.  Decided to check into the lodge here to recoop a bit and get a good nights sleep - rate is $59.00 so not too bad.  Most others are at the Fontana Hilton Shelter - a shelter with restrooms and showers.  Met up with Skid - a 55 year old writer that has down about 10,000 miles on the trail.  Had dinner with him - chicken wings and chicken fried steak with mash potatoes.

Day 14 - today - have to get more food today - slim pickens so I am a little nervous about what's available.  Headed into the Smokies at about 11:00 am this morning - another big climb up.  Smokies are a huge psychological hurdle for me for some reason.  Feel like yesterday was a HUGE milestone to get to Fontana Dam and the Smokies will be the next big hurdle.  Pack is sure thinning out right now and it appears that what remains are the serious hikers.  On a bell curve, it seems like my pace is now in the bottom quartile whereas a week ago I was in the top quartile.  I am fine with this, just interesting to see the change in the nature of the trail.  Speaking of which, it was really cool to see plant life!  As we were coming down to Fontana Dam you could see the beginnings of some small plant life leafing out...small at first, then as we got down to lower elevations, beginning to bloom.  Also saw much more evidence of poison ivy!

I missed a huge thurderstorm yesterday afternoon (got in before it) but Sky, Tree Frog and a few others got hit as they were coming down.  Forecast is for more of the same in the coming days.  We have been most fortunate thus far so I guess it's payback time!

All is well generally.  Legs are very tired.  Right leg is generally non-functional and old bisters continue to heal while new hot spots continue.  I can see that I might beable to grow a beard...pretty scary looking right now, but it has potential.  Can tie my hair up yet, but am combing (with fingers) my hair back.  Weight?  Would have to guess I have lost about 5lbs.  Mental state:  generally positive on the trail...great conversations in the evening help but sleeplness nights make it lonely.

Thanks for your continued support...will need encouragement along the way, so keep it up!  This is the toughest thing I have every done - and it's only begun!

Crank (formerly known as Crankdaddy)