It was a packed shelter and just as on the previous night the rain began during the evening and stopped just before the day’s hike began. Matt and I both started out around 8:30 hoping to make it a quick 12 miles down the mountain and into the hotel at Fontana. It stayed foggy for the entire morning and into the afternoon meaning another day of non-evaporating sweat. The mostly downhill day was broken up by one solid mile long climb around the halfway point. I made use of my Ipod for the first time in several days and the music noticeably quickened my pace. Jon had left the shelter about at hour before us and we finally caught up to him about two miles before Fontana. Pretty good pace and mileage for being 61! While he fog began to lift it was replaced by the sound of thunder rolling in the distance. We managed to avoid the rain, but the weather still had a big impact on our day…
Matt and I had decided to split the cost of a room at the Fontana inn/resort and we were both ready for real food. The resort shuttle picked us up at the trail for three bucks and we were at the room by 2:30. We each had had a shower and were planning on ordering pizza when the lights flickered twice and power went out. The hotel initially told us that they expected power to be back sometime between 6:30 and 7:30, the pizza place was scheduled to close at 7. We also needed to do laundry and resupply at the general store. The plan was to head down the 1/4 mile to the shops around 6:30, buy with cash what we needed at the general store, hope the power came back, do laundry and order pizza. The power never came online. I got my resupply, and thankfully we found out that back at the lodge they were serving BBQ sandwiches with potato chips, on the house. We got back up there, and the first thing we asked the waitress was if there was anyway to get a second plate, even if it meant paying. There was, we paid five dollars for a second helping. It was good, but not as good or as filling as a pizza would have been. It was the first thing I’d had to eat since my meager 500 calorie breakfast at 8 am.
I got some good use out my headlamp going through the lodge tonight. I think its safe to say I’ve used it more tonight in here than the first two weeks of trail combined. It’s 9:30 and still no power. Going to have to plug in the phone and hope power comes back sometime while I sleep. Still have to do laundry before checking out the dam and heading up into the Smokies tomorrow.