Fontana Parking?
Best (safest) place to leave car at Fontana for 3-4 days?
Parking lot right at the dam. Parked there several times, several days. Some drive over the dam and follow road (AT) into park and park at or near the trail head. Saves about 3/4 mile hike across dam and into the park. I feel more comfortable at the dam.
Kerosene Charlie
Park at the dam/visitor center.
If you're finishing at the Dam I would park as close to the showers (at the Visitors Center lot) as possible. I don't know if they are open 365 days a year or not but I certainly enjoyed seeing my car there when I had someone spot it for me.
Pain is a by-product of a good time.
The Fontana Dam parking lot at the visitor's center is probably the safest place to park a car anywhere on the AT.
Just to add in that I've parked there many times with no trouble.
Are the showers open there? I thought they got moved to the building near the shelter.
Fear ridges that are depicted as flat lines on a profile map.
If you have not been there, the showers are located in the lower parking lot.
Moved to building near shelter.
there is a police station of sorts really close by. nobody has ever been there any time i go but i assume its the safest place to leave it my truck for a week or so.
I chatted with an officer there last November. I joked about no cell coverage (trying to contact my wife for pick up) and he said the parking lot for the shelter has a signal. He was right.Originally Posted by Star Walker
Showers: I was under the impression that the shower at the dam had been closed. I might be wrong there. I mean they already had the plumbing in place. Why close it?
I DO know that there is a nice new shower building near the shelter. My wife appreciated the shower before I got into the car.
Fear ridges that are depicted as flat lines on a profile map.
I always stay at Hike Inn (Jeff n Nancy) 828 479-3677 for a night before or after or both when in the area to hike; and they would probably let you leave a vehicle. Give em a call. Great folks.
Have they actually closed the showers at the Dam or are they still there as a back up to the shelter? I was there in September and the water to the shelter had been turned off for some reason. We showered at the dam but the way Jeff at Hike Inn explained it they were trying to get it to where people didn't shower at the damn dam.
No man should go through life without once experiencing healthy even bored solitude in the wilderness, finding himself depending solely on himself and thereby learning his true and hidden strength.
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