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View Full Version : GSMNP / Fontana Dam - My Trip Report



Omaha_Ace
09-09-2013, 14:05
Well, I'm fully back to civillized life now and ready to file my basic report of my trip from last week. I'm still working on the picture situation and will post some later.

8/31/13 - took off from Omaha at 6 AM, landed in ATL a little before 9, and my aunt Pat (aka - the hike parter) from Agusta, GA and her husband Paul met me. Hit the road, Waffle House for lunch, got to Clingman's Dome at 2pm. The plan was to meet up with Paul at Fontana at 6 pm Monday for more food and fresh clothes (we had enough food to make it easily to Wed AM if needed) Bags out, Pat and I hit the trail, spirits high. Temporarily high. Within 2 miles Pat started reporting some problems with her pack. She'd borrowed most of her gear from a friend she said is a "hardcore wilderness nut" - the nut failed to properly adjust her REI pack (which looked like a 50+10) to fit my aunt, who is 2 inches taller. I swapped her for my Osprey 38 liter pack and adjusted the REI's back panel and straps, and moved some of my pack's gear into the REI so I could handle the brunt of the load (I had around 38#, she was at about 20# in the Osprey). Aaaand, we went on down the road. Stopped at a clearing with unobstructed views North an South that I will never, ever forget. We could see Fontana Lake shimmering in the far-off valley like a magic mirror. For about another 2 miles we plodded and took too-frequent stops. Then my aunt turned to me with semi-panic in her face and told me that despite the work she'd put in (Her weekly updates to me included nearly daily 4-6 mile hikes with a loaded pack in Georgia and New Hampshire over the summer...she even vacuumed with a pack on!) she wasn't sure she would make it to Russell Field - our scheduled first shelter. It was almost 5:30 when we passed Double Spring Gap. Realizing we were'nt making Russell, I 'motivated' her to Siler's Bald to call it a night. We got there close to 7 pm. She bagged out. I cooked dehydrated chili. It was great. The 'water source' was a trickle from a pipe that I was dismayed to see people had trampled over and through, so before racking in for the night I dug two small 'pots' for water to collect in overnight. We shared the shelter with 5 folks plus two newly-weds in a tent. Thanks to epic snoring guy and a 4 AM deer for night-time excitement.

9/1/13 - Discussed the hiking speed issues with the Aunt. She looked like Hell warmed over, but to her credit she wasn't the last out of bed and did her share of camp-chores. My water-pots had worked and there was ample clear water for everyone. I did some math and figured we wouldn't make Fontana until Wednesday, and since we set our meeting for Monday afternoon we decided to head back to Clingman to call for a pick-up with the idea of staying at Fontana for the next few nights. Beautiful hike through a cloud going back up the mountain, whihc we reached at 2 pm. Then the skied opend up and vomited tremendous torrents of rain on us. I managed to convince the fine fols at the GSMNP visitor center to allow me to stow our bags in the stockroom of the center, and they directed us to a very small pocket of space at the far end of the parking lot where there was faint cell service. They even let us borrow one of their phones and an umbrella, since they knew that specific phone was often successful in making calls. It was. Paul arrived at 5:30 to get us. While we waited, we ate lunch with some other hikers (peanut butter and a bagel and half a Snickers each,) bought some souvineers, took pictures of flowers, climbed the tower, and marveled at the various languages we could hear from the tourists, some of whom I smelled worse than. Despite my wishes, we headed back to Paul's hotel in Bryson for the night. I'm glad we did. We ate at a "family style" restauraunt with EPIC fried chicken. Hot shower and something that resembled a bed were pretty nice as well.

9/2 Pat made me proud - she packed her bag and joined me on the return drive up to Fontana Dam. We were awed. Great views and a beautiful lake. We said goodbye to Paul and made camp - I was expecting a load of people at the Hilton, but there was only one older gentleman that said he'd started hiking at Amicola Falls. He looked pretty weary, but trustworthy, so we set off North to explore the dam and surrounding areas. We'd decided to set the Hilton as our base of operations for the rest of the trip for dayhiking, as Pat had pretty much thrown in the proverbial towel on the idea of hoofing it to the NOC. Looking North and South from the Fontana valley, I saw plenty of opportunity to summit the surrounding ridges, and we headed back to find a few more people had joined our temporary trail family, including brothers from Nashville who were hammocking (is that a word???) Dinner, stories, a nighttime walk over the dam, moonlit swim in the lake, bed....................mice.....on my damn feet...........

9/3/13 .....thunder, lightning, downpour.....wet hammockers (...again - a word?) - another mouse, insane laughter and lots of fun. We made breakfast and got an early start south to the Marina where Pat decided to stay to take advantage of....not hiking anymore. I headed up (and up and up) to Walkers Gap. Holy Hell. Who put the Stairmaster in the &*#$ woods? But it was very pretty and worthwhile, so I hiked a few more miles and then headed back down to the Marina around 2 for lunch. Pat said while I was gone, the guy at the marina invited her to ride shotgun to go pick up some hikers that decided to call it an early trip due to the rain earlier in the morning - all their gear had gotten soaked or washed out. I noticed that they did boat tours for $15, so we decided to go out on one. Our guide was great - he sounded just like Larry the Cable Guy and took us all over the lake, pointing out this and that, and that Jody Foster's movie "Nell" was filmed there, told us about a hermit preacher's camp...and then I saw a tower on the North ridgeline. He said it was Shuckstack Tower. I decided that was my Wednesday objective.

9/4/13 I woke up early, and on a mission - the Tower. I had given in to referring to everything in Tolkien-esque terms at this point. The Hilton was our Rivendell. The Tower would be Weathertop - the legendary lookout point. Pat joined me over the dam and to the trailhead and I made my way up, up, up for 2 1/2 hours and made it to the spur trail. It was clear and cool, and the increasingly long views helped push me along, although I will admit my quads were barking protest after about 2 1/2 miles. At the top of the spur trail, I actually spooked a doe, which did more than spook me! While it made me realize that I was hiking too quietly in bear country, it also put me at ease that I had the mountaintop to myself. Then I saw the Tower through the trees. Panoramic is almost too limited a word to express the views from the mountain. I can't think of anything to express it. You'll just have to go there to see for yourself. I ate lunch, lingered a bit, and, with a bit of sadness in knowing that my miles on the AT were coming to an end, I decended the ridge back to the dam. I met Pat at the visitor center and plopped down, exhaused, in a chair. After 15 minutes and a quick snack, we headed down to the Hilton, said goodby to the stragglers who decided to put in a Zero, and I made a final logbook entry. Paul picked us up at 4, and there my AT journey came to an end.

So, thanks to the GSMNP and TVA employees, the trail clubs, my fellow hikers, and my friends on WB who produced so much excellent advice.

Until Shenandoah...all that wander are not lost.

GSLeader_in_NC
09-09-2013, 14:51
Thanks for your trip report! It very much reminds me of mine when I first started section hiking at Springer in 2011. I had mistakenly laid out pretty aggressive schedule for my 14-year old daughter and myself... Consequently, we were adjusting it after the first night also... By my calculations, Clingman's Dome to Russell Field Shelter is 19.3 miles - a lot longer distance than I've ever been in one day; never mind in the Smokies with full packs. I am leaving for that same section mid-September... We're starting at Clingman's in the morning and headed to Derrick Knob Shelter the first night and Mollie's Ridge the second night - exiting Fontana on the third day. That's roughly 10 miles a day, and that's all that my section-hiking-legs-cubicle-residing body will handle. Glad to hear you were willing to revise your plans - to be able to roll with changes is a very good trait to possess... and I'm sure your Aunt had a better time than if she felt she had to keep up with her self-imposed death march... :)

Omaha_Ace
09-09-2013, 14:56
You know...I meant Derrick Knob. I keep doing that.

Revising the plan is part of Backpacking. Not revising the plan is part of Search-and-Rescue operations.

HooKooDooKu
09-09-2013, 15:16
I too have been trying to make some plans to hike parts of the AT between Clingman's and Fontana... so I had to chuckle quite a bit when I realized your plan was to make it to Russell the 1st night, and only got as far as Silers. I haven't been willing to try anything farther than Derrick Knob (and that's with starting WAY before 2pm). If Pat had that much problem getting to Silers, she must have REALLY been a trooper hiking back up to Clingman's Dome... that's a 1500' climb.

daddytwosticks
09-09-2013, 15:30
Clingmans to Derrick the first day. Second night spent at Mollies Ridge Shelter. Then out to my car at the Dam (and a hot shower) on day three. That made for a great hike. Watch that section from Derrick Knob Shelter to Spence Field Shelter. Way rougher than I expected. :)

Omaha_Ace
09-09-2013, 15:47
Clingmans to Derrick the first day. Second night spent at Mollies Ridge Shelter. Then out to my car at the Dam (and a hot shower) on day three. That made for a great hike. Watch that section from Derrick Knob Shelter to Spence Field Shelter. Way rougher than I expected. :)

I was hoping that we'd catch you at Fontana once I knew we were going to be getting there in a car.

And we were shooting for DERRICK not RUSSELL on day one - darn it to heck, wish I could edit that...And yes, Pat was defintely a trooper on the way back up - but she called me a "dog" as I sprinted past her up a hill at one point :D

HooKooDooKu
09-09-2013, 16:14
we were shooting for DERRICK not RUSSELL on day one - darn it to heck, wish I could edit that
:)
That makes a lot more sense, but I was unwilling to doubt you based on my abilities. There's plenty of hikers out there that would do Clingman's to Russell in a day and think nothing of it.

I must also admit that the ability to fix my typos played a part in deciding to become a "Donating Member" of White Blazes.

DandT40
09-10-2013, 10:06
Nice trip report! Sounds like you had a good time despite the change in plans. Any problems at Silers Bald since it wasn't on your permit I assume? At least you got to hike a little of the AT! Now you have a good reason to go back for another trip. :)

Omaha_Ace
09-10-2013, 16:19
Nice trip report! Sounds like you had a good time despite the change in plans. Any problems at Silers Bald since it wasn't on your permit I assume? At least you got to hike a little of the AT! Now you have a good reason to go back for another trip. :)

Thanks - it was a lot of fun. Weather played along nicely and the nearly complete lack of mosquitoes was nice too. WE didn't have any trouble in the park due to the change of plans. In fact, the staff at the visitors center were amazing and helpful well beyond the call of duty. I'm already thinking of a solo trip through Shenandoah next year since I have family in Virginia who could pick me up and drop me off.

I loved reading the shelter logbooks at night, by the way. Saw one or two names I recognized from WB, which was fun.

Omaha_Ace
09-10-2013, 16:25
Ah - also, the "Family Style" restauraunt we ate at was The Dillard House - holy gawd it was good.

HikerMom58
09-10-2013, 19:48
Ah - also, the "Family Style" restauraunt we ate at was The Dillard House - holy gawd it was good.

Sounds like you had a fun trip, OA. :) Yesh, the Dillard House is amazing!! I love those logbooks too...recognizing WB peeps is fun!!

daddytwosticks
09-11-2013, 07:21
Ah - also, the "Family Style" restauraunt we ate at was The Dillard House - holy gawd it was good.
Where was this restaurant at? I know of a Dillard House in Clayton Georgia that is unbelievable. Is there a similar-named restuarant in the Bryson City area? :)

Traffic Jam
09-15-2013, 07:50
I'm glad you enjoyed it even though you're plans changed unexpectedly. Good for your aunt for recognizing her limits instead of pushing on and having a miserable trip.