Sunday, May 11, 2014
Slackpacking Trip - Day 9
[up at 0700 and left hotel by 0745 - it was foggy and brisk (needed fleece pullover again) - drove to Fontana Dam and parked at the border of Great Smoky Mountains National Park (0810) - rode my bike from their back to NC-28 (roughly four miles) - hiked all the way back to the Dam - great views of the lake and (finally) flowering rhododendon bushes (saw a young couple headed NOBO and a Daddy/Daughter pair NOBO) - visited the Fontana Hilton (trail shelter) and chatted with a lot of hikers who spent the night there (last shower before the backwoods of the N.P.) - the views from the top of the Dam were amazing - the sun started to come up and clear away most of the low lying clouds after getting back to my car, I continued up the mountain into the Park but turned around after about half a mile (steep) - left at 1020 and picked up my bike again - drove over to Fontana Village Resort to see if it was any good (meh...) - drove back on NC-28 to the Tuskeegee Motel and got some lunch from the nice family that runs the place (heard the troubles of running a remote hotel for tourists...) - almost everyone else around there was at church - very quiet - by 1115, I was back on the road - found the trail again at Stecoah Gap (3165 feet) on NC-143 and hiked on both sides of the road there (very steep and hot - great views) - saw lots of hikers: trio of NOBO males, one solo woman (trail name = "Robert Redford") -put in about another 1.5 miles there before backtracking to US-19/74 - found the Nantahala Gorge west of Wesser (wow!) and, after struggling to locate a parking spot, hiked a section close to the amazing Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC) complex along the river (kayaking, rafting, boarding, hiking) - between 1330 and 1445, I found some shady places on the mainly uphill (both directions) section - I had definitely earned a break when I got back to my car - bought a beer from the pub at NOC (the barkeep even gave me a water with mint leaf on the house...) - by then, I was completely out of water and my clothes were drenched with sweat - but I sat on a bench along the river and watched all of the people having fun in the rapids - it looked like a great place to take a vacation (I would definitely do it!) - got back to my car by 1530 and drove a little further (to NC-1310, Wayah Road) and hiked on trail again (between 1630 and 1730) - the section was OK (not too steep) but I found out later that I could have climbed up to the top of Wayah Bald Tower if I had hiked a little bit further - in any event, I had to change to another t-shirt because I was sweating to much then I got back to my car - the weather was awesome today and I wasn't ready to quit - so I drove to US-64 and found (1800) one more place to hike: Winding Stair Gap (3820 feet) - during this segment, I encountered hikers getting settled for the evening (3 male campers, 2 male "resters" with dog and one solo NOBO man) - when I finished (1920), it was getting dark - headed into Franklin (back to the east) and found a hotel (Colonial Inn) - drove back towards town to eat dinner at Zaxbys (2030 - they screwed up my order several times but I eventually got my food...) - back at the hotel, posted Facebook photos and watched TV - body is sore but it gets easier every day to wake up, hike and then recover overnight (I'm glad!) - I was actually on the trail (off/on) for nearly 12 hours today and it didn't kill me... - bed at 2300 - today I managed to complete 9.06 miles (!), not counting biking or backtracks - Total on A.T. is now 56.63 miles]