Before getting to the park I crossed the iconic Fontana Dam which was massive! I didn't realize just how large it was until I was on top of the thing. It was the easiest section of the Appalachian Trail yet since it was flat and paved. There was maybe a mile or a bit less of paved roadside trail that I walked today.
I also passed the Fontana Hilton which is the nickname for the nearby shelter, it's suppose to be the nicest shelter on the entire trail. It wasn't all that it was hyped up to be. It was alright. There was a solar charging station outside it and a seperate building with flushable toilets, showers, and sinks. The shelter overlooked the Fontana Lake which was really pretty. I heard that some people went swimming and cliff jumped into the water. It was highly appealing due to the heat. The water also looked rather polluted so I'm not sure how i felt about that with my feet too.
It feels like there's something missing in my shoes when I walk. My big toes are 3/4th or maybe even 2/3rds the size they had been the day before. There's so much more room in there! It's fantastic. My left toe is looking rather bruised under the nail while the right looks quite white and flushed. I hope that's a good thing? I have no idea what's going on with them.
Entering the GSMNP (Great Smokey Mountain National Park) was different from everything I've hiked so far small green leaves are just unfloding off the tree branches and there are some pine/ coniferous trees here and there. I turned in my permit where the trail enters the park. There was a person there collecting all the permits from the box so I was able to just hand it to him.
Hiking at a steep incline with a particularly heavy pack, it's going to be the longest stretch yet for me to resupply, on a particularly hot day was not a great combination. I really didn't get as far as I'd have liked to. The heat really kicked my ass. I also think that the detergent at Fontana doesn't agree with my skin because I'm quite itchy abd irritated where my clothing touches my skin. My sunburns aren't fun either.
Today is the first day that I've tried out my new sungloves! So far they seemed to have worked great my hands look like they are about to start pealing like a lizard since they look all scaley from the rash. The rash is gone for the most part, i just have healing left to do. Those steroids really did the job.
This campsite has bear cables! I got to use them for the first time. So much easier than bear bagging myself. I just hook my bags on, pull the cable to it's at the top, then attatch the clip to the color coded metal ring on the nearby tree. Fast, simple, easy.
I had a jar of honey almond butter sent to me but it keeps leaking. I had my scent proof bag get completely coated in the oil so i put it in a separate bag a few days ago and not that bag is leaking! I have that oil all over my bear bag, it's like it's just asking to be taken by a bear. I'm a bit worried about that. Since the GSMNP is a National Park, you can't hunt here so there are a ton of bears here, bears who aren't afraid of humans since they don't get hunted by humans. I feel like bear bait.
I had a small bar of chocolate in a folded wrapper. After a mile of hiking today I remembered it and decided to eat it but it was already melty from the heat. I figured that I would leave it be and eat it in the morning after it cools and hardness overnight but now it's smeared all over in my snack bag.
While walking to the campfire for dinner I stepped on some kind of a spike from a tree and it went through my sandal and I could feel it painfully while I hobbled over. I couldn't even pull it out myself. It had almost stabbed right through the entire shoe.
I'm at Birch Spring Gap which is mile 171.8 with 2,018 miles left to go.
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