2018 AT – Day Fifteen – Fontana “Hilton”

Wednesday, 13 June – Fontana “Hilton”

Destination: Fontana Dam Shelter	Today’s Miles: 12.8
Start Location: Brown Fork Gap Shelter	Trip Miles: 174.3

I slept in a little since today was a shorter day. Spoke with the six guys who stayed at the shelter last night and was hiking at 7:30. Today was relatively easy compared to yesterday, more down than up. I only saw a couple of section hikers heading south.

I crossed the road at the Fontana Dam boat launch and thought I was at the shelter, but no, another 1.2 miles and of course uphill. About a quarter mile before the shelter, I had a view of the lake and you could see the rain coming. So I got poured on for the last fifteen minutes.

The shelter is referred to as the Fontana Hilton. There is running water, hot showers, and flush toilets. You can even have pizza delivered. I settled in and took a shower. I washed some clothes since they were already soaked. The sun came out and I am drying things out and relaxing.

Tomorrow is a long day with a long climb. I will enter Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Tennessee. I will spend a couple weeks crisscrossing the NC/TN border before leaving NC.

Dolora will be meeting me on Friday for a zero and resupply in Gatlinburg. Looking forward to that but I have two seventeen mile days to get there.