Fontana Village Inn

Slept poorly last night. Between the mouse exploring the tent, the rain worries, and thinking about bears (thanks, Jeff the shuttle guy!), had a hard time settling down. Woke up at 8:30a! No tea this morning; I'm just gonna get going.

Cable Gap Shelter, noon Taking a shoe break, having some lunch. I've only got 5.5 miles to NC28 and the ride into Fontana Dam. Hoping to get a room and shower and fuel as the P.O. won't be open til tomorrow. I grossly overpacked food! Again. Sitting in the shelter and sorting through my chow bag, I have three (!) dinners and my resupply about three hours away. Tsk. Oh, I forgot to mention, somebody left a Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan mag in Brown Fork Shelter. It was terrible. I read the whole thing. In turn I left a bit more of Fast Food Nation (more of it in the NOC hiker box).

Fontana Village Inn, 6:30pm I'm cooking my dinner on the patio of my room. So, 3p, I pull into NC28 and the message board with the shuttle schedule and phone. Hey! No service on Sundays, great. I forget sometimes that everywhere is not like coastal California. Should I hike a mile farther on and camp at Fontana Dam Shelter then walk back Monday to grab my maildrop and fuel? Back track?! No way. So I call anyway, since I see that the Inn offers hostel bunks for $15, and they'll come get me. Somebody answers the phone and says, sure, we'll come get you. Sweet! So I register for a hostel bunk—only nobody's staying in the hostel, they're all staying at the Inn, which slashes its prices during the off-season (which this is). So my $80 room is $26.

I showered first (natch) then went down to get fuel and do laundry. Ran into Bruno & Lawrence. The Hiker Supply store is small, I'm warned, and when I get there it's a choice between big cans of denatured alcohol or Colemans. I try the general store, nada. Walk down to the gas station and they've got HEET for $1.59. Did my laundry with a husband/wife team from Florida hiking sections with two cars. Don't really feel like fine dining in the Peppercorn restaurant, so that's why I'm cooking on my tincanstove on the porch. Got the tent drying out here, too.

Hikers, can't take 'em anywhere.

This place is a little family-oriented vacation village—sports, hiking, biking, the lake, etc.—with a cultivated small-town feel with the sno-cone stand and the sandlot baseball.

Tonight I'll figure out how many days it'll take me to pass through the Smokies, and pare down my chow.