It's a quarter past noon, and I just came down from the observation tower on Shuckstack. Nice view; partly sunny weather. Jay from Utah was eating lunch there; met him this morning waiting for the P.O. to open. He was also the only other hiker on the 9am shuttle from the Fontana Village Inn to the trail. We both waited in vain for the visitors center to open; supposedly 9a, but it never did. Off-season? Called Greg, got a liter of water, found a dead cardinal that flew into the glass walls of the visitor center, and left. Heh! I wanted a Smokies patch for my pack. Darn. So instead of getting dropped off at NC28 where I got picked up Sunday, I skipped that 2-mile section and went right for the Dam. I'll come back some day and finish that.
Mollies Ridge Shelter, 4:45pm Got here about half an hour ago. Thank god! Sometime shortly after Shuckstack my right hip started hurting. Only knowing I had to camp at a designated site while in the park kept me going. Ouch, ouch, ouch. Hung my pack on the way-cool bear cables, put my food and sleeping stuff in the cage...er, shelter, got my water and popped two advil. In 15 minutes or so the water'll be ready and I'll start dinner. There's a fire ring for cooking 'cause you can't in the shelter. No table, either. Jay is the only other person here and other than the school group we saw going the other way, the only people we've seen today. Logbook shows two others passed through here. It also shows some horrendous weekend crowds. Friday/Saturday saw 20 or so people here, a bit less on Sunday but still a lot. Glad I'll be doing the park during the week!
Going to take it easy tomorrow and hope my hip sorts itself out. The pain is in the bone/ligaments, not on the surface. Aiming for Derrick Knob Shelter, 11.7. Oh, hey—that cardinal at Fontana Dam? Poor bird. Got a good look at the plumage, then took the tail feathers and returned the rest of the bird to the earth. Those beautiful red feathers should make a great fan.
Bears seen today: 0.
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