NOC to Fontana Dam

Day 13 NOC (again)

Took a 0 day. There was a thru hiker festival in town, the weather was calling for thunder storms and we were all still pretty beat up. Can't say we did too much all day.

Day 14 NOC to locust Cove campsite.

The hike out of the NOC is the reverse of what we did downhill into the NOC so I am going up hills pretty much all day. In total there was more then 2500 feet of elevation gain to reach cheoah bald. The campsite was crowded as the first shelter was too close and the next was too far.

Day 15 locust Cove campsite to cable gap shelter.

Not much to say. Hiked 12 or so miles today...it kind of all starts to run together.  It poured rain on that night so I slept in the shelter.

As an after thought Jacobs ladder was today which is just a really steep uphill.

Day 16 cable gap shelter to Fontana dam.

Short day ( 6 miles) into re-supply. It is still pouring when I get up so I start the hike in the rain. The hills bring us above the clouds and I race a cloud bank for a while. The steep downhill to Fontana Dam is slippery and treacherous. By the time I reach the road I have fallen a few times and am covered in mud. The store to resupply is a tourist trap and expensive so I only get enough to reach Gatlinburg in three days. The word is that a few groups took zeros here and that the shelter is full so I split a cheap room with my friends for 15 bucks. Finally doing laundry and taking a shower is nice also. Tomorrow we head into the smokies. We plan to resupply in Gatlinburg but not stay the night so it may be a week or so before I have a chance to update again in hot springs nc. The smokies also means I will be entering the third state, Tennessee. The appalachian trail is the border between NC and TN so I will still be in the second state as well. The next state is Virginia which contains more then a quarter of the trail and by the time I am done the state I will be halfway to katahdin.