Into the Smokies!

May 2, 2025

I woke up around 7 am this morning. I packed everything up and ate my trashcan pizza as I was walking up the hill toward the trail. On the way up I said goodbye to “Pooh Bear” who is taking a zero today in order to pick up a package from the post office.

There was an incredible sunrise over the lake this morning, which was a great way to be woken up.

I road walked a bit to the Fontana Visitor Center, and then I walked over the Fontana Bridge as the fog was beginning to lift from the water.

I passed into the Smokies and dropped the first part of my permit into the box. I’ve heard all kinds of stories about the Smokies from past hikers. Some didn’t care for the Smokies due to the rules set out. No dogs are allowed in the Smokies, people have to have permits to stay over night, people must sleep in shelters and use the bear cables to hang food, if the shelters are full and a day hiker comes in with a permit, the last thru-hiker in the shelter has to leave and pitch their tent, and people cannot stay more than one night at a shelter. Due to all the rules, many people try to knock out big miles in order to make it to a shelter and to get out of the Smokies.

During the hike, I saw a huge snail in the middle of the trail. I didn’t go up to Shuckstack Fire Tower because there was so much fog, I wouldn’t have been able to see anything, and it was a ways off trail.

Today was the first day that I had been completely alone on the trail. Today was my first day without Bowen hiking with me, and things felt different. I’m missing my boy, and I am looking forward to his return in Davenport.

I climbed 4000 some feet up into the Smokies, and then it leveled out a bit, as I was basically ridge hopping after the initial climb. I got to Mollies Ridge Shelter and rested my feet for a bit, where I met an English guy and a couple called “A-Team.” The couple had submitted Kilimanjaro a few years back! After resting my feet, I walked 3 more miles and stayed with “A-Team.” We were the only 3 in the shelter that night, which I was very surprised by because I figured it would be packed. At the shelter, there were fields of little white flowers–if I were a bear, I’d live here, and I would roll around in all the flowers.

There was a tarp hung on the shelter, which we all wondered what the purpose of it was, suspecting it was either to deter bears or to conserve heat if a fire was lit inside the shelter. For dinner, I had some ramen and hot chocolate.