| Mile | 172.6 |
| Miles Since Last Update | 7.9 |
| Day | 19 |
Every breath I take feels like a mixture of 90% humidity, my own rotting clothes, and bugs. This place is a hell.
At this point I’m very much considering quitting at hot springs. I know it is only going to get hotter, and steeper, and heavier. I am only going to get slower and more tired, and die of heat stroke, something I very easily could have done without flying out to the east coast. In a universe where I was smart enough to ignore the crowds of farmer’s almanac toting crust lords and start at a reasonable date and carry reasonable gear, maybe this was possible, but that is not this universe.
Everything above aside I made it to the camp site. First one in the smoky mountains national park. As far as I can tell it is the only campsite in the SMNP that I can access. Smoky Mountains has some real weird rules so if I stay at a shelter I have to stay inside unless it is full, so this is likely the last time for a while I’ll be able to sleep in the hammock.
Given that, and how shit today felt like, I decided to do something I’d wanted to for a while, porch mode.
Only 7.5 miles today which is pretty pathetic but it did feel like hell. Late start, compounded by running into fresh ground to make the start even later, and then 4 or so hours of straight up hill in the dead heat of the afternoon. Could have probably pushed to Mollies Ridge, but that would mean shelter sleeping, and with a fairly large group. Hoping to wake up early tomorrow and knock out the 10 miles before sun exists again.
Here’s some dumb pictures that don’t matter.
The “Fontana Hilton”. It’s just a big shelter. There’s showers in a nearby bathroom thing too.
The Fontana Dam. Tallest dam east of… something I think. Walked across it, was mostly flat, 5 stars
SMNP rules say that I can’t use my bear can as intended and instead have to hang it in my pack from these dumb cables so that all my shit gets soaked overnight. Wonderful system.