April 6, 2016 - Day 19

After an early breakfast, the group headed down trail with the Fontana Dam as their destination and their entry to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.

The trail was a steady downhill drop with only a few 'ups'.  They arrived at the road crossing around noon and waited for the shuttle to take them to Fontana Village so they could pay their $20 hiking fee and print their hiking passes...required to hike in the national park.  They thought this would be a fairly quick process, however, this was not to be. 

The process of obtaining the pass was to enter info online after which the pass is sent to your email address.  Jill and Ken had no problems.  Unfortunately (or was it good fortune?), Dennis had forgotten his email password and had to wait 3 hours for his wife to get home to assist him. So onto Plan B...get the passes and a room in the village.

While they waited, they resupplied and ate a big lunch at the grill.

They checked into getting a room at the Fontana Lodge, but all the rooms were full. So Plan C was to catch a ride back to the trail, which they were able to do at approximately 6pm.  While waiting for the shuttle to take them back to the trail, they saw "Limey" (aka Michael Salter), a fellow hiker originally from Great Britain.  Limey asked what they were doing heading back to the trail so late and they explained there were no rooms so they were going to camp on the trail.  He told them HE had a room at the Fontana Lodge and they were all welcome to join him.  Plan B was back on!  They did so and were VERY thankful for his generosity when a bad thunderstorm moved through that night. 


Fontana Lodge

Keep in mind that their original plan was to quick get their hiking passes, grab lunch and get back to the trail.  So now I ask you...was Southpaw's email password issue a problem or a blessing?

Mile 164.7
Elevation 1,700