Day 16 - Its a Good Day because its Thursday (April 24)

The above is a quote from Red Eyes this morning when we left Fontana Dam for the Smokie Mountains. Red Eyes has boundless enthusiasm, but we are all thinking he will leave the trail soon. So far so good for him.

I first met Red Eyes on a Wednesday. He was telling everyone how he quite drinking, quit smoking, and quit smoking dope. What he didn't say was he did all this quiting on Tuesday. None of the quiting lasted very long. He been bumming cigarettes. He been drinking in towns, and he bought some pot from Hobo Joe that he smokes along the trail several times a day.

The Smokies are easy. We are at the Spencer Gap shelter tonight. I just turned my phone on, and I'm surprised I have coverage. The trails are very well maintained, and so much better than the section out of NOC. If the trail continued like it did after NOC, I would go home without a second thought. Everyone is still complaining about that section.

So far my feet are holding up ok. I have one blister on my heel from the NOC section. I think it will be ok after a few days.

The trail was incredibly beautiful today. There were many different colors of wildflowers in the woods along the trail.

We met up with Road Rash today. He made it back to Fontana Dam yesterday afternoon. He heard Thought Foot and I were in town so he waited for me by the trail. He eventually left with Hobo Joe who is also here at the shelter.

Thought Foot and I stayed at the Fontana Hilton aka Fontana shelter last night. I bought a bottle of wine to share with Road Rash, but met Reds Eyes on the way to the shelter and drank it with him instead. The shelter really was the Hilton of shelters. Someone even put a Hilton sign on it.

The Spence Field shelter is thankfully filled so I was able to sleep in my tent without fear of a fine. There is too much snoring in the shelters to sleep well.

We saw the last of the fenced shelters on the way here. People were feeding the bears through the fence so the park is taking the fences down.

Doc, Shamrock aka Shan from WY, Stranger, Green T & Feral are also here along with three middle age out of shape women who I think are also thru hikers. We met several other very out of shape thru hikers today who I've never seen before.