Today was a long nice and easy downhill hike to one of the cleanest shelters on the trail. The Fontana Shelter is coined "the Fontana Hilton" because it is close to a road with shuttles into Fontana Village, has a well maintained gravel yard, and hot showers and bathrooms with running water.
A trail mile before the shelter there was a road crossing with an ex thru hiker doing trail magic. I learned from them that they were slack packing my old hiker bubble through the smokies. Which was a fun surprise. After eating some food and hanging out the trail Angels had to go. Before they left I asked if I could have some snacks and a Pepsi for Trix who I knew was only a few minutes up the mountain. They said yes and when she arrived she was very grateful to have gotten something from the trail magic. So I hiked the last mile with her and we arrived at the shelter shortly after.
As soon as we arrived we chose some good tent spots and both agreed a swim in the lake was in order. So we found a side trail down to the lake and we both dove in. The water was cold!! But oh so refreshing after hiking. After that we went to town together and did our errands and picked up a case of beer to drink on the beach with our other friends. We had a great night full of laughs and went to bed extremely content.
My tent site at the Fontana Hilton.
The "Fontana Hilton" and the lake behind it.
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