{"id":269,"date":"2014-04-29T17:10:24","date_gmt":"2014-04-29T21:10:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hnatow.com\/wordpress-happytrails\/?p=269"},"modified":"2014-04-29T17:10:24","modified_gmt":"2014-04-29T21:10:24","slug":"day-13-hogback-gap-to-fontana-dam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/hnatow.com\/happytrails\/?p=269","title":{"rendered":"Day 13 – Hogback Gap to Fontana Dam"},"content":{"rendered":"

We had a good bit of rain last night and the tarp did not leak, so that was good. We hiked about 11 miles of rugged terrain down into Fontana Dam around lunch.<\/p>\n

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NC rugged trail<\/p><\/div>\n

The dam itself is cool and is the largest east of the Rockies. <\/p>\n

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Fontana Lake<\/p><\/div>\n

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AT goes right over the dam, Smokies in background<\/p><\/div>\n

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Daaaamn<\/p><\/div>\n

We decided to stay tonight and tomorrow at the nearby Hike Inn. Jeff from the inn picked us up and his wife Nancy took us into Robbinsville for dinner and groceries. Our third maildrop with resupplies was here when we arrived (Thanks Ma and Pa Hnatow).<\/p>\n

Tomorrow (Tuesday) we have our first true zero day with no hiking at all since we started, so that will be really good to rest our sore feet, knees, and muscles for a whole day. Jeff from the Hike Inn also told us about 2\/3 of attempted thru-hikers quit by or before Fontana Dam and that we made it through the toughest and most rugged part of the trail (outside of New Hampshire and Maine), so that was really encouraging to hear. <\/p>\n

Vital stats :<\/strong>
\nMood – psyched
\nPhysical state – sore but good
\nSmell – so much better than this morning
\nSong stuck in my head – Cuckoo Song by A Silent Film<\/p>\n

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