Appalachian Trail - Day 012 - Cody Gap to Mollies Ridge Shelter

Day: 012

Date: Saturday, 06 May 2023

Start:  Cody Gap (AT Mile 156.0)

Finish:  Mollies Ridge Shelter (AT Mile 177.7)

Daily Kilometres:  37.8

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos

Total Kilometres:  302.5

Weather:  Cool to mild, overcast in the morning with a shower and then sunny in the afternoon.

Accommodation:  Shelter

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Pop tarts

  Lunch:  Ham & cheese subs

  Dinner:  Soup and Rehydrated Meals

Aches:  Dave - very tired and a few niggles (always in the left leg); Julie - nothing to report.

Highlight:  Climbing the old Shuckstack Firetower in mid-afternoon for awesome views of the surrounding mountains and Fontana Dam below on a beautifully sunny afternoon.

Lowlight:  None really.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We were hiking by 7:00am on a cool and cloudy morning with the goal of reaching the Fontana Dam Marina and its small store for an early lunch and to resupply for the next few days.  As usual our journey involved many ups and downs, but also lovely woodland and wildflowers and, towards the Dam, views over the lake as well.  There was a brief shower, which made us put on our pack covers, but it wasn’t heavy enough to warrant raincoats.

Along the way we saw a few hikers who we met again at the floating Marina.  Resupply was limited and we couldn’t get our regular hiker dehydrated meals so we bought a few things with which we will experiment.  Ideally, we only use our Jetboil stove to boil water, which is its specialty, and then we add it to satchels of dehydrated food, which are sealed for about 15 minutes before eating.  Back in Hiawassee, we purchased some reusable plastic-like bags that are boil-, microwave- and oven-proof, and will try adding boiling water to these more readily available foods (that usually require about seven minutes of simmering and stirring) to see what happens.

We also bought some lunch from the meagre pickings available and ate it out on the Marina deck, which would have been lovely on a sunny warm day, but not so much this morning when it was cool, overcast and breezy.  Despite the conditions, there were about eight other thru-hikers there eating, drinking and chatting.

It was probably just as well that we didn’t get too comfortable, because we had an ambition to hike another 13 miles in the afternoon if possible.  Ideally, we plan to take a day off in Gatlinburg on Tuesday and, if possible, we would like Monday’s hike to be shorter than usual to give us time to get to Gatlinburg before too late in the day.  After crossing the impressive Fontana Dam we entered the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) where we are only allowed to stay in, or camp near, shelters.  The nearest shelter that put us within range of a shorter day on Monday, was Mollies Ridge Shelter and that meant a 21-mile day, our longest yet.

Of course, from the relatively low altitude of the Fontana Dam, the trail climbed steadily and occasionally steeply onto the spine of the Smoky Mountains.  The AT follows that spine for about 70 miles, reaching a height of about 6,700’.  The climb was tiring, but not as brutal as the Stecoahs of yesterday and we made steady progress meeting a lot of day hikers including a scout group and a bachelor party group.  A highlight of the climb was a brief sidetrip to the Shuckstack Firetower and its tremendous views (see above).

Soon after the Firetower we met a guy aged around 60, who didn’t look particularly fit, walking down the narrow trail carrying a motorcycle helmet and a short time later we found a motorcycle abandoned on the trail.  The trail is definitely closed to motor vehicles and we suspect the guy will be in big trouble with GSMNP, even if he manages to retrieve his bike.

The afernoon’s weather was much better with the sun shinng most of the time and we managed to stay on schedule for our stretch target.  The scenery was great and the woods peaceful which helped the time go by.  We eventually reached the shelter a little before 8:00pm and, although there must be 20+ hikers camped here in tents, nobody was actually staying in the shelter, so we decided to sleep there and not put the tent up.  Jimmy, the thru-hiker we met a few days ago, is here and several others came over for a chat while we set up and had dinner.  A bear was seen nearby a few hours ago and there is a warning about bear activity near this shelter, so we may be in for an interesting night.