Great Smoky Mountain National Park - Mollies Ridge - January 10, 2003 - Member Trip Report
| Hike Name: | Great Smoky Mountain National Park - Mollies Ridge |
|---|---|
| Country: | United States |
| State: | North Carolina |
| Trip Rating: |  |
| Trip Date: | January 10, 2003 |
| Duration: | 2 days |
| Trail Conditions: | Fair to Good |
| Trail Traffic: | Light |
| Trip Weather: | Sunny, Partly Sunny, Partly Cloudy, Cloudy |
| Trip Winds: | Moderate |
| Trip Precipitation: | None |
| Trip Temperature: | High: 31-40, Low: 0-10 degrees Fahrenheit |
| Trip Report: | 1/10/03 (Friday) – Headed to Porter’s today at 4:30pm to meet up with he, Brunn, and Moehlich, then we loaded up and head to Exit 14 (GA 20) off of GA 400 for some Mexican food. It was family night, and the place was packed with kiddies. Lee, Ewing and Woodward met us within twenty minutes and we had some dinner. Then we grabbed some brews and hit the road for Fontana Village. It was a long drive via the Neel’s Gap route and we didn’t make it to the motel until around midnight. Ewing had the classic Colleco Football game (circa de 1978) and we played a few games and had some beers while Brunn finished packing. 1/11/03 (Saturday) – We got up before sunrise this morning to grab breakfast, shuttle cars, and stop by the store to pick up some Chapstick and last minute supplies. There was only one lady working in the motel kitchen this morning and she waited tables and cooked food for seven guys. We eventually made it to Fontana Dam by 10am and hit the trail in groups within 15 minutes. I hiked alone for the first two miles on the Lakeshore Trail, but Porter, Brunn, Ewing, and Moehlich caught up with me around some rusted out vehicles that date back to the pre-dam years. Eventually we caught up with Woodward and Lee who were taking a lunch break on a ridge and stopped for twenty minutes to break out some food. After lunch, we hiked down to Campsite 90 (which is a really cool site right near some wide streams that dump into Fontana Lake), then hit a junction with the Hazel Creek Trail which was not marked on our maps. It cuts directly over to Campsite 88 and half the group mistakenly followed it until Porter reviewed the re-route on a trail sign and figured out we needed to continue on the Lakeshore Trail (which is not maintained from this point forward). As it turned out, it had few blowdowns and was in pretty good shape. There were seventeen creek crossings, however, and it slowed us down significantly since we had to throw hiking poles across to make rock hopping possible (and keep the boots dry.) Eventually we climbed up past our designated site for the night, Campsite 88, and on to our illegal site for the night just down the trail from the junction of the Lakeshore and Jenkins Ridge Trails. It wasn’t as flat, but saved us two miles on tomorrow’s hike. There was tons of wood in the area and a stream nearby that was an adequate water source (although far from gushing.) We made it to the campsite around 4:30pm and it was dark by 6pm. So we had about an hour to pitch tents and to get wood and water this evening. The fire turned out to be a blazer and it kept us pretty warm most of the night. Porter and Brunn were the only two to have any spirits and they hit them pretty hard. Porter had a radio (that ran by hand crank) and we listened to the end of the Titans/Steelers playoff game and then most of the Falcons/Eagles game (which the Falcons lost.) Everyone crashed around 11pm and I was in the megamid with Porter and Brunn. I got really cold this evening, since we were on an incline and it was hard to stay on the Thermarest during the night. |
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