Day 17

Campsite before Cody Gap - Fontana Dam

We rushed the last 10 miles or so to get to Fontana by late afternoon with the hopes of taking advantage of the free showers at the Dam (which are operated by TVA). We crossed the road to the marina, we were pleased to find a bathroom and a soda machine- oh yeah! After a break to wash our hands, take hobo-style sink showers, and drink a coke, we headed the last mile to the shelter. We found the showers in a seperate building like 75 yards before the shelter, so we never even had to stop at the shelter. We got cleaned up, put our dirty clothes back on, the set off walking down the road toward the resort 'town'. We were thankful when a pickup truck with 2 section hikers stopped and offered to give us a ride up to the resort (it was 2 miles almost all up hill). Once there, we realized that everything had closed at 5pm except for the gas station. We walked there to grab some snacks, and since they had draft beer on tap (what the ....?), we had one. Soon it was 6pm, the gas station was closing for the night, so we headed up to the Lodge to spoil ourselves with a good dinner. The burgers we had were huge, and awesome, and after we were full of food and drink we walked the 2 miles back to the Dam and found a secluded campsite away from the shelter. Laura crashed out early while Mike sat under the stars looking across the lake to the Smoky mountains in the distance.