Day 19

Fontana Dam to Russell Field Shelter - 13.5 mi - (177.5 total)
Used the restroom at the shelter (the Fontana "Hilton" as the hikers call it) to get water and brush our teeth before crossing the dam (again) to go into the Smokies. Took a quick break to eat something right inside the park boundary and then set off to tackle the ~12mi up into the park. It was interesting to enter the park in such a unique way; the only way to know we were entering the park was a single unassuming sign that read "Great Smoky Mountains National Park". It was another beautiful sunny day (can you sense our sunburnt exasperation yet?) and we were soaked in sweat immediately as we put in the next 5 or 6 miles up into the park. Took a break at the campsites at Birch Spring Gap and ate lunch before a big group of hikers behind us caught up. The first wildflowers we've seen in the Smokeys were popping up and we enjoyed walking through fields and fields of them on the ridgelines before and after Mollies Ridge Shelter. Stopped for the night at Russell Field Shelter at about 5:00 pm, much earlier than we usually stop because the Smokies have strict regulations and insist that all AT thru-hikers stay at shelters (or face BIG fines). Since we couldn't hike any further that night we went for a short walk to a grassy patch on the mountainside and ate our dinner in peace. After we ate we walked back to the shelter, which by the way had a front entrance made of chain-link fence (which former hikers used to feed the bears through), and made our beds on the second tier of the sleeping platform. As dusk was approaching, the hikers we had spent time drinking and socializing with the day before showed up and decided to go against the rules and set up their tents instead of pile into the partially full shelter. They built a huge fire, and invited us to join them, but we took another walk instead to once again enjoy our time in the park. We returned to the shelter at dark, entered the 'cage', then listened to the younger hikers talk and tend to their raging fire as we fell asleep.