Day 16 - 3/17

Daily mileage: 11.3
Total trail mileage: 175.0
Starting location: Fontana Dam "Hilton" Shelter
Ending location: Mollies Ridge Shelter
Weather: partly cloudy all day, light drizzle in the afternoon...40-45
degrees

I am at
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=35.542285,+-83.797906

We entered the Smokeys. I was wondering for a while if we were still
on the AT. There were no blowdowns, no snow, no ice, and it was
graded pretty well. We got to a firetower and could see for miles in
every direction. It was great. And then as we climbed a little
further, the snow returned. But, there wasn't much depth and it was
soft snow as it was melting.

I hiked a little with Mellow Yellow and Flying Turtle today, but they
continued on to the next shelter. My dad, Camp Chair and I are at
Mollies Ridge Shelter for the night. It is a pretty neat stone
shelter with a fireplace inside. Unfortunately, everything was wet and
none of us, even with using all sorts of firestarters, could get a
fire going. Oh, well.

It is little colder and there is a lot of moisture in the air.
Hopefully the sun comes out again tomorrow.

Oh, I forgot to mention yesterday that when we were hanging out at the
shelter, Houdini showed up and gave us sodas. She thru-hiked last
year and was in the area so she was seeing who was around. Thanks,
Houdini!