April 12, 2011 Fontana Dam and some Drama

Tom and Ben are in the lovely resort of Fontana Dam,NC staying at the Fontana Hilton.  Before thinking that this must be some posh hotel, check out this link!

http://at.advsysweb.com/images/fontana%20hilton.jpg

It's the largest shelter on the trail and sleeps 24!  Fontana Dam is the highest dam in the eastern United States and was  built by the Tennessee Valley Authority on the Little Tennessee River in the 1940's. 

This is their last stop and re-supply before heading into the Great Smoky Mountains.  Once in there, they will not be able to re-supply so readily. They'd have to hike 40 miles to the nearest road, then hitch the 15-18 miles into the nearest town. And Tom has assured me that he picked up their back-country permit at Fontana as well.  If caught in the Smokies without it- $125 fine! Ouch!  They have a total of 72 miles to get through the Smokies- and there is still snow there. 

And for the drama- the boys were hanging out at NOC earlier this week.  After leaving there and being on the trail for a couple of days, word was passed up the trail that a sheriff and park ranger were on the look out for  two "unaccompanied minors".  Tom called home as soon as he had a signal.  All we know is that the sheriff received a call and they were investigating.  The boys are handing out calling cards for people to follow their blog and apparently someone saw how old they were and called the authorities.  The boys have continued on their hike and have had no more problems so it looks like this matter blew over.  Thank goodness.  We sent the boys out on the trail because we as their parents knew they could handle it.  They are in contact with us daily or at the most every other day.  So for anyone out there who is concerned about their readiness, their age, their abilities- just know this: we love our guys and they are only hiking for as long as they want to hike.  They can come home at anytime, for any reason.  This is supposed to be fun for them and they are hiking their own hike the way they want to hike it.  So if you have any worries feel free to email us at the address on the calling card:  holywhale@msn.com
And thanks to everyone who emails us with updates about the boys.   We love to hear their successes, their foibles, their not so glamorous moments, etc. You are all the extra pair of eyes that we need as parents.  And now they know, that Mom and Dad know just what they are up too!   Please keep sharing with us!

And sorry that we don't have any new pics yet.  The guys have had a hard time uploading pics since most of the computers they can use prohibit them from uploading anything.  So we have a new plan. We are sending them some new camera cards and then they will send theirs home and we will upload the pics.  We can keep rotating the cards throughout the hike.  So when we get the card, we'll upload the pic: