march 22- fontana lodge day one

Sleeping at the fontana hilton wasnt bad. It got cold at night so i spent most of the niight curled up deep in my sleeping bag. When i got up in the morning i bbegan preparing myself for a trek through the smokies. My feet were in bad shape, and i was Worried about what the weather will bring, but still i was preparing to press forward no matter what. I had told dj that i didnt think it was a good idea to continue just yet, and that we should wait out the storm. At the same time, progress needed to be made and i didnt want to hold us up. When i was almost ready to go, dj came back into the shelter after talking to flipper. An older hiker, he had told dj what a night of freezing rain would look like. He said there would be a sheet of slippery ice covering everythinng. It would make the ground impossible to walk on until it starts thawing, and the temps in the smokies are forecasted for the low 30s. If we hiked up into the smokies, and we encountered freezing rain, we would be trapped in a shelter, or unable to hike forward. A situation like that in the best case scenario would only leave us trapped in a shelter for a day or two. And worse case scenario we could die of hypothermia from being wet in below freezing weather. Djs response to that information was that he decided he wants to wait until after the storm. At least i wasnt the reason for holding us up, though i was relieved. We werent sure if wed stay at the fontana lodge, or at the shelter. We caught a shuttle into fontana village anyways, might as well stay someplace warm until the evening. When we got to the lodge we found 3 other hikers who wanted to split a room. So five of us splitting a room would come out to only about $13 each. We got a room then hung around until 1pm, when there was a presentation about edible plants that grow in the mountains. After that i tried to do a quick workout, then i went on a beer run to pick up some beer for the evening. We bumped into owl while walking so she joined us for our mini adventure. It was only a walk to the gas station anyways. We got back to the hotel, expecting beer, pizza and karaoke. But the event coordinator, JP, told us that the karaoke guy wasnt going to be able to make it, but that we can get beer and pizza in the bar. I hung out there for a little bit. Then went back to the room