No gnarly fords and two turkeys

Cool, dry day. Hot breakfast and easy terrain with no gnarly fords! Very flat terrain. Got to Lakeshore Drive road, dried stuff out while doing a particularly long session of “anti-backpacking” yoga, and saw cars and people! The Lakeshore tunnel was awesome and the graffiti almost added to the artistic charm. I later saw some horsemen on the trail by Fontana Lake. Lots of horse poop on the trail, and I disturbingly haven’t been great about treating water. I made it to the campsite I had planned on, Campsite 77, by 6 and decided to book it the last 4.2 miles so that I’d make it to Fontana Dam before 4:00, when the PO closes. Undecided whether I’ll take the AT down from Shuckstack mountain right into Fontana Dam, or go to Twenty Mile Ranger station and hitch 6 miles. I am loathe to hitch, but I also don’t want to add an extra 4.5 miles uphill after my excursion to Fontana, and then still have 6 miles of the BMT left in the Smokies. We’ll see how the timing goes. Saw 2 turkeys today. Sadly, one turkey, upon seeing me, flew 100 feet in the air and quite quickly. Poor bird.