6/03/01
After settling in at 2:00 a.m. last night we were awakened by the sounds of talking in front of the shelter early this morning. A park ranger was visiting the hut to check to see that there were no park violations and that we had our back country permits with us. We had all planned on sleeping in but our plans were foiled by the incessant talking of other hikers not in our group. I sluggishly packed up and again was the first hiker out of the shelter. It was only a matter of minutes before I felt real FEAR for the first time the entire journey. I was just starting to cruise with a rhythmic pace and was about a mile out of the shelter when it happened! Suddenly I looked just in front of me and the tiniest baby bear cub was on the trail. He saw me from the distance of 20 feet and began running toward me, all the while making little whimpering type sounds. For a split second I was struck with amazement at the size of the little guy then realized two separate and distinct things almost immediately. One . . . the little cub must have thought I was his mother and two . . . his real mother couldn't be very far away ! ! ! I immediately turned myself around and bolted 200 yards going south on the AT, all the while hoping and praying that momma wasn't between me and her little one! What made it worse was that the little cub actually ran after me a few yards. I stopped and looked back after the 200 yard sprint and saw the cub angle straight up the mountainside off the trail.
I wasn't sure what my next move should be, but I knew I had to keep hiking north so I got out the pepper spray and began singing and talking loudly as I slowly moved northward down the trail. I never saw momma bear (what a relief) and I hustled the next 1/2 mile giving thanks to God that I didn't get caught in a crossfire between mother and baby! What I find interesting about this adventurous incident is that Ed, another thru-hiker, had a similar situation this morning after me with apparently the same cub and he didn't see the mother bear either. It makes me wonder if the little fellow was orphaned somehow or lost from mom? ? ? I kept thinking today about the children's book, Are you my mother?, as I hiked down the trail. Upon arriving at the Skyland service area I went inside to get some early lunch at the dining room. Breakfast serving had just ended 10 minutes earlier and they weren't starting lunch serving until noon. Priceless arrived behind me and we walked into the souvenir store to kill some time. While there I ran into Gypsy who I hadn't seen since Damascus when Red Pepper and I stayed at the Maples B&B. We talked for a minute and she introduced me to her brother and his girlfriend who were visiting her while she took a zero day at Skyland's Motel. I wondered out loud if there was a shower and laundromat at Skyland and Gypsy volunteered to let me and Priceless get a shower at their motel room. Yippee! With no bath for 5 days I was more than ready to get cleaned up, if only temporarily. We took advantage of the shower and got some free cookies in the process. Thanks, Dawn. Then we went to the Skyland dining room and joined the rest of the gang for lunch and dessert before hiking on across Stony Man Mountain and Mary's Rock to the Pass Mountain hut. The shelter filled up quickly by early evening and overflowed to tentsites. There were several section hikers in addition to the thru-hikers including: Aswah, Little Bit, Freight Train, Rambunny, Green Light, Priceless, Gypsy, Angry Jack, Lollipop, Will Scarlet, Colonel and Little Thunderhawk (formerly Pigpen). Hello goes out to Amanda and Boris from Washington, D.C. that were day hiking down from Mary's Rock. Here are today's stats: low 44 degrees, high 60. Cloudy to partly sunny. Today's mileage: 15.3, cumulative mileage: 923.2.
