Bears, bears, and bears oh my!

Day 50 - 6/3/10
A good 22 mile day. It started at 6:45 when I woke up. Had some breakfast, then packed, getting out around 8. My first obstacle came early, a huge uphill called Three Ridges Mountain. I actually had to stop halfway up and take a double Snickers break. That's the first time I've eaten my two allotted Snickers one after the other. It was necessary to make it up that thing. I did get there, and a while after came the first shelter. Magnet was there, and I also met Ace, a girl hiker from Alabama who now lives in Boston. She stayed at the same shelter as me last night, but I didn't meet her then because I pulled in so late. She left in about 5 minutes, so it was just Magnet and me after that. I was eating some apricots when I noticed one or two had these strange red dots all over. I got worried they were going bad, moldy or something, so I tossed the red dotted ones and then scarfed all the remainders. It was a lot of apricots to eat in one sitting.

After I topped those off I left. Not much excitement for a while until I came to the Three Ridges Parking Overlook where a guy with a truck was parked. His door was open, so I took that as a good sign. He did end up having some trail magic ready, water and ice cold Pepsi. That really hit the spot, and I had even been thinking how nice a soda would be a couple miles back. Maybe I willed it to happen...? I'm talking to the guy, drinking the pop, when two SOBOs, GQ and Kiwi (cousins) come up from the opposite side of the road. They started in Jersey and are out for 8 weeks. A pretty long section hike. Were all there, then an RV pulls in and a couple gets out and walks over. They were from Michigan, and wanted to see if we were thru hikers. They started talking about the Bryson book and asking a bunch of questions about our trips. They stayed for 10 minutes, and when they left I did too, but not before thanking the guy for the soda.

I hiked more, and didn't stop until I made it to this great cliff spot with views into the valley. I did up a cold ramen for lunch, and enjoyed the view from a nice shady spot. I also called my Mom and talked to her about my concerns with a bug I found on me a few days ago that I thought might be a deer tick, the ones that give you Lyme disease. I have a scrip waiting for me at the CVS in Waynesboro now in case I need it. That's all thanks to my Uncle J, so I'll be talking to him tomorrow about it. But please nobody panic, it's all just precautionary.

When I moved on I soon came to this section where there were 3 or 4 houses easily visible from the trail. They even had trails going from the house right to the AT. I'm not sure if these were homes or just summer getaway places, but I thought it was neat how they were linked up to the trail. A 100-ft walk and you'd be on the AT. After those houses came a long uphill, which had some fun parts to it that were very rocky and challenging. After one such section I came to a cliff that had a lookout to the South. It was about 3:30 then, so I had a good chunk still to finish. Overhead I saw clouds were forming, and then the grumble of thunder started. It wasn't right over me, and no rain was falling, but it appeared to be close nonetheless. I waited and watched the sky, and from doing that I knew I was fine and didn't need to cover up. Doing that made me feel good, like I'm getting more in tune with nature or something.

After I moved on I caught up with Ace, and hiked were her for the rest of the day to the shelter. We talked about a bunch of stuff, from books to movies to college and so on. During that time we saw two bears at two different times. That puts me at 6 sightings. They were so close together too, within 2 hours of each other. Very exciting. We made it to the shelter at 6:30, and it was surprisingly packed. I set up my tent (next to another creek!), then made dinner. A Lipton soup with salmon and chopped garlic. Mom, the salmon was okay but strong fishy taste, so I think from now on tuna is the way to go. But I'm glad I tried it.

It's only 5 miles, then a short hitch, and I'll be in Waynesboro. Can't wait. I have a lot planned. I need to go to the outfitter for new insoles, mouthpiece for my water bladder, and fuel for my stove. Then it's to the YMCA for a free shower. Haven't had one since Daleville. And then Ming's, a Chinese buffet that's been on my mind since Damascus. That's almost 400 miles back, so that should give you an idea of the reputation this place has. And finally the grocery store to do some resupply. Seems like a lot when I list it out like that. Hope I have time to get it all in.

One last thing. I was never a big Gatorade fan before I started the trail, but now I'm legit hooked. My favorite flavor by far is Rain Berry. Second would be Orange. I love picking up a new 32 oz. bottle in town every so often, for several different reasons. One, you get a beverage to drink on the trail other than water. Two, it provides a new clean bottle to reuse once you finish it. I figure it's a good idea to change out the bottle every now and then for hygienic/germ purposes. And three, and this is the best part, when you fill it up with water you still get the light, yet noticeable, residual taste of Gatorade. Just enough to add a little flavor.

Total miles: 848.1