Date: 2005-06-19
From: Jim & Molly Denton Shelter

To: Bears Den
Miles today: 28.8
Weather: broken clouds

OK, that is enough of this. Once again, I got crazy and did the big miles. No reason to and no need to! I have got to slow down or I will hurt myself again. I am going to have to start hiking with someone in front of me. Break, where are you? You were good at that in the early days! I got out of the shelter area around 6:30 and was enjoying the morning. When I got to one of the road crossings I saw Scholar, Red Hat, and Dorothy. Once again, the timing was uncanny. Scholar asked me what was up with Break. I looked at her and said, "What do you mean"? She told me she had heard that Break had pulled off because of her foot and was in DC. She said she had seen a doctor but nothing was broken. When I heard this my heart dropped to the pit of my stomache. I hit Scholar with all sorts of questions but there were no other details. I left and hiked on, hoping that it was not as bad as it sounded. I reached the Manassas Gap Shelter where I saw Brownie and Souleman. They were heading out but I wanted to take a break and read the register. This shelter is famous for its' family of copperheads that live near it. Sure enough, they are still there because people had written they had seen them. I left the shelter and walked another 10 or 15 minutes before I realized that I was not on the AT anymore. I had taken a side trail and wasn't paying attention. My mind was elsewhere. I turned around and made my way back. I was still moving at a pretty good clip and around 11:00 I got to Dick's Dome Shelter where I had lunch. I was feeling pretty good and I knew I was going to get to the planned shelter around two. I decided that I would go on to the one past it. I hiked along and came across Brownie and Souleman having lunch. I sat down and we talked about the upcoming days. We also talked about who was gone. I met those two in the very early days of the hike and we never have had the same hiking pattern but we do run into each other every few days or so. They are good people and I enjoy talking with them when I do see them. I reached Rod Hollow Shelter a little after 2:00. The Trolls, Padre, and Silent Bob were there taking a rest. They too, were planning on the next shelter. By this time I had decided to push on to the Bears Den for a total of almost 29 miles. Insanity has taken over! They seemed to think so too. One thing I didn't take into account was The Roller Coaster. This section starts shortly after Rod Hollow. It is a series of 10 up and downs and after walking on the nice terrain we have had it was an eye opener. I reached a sign that said Bears Den was 4 miles away. I was tired and was glad to see that sign. The shelter was only 2 miles away. I kept going, and going, and going. Getting more and more tired and thinking that this was a long 2 miles to the shelter. I kept going and started to think that maybe I wouldn't go on to Bears Den after all. I finally reached the top of the hill and saw a sign pointing to Bears Den. I had missed the turnoff to the shelter! I was real glad to see that sign and I quickly made my way there. After a very long day I finally made it. I got showered and was able to meet a lot of people I had seen writing in the registers. Bottle, Skillet, Lojack, Circuit Rider, McGyver and others. Queen Diva is the caretaker at Bears Den and she is a great lady. She cooked up a supper for us and it was great treat to end a hard day.