Date: 2014-06-03
From: Fox Creek

To: Partnership Shelter
Miles today: 23.0
Weather: light rain

I have decided to take the highlight of each days hike and make it my title now instead of putting down the number of days that I have been hiking. Since I took three weeks off from hiking the number of days that I have been on the trail might seem a little confusing and make my total mileage a little misleading. I got up at 6:00 and hit the trail at 7:00. I saw three deer today the first ones on my trip but since I see them a lot at home it was no big deal. I was in Beast mode today, I wanted to cover a lot of miles and there was not going to be many views today. I met Crinkleroot this morning, he got his trail name from a character in a childrens book. I skipped Hurricane Mountain Shelter and stopped at Trimpi Shelter before noon. I had already went 12.4 miles this morning so I took an hour lunch break and got water. It had started raining a little just before getting to the shelter and then quit. There was supposed to be more rain for this afternoon so I pushed on. I came upon some Trail Magic furnished by the Valley View Baptist Church. Thanks guys! The cooler was empty and a free soda was not to be so I grabbed a few pieces of candy and signed their book. I got to Partnership Shelter by 5:00, the end of a 23 mile day, my longest day so far. My feet were killing me before I finished, I think it was more from the rocks the last few days than the miles. The old gang from Hemlock Hollow were at the shelter. Splinter, Balou, Ghost, and Shaker. They were at Hemlock Hollow doing a work for stay while I was nursing my sore foot and leg. They were asking me about my injury and how long I had been back hiking. I also met Jimbo, Spoon Foot, and Thespian at the shelter. Jimbo had been hiking Virginia southbound so he was telling me about coming attractions. The shelter itself has got to be the coolest one on the AT. It has a solar shower and a sink for washing dishes or laundry. You can fill up your water bottles without filtering and the Mt. Rogers Visitors Center is close by. The shelter can hold 16 hikers, more in bad weather. Sunji was in the parking lot, he is helping some young hikers as they hike north. On Memorial Day he had set up his tent near the Watauga Lake Shelter, an area where they have been having bear problems. About 8:30, just before dark he was in his tent and a bear cub tried to burrow under his tent looking for food. Another one tried to get in from the front. He scared them off and then noticed that the mother bear was trying to figure out how to get his food bag out of the tree. It was trying to push the tree over and tried climbing up it but the bark came off and made it too difficult to climb. He made as much noise as he could, banging pots and a large stick and they finally moved on. He thought that things had settled down for the night but they soon came back and acted like they had no intentions of leaving. He packed up his stuff with one hand while shining his light on the mother bear and quickly left. The next night he tried to camp north of this area and when he set down his pack he saw a mother bear watching him. He decided that was enough and hiked back to his car. He reported the incidents to a park ranger and they put it down as a a case of human contact. They closed camping between Watauga Lake Shelter and Vandeventer Shelter. I stayed at Vandeventer Shelter almost a week later but had no problems with bears. Lots of people coming in late from town or hiking in from the south. The shelter is full and some people have put up hammocks and tents in the area. There were people talking long after hiker midnight, I don't think very many people plan on getting up early tomorrow. Most of them are taking the 9:00 shuttle into town in the morning. I will go into town and do laundry, resupply and rest my feet.