Date: 2004-05-23
From: Humpback Campsite

To: Rockfish Gap
Miles today: 13.1
Weather: few clouds

Day 84 Start: Humpback Campsite Dest.: Rockfish Gap Miles: 13.1 Total: 847.6 So, I did miss the trail afterall. The good news is I was only a few yards from it. The trail went up over a huge rock pile that I had a hard time following in the daylight. Last night would have been almost impossible to follow in the darkness. The walk to Rockfish Gap was pretty easy. I never found water until I got to a stream 7 miles from where I camped last night. I was conserving my water all morning so I didn't run out until I was actualy close to the stream. Twice today I took wrong turns. That makes three in 24 hours...I think it maybe time for a day off in Waynesboro. The first wrong turn was last night, but that was a good one since it took me to a campsite. The second one was at a vista/rock overlook. The trail looked like it kept going past the overlook but since the overlook was only a few yards to the right I figured I would go have a look. The view was nice but I noticed some white blaze on the rocks and thought, "hmm that's a coincidence, I walk out here to see the view and this is actually part of the trail." So I followed the blazes down over the rocks and into the woods were I soon found myself picking my way through a lot of downfall. After only a few yards I figured something was up. The trail was really open before the vista and it didn't make sense that it was now this bad. Trouble was, there were a lot of footprints in the dirt so others had walked this. I decided to go back to the vista and double check that the! trail didn't keep going past the vista. Sure enough, I get back to were I turned of to checkout the view and there's a nice wide open trail going down the hill. At least I didn't walk for a half-mile before turning around. The third trail deviation was at the last shelter before Rockfish Gap. I got water from a stream in front of the shelter, then walked up to the shelter to have a snack. There are alot of trails in this little area so when I left the shelter I went down towards the stream and took a left down what looked like a very well traveled path. It was all downhill and within a few hundred yards turned into another overgrown path with lots of deadfall similar to the second incident above. So I turned around and hiked back uphill to the shelter and stood next to the last white blaze I saw. I had to look around for a minute or so but I finally saw another blaze that showed the trail going right past the shelter. I can't believe I missed it. The only comforting thing with my "explorations" is that there were a lot of footprints going the same place I went, so I wasn't alone in my mistakes. About 1.5 miles from Rockfish Gap I saw a bear and cubs. Actually they saw me and created so much ruckus that I then saw them. I was walking, spending more time looking at the ground for snakes than looking up at the surrounding woods, when I suddenly hear a lot of crashing. I look up and about 60 feet in front of me on the left side of the trail I see two bear cubs going flying up trees and the big mother bear runs across the trail and down the bank. You know how they say never get between a mother and her cubs? Well now the cubs are on one side if the trail and the mother is on the other. Great! The mother stopped, turned around and stood up to get a better look at me I assume. I was still standing there processing what was going on when the mother runs back across the trail to the trees her cubs are in and begins staring me down. Now my brain starts working again and I remember you are supposed to rush the mother and make lots of noise...or am I supposed to lay down and play dead, or was it turn and run like hell making sounds like a wounded animal? Ohh, wait, I am supposed to turn sideways, look as big as possible and slowly back away. So that's what I did. I backed up about 100 feet and waited. I couldn't see the mother anymore but I did see one of the cubs come down the tree. I waited another 5 minutes and then started walking...very slowly, clanking my hiking poles together to make a lot of noise. As I rounded the corner in the trail I could see all three bears, each behind seperate trees about 50 feet up the bank wathcing me. I kept walking and making noise until I was down the trail and past them by at least .1 mile. What a way to end the hike! Thank goodness Waynesboro was so close. ~Dances With Wolf Cookie