Date: 2003-07-01
From: Rock Spring Hut

To: Pass Mountain Hut
Miles today: 15.3
Weather: overcast clouds

Happy July, everybody!I did not sleep well at all last night. At about 10 pm or so a light show started outside my tent and lasted most of the night. It was just distant lightning, well, it was actually fairly close, but it was pretty bright. Then at 1 am I was awakened by something coming through camp and it sounded big. I lay there for a while listening and a little nervous, never did I hear it leave and I wasn¢t about to look outside to see. Eventually I fell back to sleep only to have some very strange dreams. I¢d wake myself up and when I went back to sleep I¢d start dreaming again. I still got up early (6:30) but I ended up not leaving camp until a little before 10:00. I¢m a little disappointed about the late start but I was able to talk with some south bounders that came into camp late last night. The hike so far today has been real nice. It¢s not hot out and it¢s a little overcast. I made it to Skyland Restaurant by lunch and that¢s where I am right now. I called Dad again, talked to him for a bit and since he was at Aunt Sue¢s office I also talked to her for a minute. Came into the restaurant for some lunch. Had a pita stuffed with tuna salad, some macaroni salad and I¢m thinking about some blackberry ice cream. Now I¢m in camp. Okay, I did have the blackberry ice cream and it was delicious. After my long lunch break I headed back to the trail. My mood changed pretty fast after lunch, not sure why. All I know is I was in good spirits one minute and the next I couldn¢t wait to get off for the day. I came very close to seeing a bear but thankfully did not. I only heard it. I¢m surprised I haven¢t seen one yet because I¢ve been seeing a lot of fresh scat these last few days. Everyone else seems to be seeing them, though, I guess my timings off a little but that¢s fine with me. I really don¢t want to see one. I stopped in at the Panorama Restaurant which is no longer a restaurant and is now just a gift shop but that doesn¢t matter anyway because it was closed for the day. From there I had just over a mile to the shelter. And what a creepy mile it was. The trail was a bit over grown so it was difficult to see what was ahead, you know, like a bear. When I was coming down the trail to the shelter I saw a deer that was actually a little hard to miss since it was standing in the middle of the path. I could also smell a campfire (I love the smell of campfires) and I thought to myself, ah, home at last. Squeeze, who I met at lunch, was already here and made the fire to try and get rid of some of the bugs. Geo showed up a little while later who I also met at lunch and then Martin came in. The smoke has kept the mosquitoes away but not the flies, they¢re everywhere. Claimed my spot in the shelter then went to get water. It is a nice spring and the best part is that it¢s like 20 feet away. So nice not to have to walk a half mile down hill like most of the springs seem to be. Made some ramen and a cup of blackberry tea for dinner with a Snickers for dessert. The 4 of us just sat around talking while we ate which was nice. Hanging the bear bag was a real challenge. The lesson I learned is when using these bear poles is don¢t try it in the dark because you can¢t see it. After numerous tries Geo went and got his rope. We threw the rope over the bear pole and hung all our bags that way. The fire flies are putting on quite a show tonight and it¢s really nice to watch. I¢m not crazy about this shelter with its flies and mice but it does have a men¢s and women¢s privy so that is a plus.