Date: 2007-05-31
From: Fontana Hilton Shelter

To: Mollies Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 11.3
Weather: light rain

What a day.....Two Bear encounters....more later..stay tuned....I have copied this from Splendora's version of the Bear encounterANIMALSWhen I first began the trail, every rustle in the leaves stopped me in my tracks. Within the first week, I encountered deer, a bear, black snakes, squirrels, chipmunks, wild turkeys, and countless other birds. All were unfamiliar and shocking. However, after a few months on the trail, my ears became atuned to the liveliness around me. A small erratic rustle is a chipmunk, a slightly larger rustle is a squirrel. A very quick upset of leaves is a bird. These sounds, lately, fail to even turn my head. The fun now is immediately recognizing the "other" sounds. A stampeding sound is trademark of a bear, of which I have seen 3. I knew immediately when a rustle in the leaves was larger than a squirrel but smaller than a bear, and I saw [and photographed!] my first raccoon. A rustle underfoot requires immediate attention, because that means I am nearly stepping on a snake. If this rustle is accompanied by a rattle - watch out! [Don't worry too much, Mom; this has only happened once.]My closest bear encounter happened in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We were at Mollies Ridge Shelter, near the South of the park. Brad and I had reached the shelter later than usual, and the other 8 hikers were already in their sleeping bags while we were preparing for bed. After dark, as I was brushing my teeth in the covered cooking area to the side of the shelter, I heard a large rustle to my right. I shined my headlamp in that direction, and sure enough - a medium-sized black bear gazed at me from about 20 feet away. I ran around into the shelter and delicately let the other occupants know that we had a visitor. The men immediately rushed out to try to scare off the bear. However, bears in the Smokies have often encountered careless hikers who leave out food that the bears eat and then create an association between hikers and a free meal. Attempts to make noise and scare off this curious bear proved futile. When this was realized, the guys decided to let the bear be curious, and since we had not left out any food or scented items, we figured it would leave before long. Sure enough, the bear was very curious. It climbed up on the picnic table, gnawed on some Kleenex, and licked my toothbrush holder, which I had accidentally left behind after my initial bear spotting. At this point, Brad had already retired to his hammock for the night. The bear began to wander toward his hammock, and went so far as to stick its snout under his rainfly before onlookers frantically clacked their poles and shouted to scare it away. Brad decided that was enough hammocking for the night, and the shelter looked perfectly comfortable thankyouverymuch. The bear continued to circle the camp well into the evening, but never caused any harm or attempted to come near the resting hikers or their gear. And Brad found himself with his first trail name - Bear Bait. I will add my version later.....It is interesting how people see and account of things....