Date: 2004-04-29
From: Jenny Knob Shelter

To: 4 miles past Wapiti Shelter
Miles today: 18.0
Weather: clear sky

There are two moments that, as a thru-hiker, I am really looking forward to. One of those moments is summiting Katahdin, which is still over 4 months away. The other moment, though I didn't know it when I woke up, would happen before lunch. Today.   The day started out really tough mentally. I was the first to leave the shelter and after only an hour of hiking, I had to take a break. It was a long break. I sat on a rock and simply did not want to go any further. Even knowing that I'd be enjoying a burger at Trent's Grocery for lunch instead of peanut butter on tortillas wasn't enough to motivate me. I looked at the elevation profile and saw that I had an easy day ahead, but it didn't matter. I knew that eventually there would be more ups. And they would suck. I guess the only thing that got me moving again was the realization that I couldn't just live on that ridge. Might as well walk.    So I did. I walked alone. And walked. And walked. And walked.    And walked. And I heard something. Not the rustle of leaves from a squirrel or bunny. No. This was about shoulder level.    I froze. And looked.   Less than 15 feet in front of my face slightly to the right of the trail was a black bear cub hanging onto the trunk of a tree. It looked down, saw me, and started getting down from the tree making quite a bit of noise while doing so.    My eyes got real wide as one thought entered my mind: 'Oh my God; Where's the mother?'   I've read a lot of opinions on how to handle bear confrontations, but one piece of information was consistent: Never come between a mother bear and her cubs. She will attack. And you will probably die.    Seeing the cub only 10-15 feet away scared me. I thought the mother was going to be on the opposite side of the trail, look over to see what the noise was all about, and see me standing there. I really thought I was going to be fighting a bear today.    With the cub racing down the slope and my heart racing inside my chest, I slowly backed up and then turned around listening carefully for any sounds of an animal charging through the forest, occasionally glancing over my shoulder. It only took about 5 minutes to run into some friends hiking toward me.    "You're going the wrong way, man."   I know I just need to calm down a bit.   "You saw a bear, didn't you?"   I explained. They got excited and wanted to go find it.   I wanted to sit a while.   The day didn't get much better. They were all out of burgers at Trent's Grocery, so I ended up with some not-so-delicious chicken strips. I still was down, so I tried calling some friends to cheer me up. Nine phone calls and not a single person was reached.    Night hiked a bit with Patrick, Sarah and Uncle Ben. Had a really scary fall where things happen in slow motion. Had to sit a moment, but turned out okay. By the time we finally decided to stop, I felt comatose. My stomach hurt for some reason, and all I could do was sit in the middle of the trail while everyone else set up their tents. I really felt delirious at this point. I couldn't think straight and was just kinda mumbling. But most of all I was staring straight ahead at nothing.   Sarah set up her tent for me because it was clear I was immobile. My tent was in my pack which was supporting my body as I sat. When I finally did crawl into bed, I think I passed out pretty quickly.   So what did I learn today? I learned that even a perfect day on the trail can be miserable. I learned that night hiking sucks even more when your already tired. And I learned that seeing a bear cub in the wild with no idea where it's mother is makes a pretty good laxative.