Date: 2004-05-30
From: Marble Springs Campsite

To: John's Hollow Shelter
Miles today: 9.4

Around 4:15 this morning I awoke to the sound of something moving in the woods about 20 yards away in the direction of where I had hung ¢Miss Piggy¢. I didn¢t think much of it and decided to go back to sleep. But a few minutes later I heard ¢Gia¢ and ¢Beast¢ talking excitedly to each other between their tents¢something ¢BIG¢ was just outside their tents and noisily circling around them through the woods. It would not go away! Soon, they were pounding on pots and clapping sandals together and talking loudly to scare away their intruder. But their visitor, a large black bear, was very persistent even after it moved away, and continued to linger nearby, then move in closer, retreating backwards as the noise increased. This dance went on (all of 20 yards away from me) for about half an hour before the bear finally took the hint and moved on. In the morning as we were de-briefing the pre-dawn drama over breakfast, the source of the problem became evident¢somewhere along the line ¢Gia¢ and ¢Beast¢ had heard that it was a good idea to hang their food bags directly over their tents which is what they had done. The bags were low enough that they intrigued the keen-nosed bear, who apparently wanted to see if he could arrange a pre-dawn snack for himself. Hence, his persistent attempts to get close enough to check things out. After yesterday¢s long hike and last night¢s bear scare I decided to go back to sleep for a few more hours and didn¢t get on the Trail until 9:30 am. A half an hour south of the James River, I overtook ¢Pegasus¢ and we continued on together, crossing the James River on the longest footbridge on the AT¢it was really neat!At the parking lot on the north side of the river stood ¢Trail Angel,¢ Ken, offering water, soda, and a free ride into Glasgow where ¢Pegasus¢ was planning to do some re-supplying . Not being one to turn down a handy ride to a hot meal, I promptly abandoned my plan for a second ¢long day¢ in a row and headed into town for a double bacon cheeseburger, French fries, and a lap through the salad bar at a restaurant appropriately named ¢Mom and Pop¢s.¢ YUM!Leaving ¢Pegasus¢ to do her re-supply, I hitch-hiked back to the Trail getting picked up by ¢Thumper¢ who thru-hiked in ¢01. ¢Thumper¢ was one of the 211 volunteers who participated earlier today in a project called ¢A Day in the Life of the Appalachian Trail.¢ As part of this project, each of the volunteers hiked an assigned section of the Trail taking photographs along the way. These photographs will be sent to a publisher and hopefully a book will be made of them with proceeds going to support the ATC (Appalachian Trail Conference). Cool. (And I was there!) I just hope for the sake of the project coordinators that the weather is better elsewhere along the Trail because otherwise the book will be filled with a collection of very grey, dreary photos. So here I am under, overcast and threatening clouds (which is how most of this entire day has been), sitting on the sleeping platform of John¢s Hollow Shelter, about ready to make dinner and go to sleep. I¢m sharing the Shelter with ¢Keystone¢ and ¢Doublenickle¢ two section-hikers from Pittsburg, and a dozen or so Boy Scouts whose tents are set up behind the Shelter¢s back wall. ¢Gia¢ and ¢Beast¢ arrived a little while ago and I noted that tonight they have hung their food bags about as far away from their tent as you can get¢and still be in the state of Virginia. Tomorrow will be a big day if I am going to get to the Buena Vista Budget Inn before nightfall, as I hope. There¢s a 2200 foot ascent in the first 3 miles, 1000 feet of which occurs in the third mile. I think, I was smart to make today an ¢easy day¢ so that I could start out fresh and rested. But we¢ll see¢¦ Let¢s not borrow tomorrow¢s troubles today!G¢night.