Date: 2008-11-03
From: Rod Holow Shelter

To: Bears Den Hostel
Miles today: 9.9
Weather: overcast clouds

The "roller coaster" was everything it was cracked up to be but then a whole lot more. It was a glorious day! Oh yeah, it went steeply uphill and down hill repeatedly and there were lots and lots of rocks. But the forest, Oh my, the forest was gorgeous, a riot of color, the most color I have seen on this whole trip.I think more people should do the "roller coaster" in the fall, late fall. After the wind blows most of the leaves away on the high peaks of the Shenandoahs this area blooms with a riot of yellows and oranges and lots of red Mapels too. Magnificent! And all the beauty takes your mind off the struggle up and down the roller coaster of hills.So all you potential section hikers who read this journal take note. If you can plan it that way, do this section in late fall. The advantage of section hiking is to choose the time of year that is best for that particular section of trail. Why go throung the roller coaster in swealtering June or July. Pick early November. I am so glad I did.OK, back to the beginning of the day. It had lightly rained in the night. I started out in shorts, light shirt and rain gear. But it did not really rain anymore so I soon was in shorts and shirt even though it was a brisk 50 degrees to start.Going up the first hill of the roller coaster was beautiful! Like the day going into the James River I had trouble making forward progress, not because of the steepness of the hill, though it was steep. I just wanted to take pictures of all the beauty around me.Sometime in late morning I was in Reservoir Hollow, an absoutely lovely little stream dappled with falling leaves. I couldn't stand to just go by so I stopped for lunch even though I had not planned to stop for another hour or more. It was lovely. I keep saying that. It is true.I was moving so slowly that I began to be worried about making Bears Den so I made myself stop taking pictures of every tree and just walk. I put on some music on the MP3 and got down to business.It truely was a lovely day and I marveled that I was the only one seeing it on this day. So much beauty and so fleeting, it brough me to tears. So many beautiful things in life are so fleeting. But I rejoiced that I could behold this particular forest at this particular time.My wildlife for the day was the most colorful spider I have ever seen. It was crawling down the trail. I am not overly fond of spiders but this one was very different. It had a large body, bigger than a dime in size and its body was a true orange, like the fruit. I don't believe I have ever seen anything like it before. I just observed; I did not touch. Interesting.On the last hill before Bears Den I finally saw 2 hikers, a SOBO thru-hiker named Fats (and he wasn't) and his friend joinging him for a few days, Matt.Bears Den is a hostel in a beautiful old stone building. This used to be a private residence of a wealthy physician and his wife who was an opera singer.   It looks like a stone castle, or at least the manor house. Red Wing and Hopeful, 2 former thru-hikers and their very sweet almost 2 year old daughter are the cartakers here. For $25 you get a bunk, a shower, laundry, pizza and pop and a Ben and Jerrys. Actually, they were having leftover lasagna and salad so I did not get the pizza. Very enjoyable.I must say, this is absolutely the cleanest hiker hostel I have seen. And they have big fluffy towels and also an assortment of clothes for you to wear while yours are getting clean. Very nice. And there is internet access.I bought a bit of resupply for tomorrow too.And now it is way past hiker midnight and even thought tomorow is a short hiking day, I had better ge some sleep.