Date: 2003-07-01
From: US 206 at Culvers Gap

To: Mashipacong Shelter
Miles today: 8.9
Weather: clear sky

Am up early and looking for an ATM. Found one right down the road a short way and then was ready for a shuttle back to the Trail. "Howcome you didn't get a ride with that other fireman guy from Texas that I just hauled out to the Trail?" the motel owner/shuttledriver asked. "What other fireman from Texas?" I asked. "The one I just took out to the Trail wearing a Garland Fire Dept. cap." the motel owner said. "I didn't even know he was here," I told the guy. "Well, I'm making a special trip just for you" the nice man told me. "I feel like scum" I told him and offered to pay. He refused money for the ride, but I don't think he believed that we weren't together.The other fireman turned out to be III Packs, who I had hiked with for a bit in 2001 and had seen at Trail Days in 2003. I had no idea he was out here, but I couldn't catch up with him. I sent word north with some faster hikers than I am that Texas Jack was about and to be on the lookout for the big guy wearing the Dallas Fire Dept. cap. It was all I could do to fight the ticks and the skeeters on the way to Mashipacong Shelter that afternoon. It was plenty hot and water was in short supply, but I pumped 2 liters from a brownish-looking brook and hoped it was ok.The shelter register said there had been bear activity about dusk around the shelter, so I ate supper early, put my food bag in the bear box, and got out the camera. The skeeters, amazingly, didn't seem too bad at this place, guess there was a breeze and not too much water around. Anyway, a cute little blond forrestry worker came by, just to check the shelter, and confirmed that there was no water for 10 miles in both directions, but it turned out she did want to hike the A.T. at the end of her school semester. She was a sweetie and I was alone in the gathering twilight after she left.That is, I was alone until a yearling bear lumbered down the Trail from the north and stuck it's nose around the end of the shelter wall. Well, I guess we both snorted some we were so surprised! He ran off a few yards, seemingly unsure about what to do now. I got a pic before he ran off into the woods. I continued to sit tight and quiet. In about 30 minutes, another bear, a little bigger than the lst one, eased down into the open area in front of the shelter. He walked first one way, then another, smelled everything, and then walked straight toward the shelter. Well, I had taken several pics already, and the last one seemed to flash right in his eyes. That stopped him, 'cause before that he didn't know anyone was there but him! By this time, he's too close for comfort, so I began to yell and pound my hiking sticks on the shelter floor. That did it. He was plenty surprised and ran off just like the other one had. It was a sorta spooky nite after that, but no more bears showed up, and not too many skeeters. Nite, nite all!(7-11-03 Note from Carol...it was too dark for the pics of the bears to show up very good, so I didn't put them in the journal. I just heard on the news that due to the area being overrun by bears, N.J. is allowing hunting in an area West of Rt. 287 and North of Rt. 78, so hikers BEWARE of HUNTERS.)