Date: 2007-10-22
From: Bears Den Hostel, VA

To: Rockfish Gap, VA
Miles today: 140.6
Weather: broken clouds

Since I wrote last at Bears Den Hostel, I've hiked through the lovely Shenandoah National Park from Front Royal to Rockfish Gap. In this section, I enjoyed easy terrain with high mileage, wondrously overwhelming fall color displays, long awaited, thrilling bear sightings, and joyful times with Hiker John.We entered Shenandoah Park on Sunday, October 14. I dutifully filled out the backcountry permit and fixed it to my backpack. We had planned to reach Rockfish Gap the following Sunday, then pick up John's bounce box at the P.O. in Waynesboro on Monday. However, on Tuesday, I realized that plan meant I would be leaving the trail that same day. I wanted my brother to pick me up from the Trail, not from town. So, we decided to hike the remaining 62 miles in three days and reach Waynesboro Friday night! Wednesday morning we started out from the lodge at Big Meadows after a yummy pancake and omelet breakfast. Even though we didn't start hiking 'til 8:30, we still logged 21 miles before dark and slept soundly at Hightop Hut. Thursday we hiked 20 miles to Blackrock Hut, and Friday reached Rockfish Gap at 6 p.m. after a delightfully rainy 19 miles. Bears had been eluding us on the entire AT. Even in New Jersey where "everyone sees a bear", we had seen no bears. We started joking that maybe people were confused about what they had seen and were really counting squirrels instead of bears. So, we started calling out "Bear" whenever we saw a squirrel. Well, that practice logged us quite a few! On Thursday, just south of Loft Mountain Campground, we celebrated reaching our 1300 mile mark. 1300 miles and no bears! We made up a "Bear Chant". Maybe that would work! Just a few minutes later, at mile 1301, John whispered, "Look!" I caught sight of the cutest, blackest, quietest moving shapes I've ever seen about 30 feet off in the open woods. "Bear!" We stood mesmerized for about ten seconds and watched two cubs and a mom scurry off up the hill. Then, we took pictures of each other in "Regina after seeing a bear" and "John after seeing a bear" poses, since we had no actual bear pictures. In the next 24 hours, we had two other bear sightings. We also discovered that bears frequently use the Trail as a toilet as we gingerly avoided the numerous piles of bear scat dumped there. One pile looked so fresh we thought the bear must be nearby. Sure enough, we heard a rustling in the brush that quickly turned into a crashing through the brush. "That HAD to be the bear that just pooped!"This week also brought the best in fall color. The vast vistas in the southern section of the Shenandoah yielded numerous panoramas of vibrant color. I felt a tingle of excitement when we reached Mary's Rock and saw layered peaks of high mountains. That brought back fond memories of New Hampshire and Maine which had faded in the gentler slopes of New York through Maryland. I particularly loved the color display on Friday as rain soaked everything. I remarked, "Now, I'm really walking through a water color painting!" My pictures are only suggestions of the overwhelming beauty of the woods saturated with color. I felt wholly blessed by my opportunity to be on the Trail to experience this.I hiked every day grateful for my friendship with John, with whom I'd been hiking since Monson, ME, over 1200 miles. We shared delicious meals, concocting tasty mixtures of both raw and cooked food including my sprouted lentils, dehydrated sweet potatoes and tomatoes, nuts, seeds, and seaweed. He shared couscous, noodles, mashed potatoes - and Snickers bars. Every week, we always included a variety of whole vegies, including onion, garlic, red pepper, zuchini, limes, even portebello mushroom. No boring camp food for us!Beginning in Palmerton, PA we spiced up our hiking with poetry recitation practice as we memorized "The Cremation of Sam McGee" by Robert Service. Evoking the rigors of trail life and John's love of Alaska, the poem gave us something to share and keep our thinking sharp. We never had a problem with boredom, that's for sure! Let me know if you want to hear a recitation. After over 500 miles of practice we're ready to perform! We did share the poem with a few other southbounders (Shaggy, TeaLeaf, and Nat) at Paul C. Wolfe Shelter just south of Waynesboro.The gentle terrain, vibrant colors, great food, bear sightings, and friendship made this an outstanding section which I'll always cherish.