Date: 2004-06-10
From: Pass Mountain Hut

To: Gravel Springs Hut
Miles today: 13.1
Weather: light rain

Today is relax day. Only 13.5 miles to the hut instead of 20 or so.The path was smooth enough that I arrived at Elkwallow Wayside at 10:30. Most of the hikers at last night's hut had passed me and were already at the picnic tables outside, eating away and relaxing. It was not lunchtime yet, so I ordered two breakfast egg muffins and a blackberry shake and joined them. It was nice to be able to linger over lunch and relax instead of hurrying onward.Someone at the campground said her husband had been harassed by a problem bear right near Elkwallow. It had not gone away until the man charged it! Fortunately today I saw no sign of it. I really don't want to have to play chicken with a bear!I got to the hut at 2:00 p.m., so like everyone else I could sit around the rest of the day doing nothing. That may sound a bit decadant. But downtime is incredibly important. It gives a chance for all the hurts and strains to heal, leaving the body ready for more the next day. What really causes problems with high mileage days is that it takes so long that the body has no time to recover. Day after day of that invites an injury. I have heard of hiker after hiker, some of whom really ought to know better, go flying up the Trail only to have to leave the Trail with shin splints or some other injury. The trick is to keep pushing north, but not too hard.   It turned out to be an eventful night. Register entries warned of a racoon that could climb the bear poles. I was having trouble sleeping because the Ridgerest foam pad I bought felt nearly as uncomfortable as the hard floor. About 10:30 p.m. I heard what sounded like a chain rattling and claws popping through food bags. "Has anyone got a strong flashlight?" I asked out loud. Fire Marshall groggily listened to my explanation and skeptically shined his headlamp towards the bear pole. We could see two big green eyes reflecting brightly from the top of the pole. Grabbing a treking pole and the headlamp, I ran to the pole and chased off the racoon. Almost immediately we heard the same tell-tale jingle of a chain from the pole placed at the tentsites. By then others had gotten up and like a posse in the movies we rushed over and chased it off. Someone whimsically suggested vaseline on the bear pole to make it too slippery to climb. I offered my half tube of Neosporin ointment. Someone else had a tube as well, and we slathered three feet of the bear pole and the pole used to put food bags up, then wound the chain up out of reach. We went back to bed, but first I dug out my tiny photon flashlight and put it in easy reach. About 11:30 I heard the chain at the far pole rattling. There was only one bag there but it seemed unfair to leave it to the racoon. I grabbed pole and light and went to chase it away. I found the heavy bag perched atop the crosspieces. The racoon had hoisted it up to work on getting into it. I prodded it down, unhooked it from the pole and took it to the shelter where I hung it for the rest of the night.At midnight the racoon was back, this time right into the shelter and up on the picnic table to try to grab the rescued bag. By now we were all jumping at the slightest sound. Shortly later Fire Marshall shined his light at the table and instead of the recoon we found a little mouse! Terrified by the light and commotion, it ran frantically back and forth, behind and over the water bottles on the table looking for a way to hide or escape. It had us all laughing by the time it jumped to the ground and skittered for safety. "I hate this shelter" commented Gaiter Woman."I hate camping!" someone added facetiously in a pretend whiny-child voice.But the excitement was still not over. At 4:30 the racoon came again. Then Fire Marshall heard another noise and found a mouse in Gaiter Woman's pack. He poked and proded trying to get it to leave before giving up and just leaving the zipper open for it to find its own way out.Bleary-eyed from lost sleep and heartily tired of the wildlife at this hut, we all were glad to hike away as soon as possible in the morning.