Date: 2018-05-14
From: Boots Off

To: Vandeventer Shelter
Miles today: 9.9
Weather: few clouds

Part One:Just before I left Boots Off, about 7:30 am, a hiker named MacGyver came back into Boots Off carrying a hastily packed backpack. The story was he woke at 4 am to a black bear raiding the bear bag he had properly hung.  He explained he hung his food and cooking gear about 20 feet up a branch, but the bear got it down! He was at Watauga Lake Shelter about 1.5 miles away. This is a shelter that has had bear problems before, and hikers are told to avoid. With the help of hikers who had some extra gear and food, and the small store at Boots Off he was able to replace everything he had lost. I would meet him later at Vandeventer Shelter for part two. The realization that I was on my last section to Damascus crept into my thoughts as I hiked. I was really only 40+ miles from the goal I had set. Wow! My mind searched the memories of the last 18 days. My excitement and success, though a bit premature, made me smile and imagine what awaited me. It was a good day! The trail was not as easy as the topographic map made it to be, but the steep parts were at least short. It was sunny and in the high 80's. Vandeventer Shelter sat with it's back to a low natural rock wall, over which there was a view of the valley. The shelter had no privy, no picnic table and no bear cables. There were a few level tent sites by the rock wall behind the shelter, and in front of it, but otherwise the area to the right of the shelter and wall sloped down towards a rocky ledge drop off. Part Two: Macgyver arrived at Vandeventer late in the afternoon and hung his hammock just to the right of the shelter on that slight slope.  I was back by the rock wall enjoying the warmth of the sun and landscape when I turned and saw what I thought was a soccer ball rolling towards the ledge. I was to far away to stop it, so I watched, with the intent of seeing where it landed. Off the ledge, into the air it went, hitting jutting rocks along the way. It hit the ground near a downed log and rolled off into the brush of the forest below. I marked the spot and looked over to see Macgyver striding towards the ledge. "Was that your soccer ball?" I asked, "I know the spot where it disappeared but getting to it will be difficult.""Those were my sleeping quilts!" MacGyver replied. "Two of them!"He had rolled his quilts and stuffed them in a compression sack which when cinched down was round enough to roll. He had set his hammock up and placed the ball of quilts down on the ground in just the right place to roll.   MacGyver began to survey a route and prepare to descend the cliff, when Fiji, a young hiker that had watched the whole event unfold volunteered. "Maybe I should go since you're. . ."". . . older," I finished, as he hesitated not wanting to offend.  The retrieval was a success thanks to Fiji's agility and his friend who lowered a safety line over the ledge. I hesitate to think what might have happened if "older" MacGyver had attempted it. When I commented to MacGyver that he should beware, as that was the second piece of bad luck to have befallen him, and bad luck comes in threes. He replied,  "Bad luck, not at all. The trail provided me with the food I needed, new gear, Fiji and you! I would call that good luck!"Lesson learned: Perspective is everything.