Date: 2010-06-18
From: Calf Mountain Shelter

To: Stealth campsite
Miles today: 17.2

I had a bit of a rough time today. Last night, after I got my camp set up, I was pretty depressed. This morning, I sat by the fire pit and sent Steve a couple of emails regarding stuff we had talked about - or hadn't really talked about last weekendIt was a beautiful day - perfect hiking weather - but I was tired. I stopped for a break about nine and sent Ross an angry email. Around noon I stopped and ended up just sitting on a log for an hour. No juice. Tired and lonely and bored.I met some people who are on the hike with Warren Doyle - the calculator, Eddie Bear, and I guess Warren Doyle although he didn't introduce himself. I had seen him standing by a car eating ice cream when Steve dropped me off on Wednesday. They will pass me tomorrow and that is probably the last I will see of them.I kept on hiking. It seemed slow but I kept on going. I texted Steve to send me my net book to Linden.I'm getting bored. Everyone I knew is up ahead and I'm staying near the shelters as little as possible for various reasons. One reason is so that I don't stop too soon at night just because I've reached a shelter. The other is that it bothers people when I get up early. I'm tired of hearing about it. People come in late, too. So what.I went up the hill to Blackrock Hut in the late afternoon. I leapfrogged up it with a couple of boy scout troop leaders. They hiked faster than me, but had to stop to rest. I could just keep on going. It was steep but nothing compared to what I've already done. Stecoah Gap, for instance.On the way up the hill, at a point when I was in front of them, I saw tiny bear cub start up a tree on my left. The mama was just beyond him and I started backing up. She moved a little toward me and watched me. I broke eye contact.The two guys caught up with me. I yelled and banged my poles, but she wouldn't move. We all yelled. Still nothing. We stood there a few minutes. The cub had come right back down the tree when I first saw him and wasn't visible after that. I yelled again and finally she moved off.The shelter was just beyond. I stopped to get water and hung out by the very slow spring with the boy scouts. I ran into Left Field. I also ran into the ridgerunner on my way out. He said there were two cubs with the mama and an adult male in the area. I told him about the bobcat I had seen yesterday, running down the trail away from me in the afternoon.I continued up to Blackrock summit. I stopped to eat supper. I try to eat away from where I am going to stay if I am camping by myself. I sent Ross an email to apologize for the earlier one.It was about seven and I continued on. I started making good time, driven by the desire to find a place to camp, and aided by downhill and flat terrain.By eight p.m. I was getting nervous. I went past Brown's Gap and then past mile post 82.2 on skyline drive. Finally I found a place where I could camp.It was eight o'clock already so I quickly hung the hammock. Then I put the food bag up, hurrying before it got dark. I got the rope over on the first try, for which I was extremely grateful. Then I went back to stake out the hammock. I was congratulating myself on picking such a safe spot - it was a little closer to the road than I usually camp, but I went up the hill to where I was not visible from the road or the trail - when I heard the crashing sound and looked up to see a bear about 200 feet from my hammock. He was running away from me. They don't make much noise until they start to run.It was late. Too late to move my camp. The bear had been on the other side of my hammock from the food bag. And he had been running away from me - a very good feature in a bear. So I decided to stay put.I hung the platypus that had the tube attached up in a tree. I took the other one in the hammock with me. I opened my umbrella and hung it from the hammock at the head end as a bear deterrent. It sways and bumps in the breeze and bears aren't very smart. They don't like unfamiliar things. Or so I've heard.I brought one of my hiking poles into the hammock in case I had to fight off a bear. I didn't think he'd be back or I wouldn't have stayed. My food bag was far enough away from the hammock that I felt comfortable about it. And I've gotten into the habit of picking trees that have leaves and/or brush under them so that the bear would have to make noise to get at it. That way I can ignore all the little night rustlings that pose no threat to my food.Then I went to sleep.