Date: 2018-07-14
From: Tom Leonard Shelter

To: Tyringham
Miles today: 14.2

Much better sleeping last night.No bugs!And excited because I found out my wife will be coming for a visit later today and tonight.  Ice gulch was a cool spot early in the day.Hige boulders create a deep gulley where sometimes snow can still be found in summer.Just walking by it felt so cool and refreshing compared to the heat that¢s pretty constant lately.  Trail a little more rugged and rocky today.Was walking along and saw a momma bear and 2 cubs very close on a corner of the trail.I stopped in my tracks because I was closer than I like.Momma bear moved the cubs behind a big boulder and just stared at me.So I took some video of her.She slowly moved a little away but kept watching.I started to walk up the trail and she kind of stomped her front paws and darted  straight at me for about 5 feet then stopped.I was a little freaked at this point.It was like she wanted me to stay still or she was going to mess with me.Luckily for me her cubs ran in the opposite direction and she put her attention back to them and very slowly watched me as she strolled off.This was probably my scariest moment on the trail!Even scarier than some of the lightning I thought I was going to die in. A little while further up the trail we came to some great trail magic.Some of ETs family surprised her with it.She was there and so was TNT.Really nice spread of fruits and all kinds snacks.Best part for me was a big Gatorade.They had some Jamieson  whiskey so I mixed it in the Gatorade half and half.They all thought I was crazy but it tasted awesome.!   Trail was really nice all day.Passed by a few beautiful farms.There is a little snack stand at one of the road crossings where we talked to the owner of it and a farm for quite a while.Really nice lady who was telling us all about the area and history of it  We knew Beth was coming so had a little time to kill because we were ahead of where we thought we would be.Hung out at a trailhead parking lot where we met two ladies who were day hiking.They left then came back about 2 minutes later.Ine if them got stung and is allergic to bees.They were so interested in our hike and were laughing that they couldn¢t make it 5 minutes on a hike compared to us having gone 1500 miles.Just really nice people who actually cared about what you were saying.Rare! We walked down to a top my little town called Tyringham where my wife was going to pick us up.Its another one of those place where it feels like walking back in time.A really nice guy invited me up on his porch while we waited for my wife.He hiked the trail in 1972.Wish I could have talked with him longer.  So we all decided earlier to go back to the cabin we stayed at on Monday.The owners are some of the nicest people I¢ve met in a really long time.They let Numb sleep up in their loft of their house so Beth and I could have the cabin to ourselves with some privacy.They also made an amazing steak dinner for us all.Really loved talking with them and we all had a really fun night.It was like 11 at night before we left.Kibs was also there.Really cool older guy .He is thru hiking also and has only one arm.I give him so much credit.There are so many spots on this trail that I just can¢t imagine doing with one arm.Amazingly cool guy!  The rest of the night in our little cabin was almost dreamlike it was so nice.Thanks Bethie for the great visit.Thank you for letting me live out this dream!!I will never forget it ever!