Date: 2004-06-11
From: Gravel Spring Hut

To: Chester Gap (Pioneer Motel, Front Royal)
Miles today: 13.4
Weather: light rain

Good Bye Shenandoah8PM - Pioneer MotelThere was quite a ruckus at the shelter last night. It seems that a racoon in the area has learned to climb the metal bear poles, used to hang food out of reach of bears. The shelter register had notes from several groups within the last two weeks who had lost considerable food, not to mention food bags.The poles are sort of like a tree, with a vertical central pole topped by eight hooks to hold the food bags. There is a separate, more slender, pole with a hook on the end, used to hoist the food bags up to the top. The hoisting pole is attached to the main pole by a chain, I guess so it won't get lost. Finally, there is a hook 3/4 of the way up the main pole for hanging the hoisting pole on when it is not in use.The clever racoon has learned to dislodge the hoisting pole, which then stands on the ground supported at an angle by the chain in such a way that the racoon can climb up the hoisting pole and the chain to the food. The process is acompanied by considerable clnking, which woke up one of the shelter occupants (Fire Marshall) last night. Fire Marshall tried shooing the racoon away, which only had the effect of waking up most of the people in the shelter. I was only vaguely aware of what was happening, through a soporific haze.After a considerable fuss the people awake decided that the best solution was to make the hoisting pole so slick that the raccoon couldn't climb it. One of the earlier registry entries had suggested using soap for this. But we didn't have enough soap among us to suffice. Another suggestion was to use vaseline. Same story. Finally, someone came up with a tube of Neosporin, an antibiotic ointment. That was quickly applied, and the raccoon could not get up the pole any more. (That was not the end of the raccoon problem, because he then moved to trying to make off with the water bottles standing on the table which was halfway in the shelter.)I had basically slept through all of this, but was aware of what the solution had been. According to my wont, I was the first person to hoist down my food bag this morning. With considerable difficulty, and with Fire Marshall's assistance (it's a wonder he got any sleep last night) I was able to get it down, but my hands were completely covered with Neosporin. I wiped it off the best I could, and proceeded to eat breakfast.I am now having second thoughts about that. As I was hiking, I noticed that my initials on my hiking poles were fading. They haven't faded at all in the previous 4 days, and now in the space of a few hours they had faded considerably. Something must be causing that. Generally I am quite wary of spreading around antibiotics so liberally, and began to wonder if there were going to be some unintended consequences of last night's solution, like the wholesale slaughter of the 'good' bacteria in my (or others') digestive tract. It's done now, and only time will tell. But this may be another situation where a technological solution turns out to be worse than the original problem. Particularly since we were almost all coming into town today and had very little food, and in my case I am even thinking of getting a new, lighter, food bag.I got away early this morning, and made good time since the trail was mostly quite flat. That first of all meant that none of our group last night caught up with me. Second, I was able to get all my errands done well before dinner, which I had with Stretch who is staying in the same motel. However, since the PO is closed today in observance of former Pres Reagan's funeral, I will need to take a nero day tomorrow to handle my mail drop.I did meet two groups of hikers who were starting off on a hike through SNP, both groups planning to take about 10 days. One of these hikers was Uptown who hiked GA -> MA in about 97.Now, on to Harpers Ferry, the 'psychological' midpoint of the Trail.