Date: 2004-06-12
From: Lewis Mtn Campground

To: Big Meadows
Miles today: 8.7
Weather: light rain

It rained all night. I had to keep waking up to check if my tent was flooding. Thankfully the grass surrounding it was thick enough to absorb the water. The ground got so soft that the forestay, for lack of a better term, of my tent came out of the ground and the roof collapsed. I had to laugh at this point. Otherwise scream into my pillow. Easily fixed but very annoying.In the morning, Hawk mentioned lunch at Big Meadows and took off. The Trail was damp and dark but the rain had stopped finally. As I was passing Bearfence Mountain, I heard fumbling to my right. It was a moderate size bear about fifteen feet away practically camoflaged by the thicket. We stared at each other intently until he started slowly up the hill. I didn't bother with the camera because he was too blended with the scenary.I dropped by the Bearfence Hut where Pegasus, named for the Mobil insignia dangling from a chain around her neck, was still packing up. On the picnic table was a pile of wet AA batteries. So I said sarcastically, "Someone left us a bunch of batteries." A woman immediately sat up in her sleeping bag and said, "Those are not for the taking." My apologies. I didn't even know she was there. The woman went back to sleep and Pegasus twirled her finger giving me the "she's loopy" sign. Ah, I see. Apparently this woman freaked a few hikers out the night before. You meet all types on the trail.After busting my ass to do the 8 miles, I came upon Big Meadows well before the dining room opens. I met Mountain Dew as he was heading out and he said Woolly and others were going to see Jeff Alt, a 1998 thru-hiker, talk this afternoon. Any excuse to call it a short day.I met up with Quest and Hawk hanging out in the lounge where a fire roared in the stone fireplace and picture windows allowed tourists to glance spacious views. Lunch was just as pleasant. We all had to try the blackberry icecream pie.Quest and Hawk got a cabin and offered me the floor if I decided to stay. So we took our wet stuff and draped it everywhere. The cabin had a fireplace. Boots, socks, raingear, everything was getting nicely cooked. I was pretty sure that I wasn't heading out later. The temperature was dropping. 50 degrees in Virginia in June--amazing.The lecture by Jeff Alt, "Walking for Sunshine" was a good diversion with slides. Jeff pretty much covered all the basic idiosynchosies of a thru-hiker. Later, while I was on the internet, he bought Quest and Hawk a beer at the taproom. I showed up just as he was leaving. Krispy Kritter and Pegasus were also there all cleaned up. Pegasus said that talking to Jeff was like talking to a psychologist. I hear he is writing a book about post thru-hiker blues.After a few Pulitzer Heffenweisers with lemon at the taproom, it was time for dinner upstairs, of course. This thru-hiking is very hard sometimes. During dinner, we convinced Krispy Kritter and Pegasus to stay. Woolly was also looking for a place to stay but ended up getting a room.Then Catdog, Jitterbug, Hoover, and Momma's Boy showed up and we returned to the taproom for some Irish drinking songs presented by some guy--I can't remember his name. The songs reminded me of Thursday nights at the Colonial Inn with Fitzy and his gang, though. Never got to hear Finigan's Wake, unfortunately.Catdog, Momma's Boy, and the Benders were all at the campground. But the rest of us tried to squeeze into the cabin. Krispy Kritter gave up and slept on the jungle gym across the way with one of the bed spreads.For once, I could sleep and not worry about condensation and rain. Before nodding off, we all sat around watching "cowboy TV"--the fireplace.