Date: 2017-06-11
From: Wawayanda Shelter

To: NYC
Miles today: 8.9
Weather: clear sky

Got up and sprinted through the trail at a reasonable pace. Found some trail magic in the form of free water. Trail magic is anytime you receive a gift while on trail. Saying goes, the trail provides. So bear story time, while still in NJ, we came across a point where I heard a bunch of rustling, bigger and clumsier than a dear. I felt like it was of decent size and that it was scurrying away. I paused to look around but couldn't see anything. Ishmael came down round the bend and the look on her eyes! "I see a bear!" She whispered over and over again. I waddled over quietly to where she was and saw him slipping off into the forest. We were both stunned. We felt alive and aware. He was a tiny guy but there seemed to be no mother. He appeared to be alone. But we didn't do anything. We just watched a moment and then continued on our way. We made it to the the state line and had a snack, still talking about the bear. We had hiked 5 weeks and just had our first encounter. He made a short vid to remember the moments and then up our bags went and further into the forest we dove. As we started New York, I could sense the trail and landscape change. It all got much rougher. Some challenging little climbs along with a mile or so run along rocky ridge work, we were having fun. We trekked on after a short water break knowing that we were nearing our side trail and our exit from the woods for the day. I was slightly ahead of Ishmael when I heard a similar scourging noise to the right and in the woods a bit. I immediately thought again bear because it was a similar sound. I quietly hopped up on some rocks to get a better look and that's when I saw her. She appeared out of nowhere to my left and back in the woods. Could have been 20 feet or 20 yards, couldn't tell you now, it all happened very quickly. As she popped up our eyes met and I feel we both had similar ideas. "You're rather large." She kinda hooted in the direction of the other noise and hurried away. It seemed to be some kind of command for her cubs to recognize. I had just encountered a bear with cubs. My mind raced. I pulled back but made noise and took a steady pace to exit. Izzy and I talked about what to do. We clicked our rods and made noise with those while trying to talk peacefully but sternly with the bear to let her know we were more than one and also not there to cause harm. We stood our ground a moment but realized after a short while, we should go on. The bears seemed to disappear off to the right of the trail. There had been a short scamper but then nothing to follow. Just no noise at all. We were baffled that they could escape so quickly and quietly but they had and we were thankful that the situation had ended as soon as it began. We finished the hike out of the woods and made it to lunch. We gorged on some heavenly slices at a pizza spot in town and then caught a bus into the city. We arrived at Emily's and just chilled. Decided to take a day off tomorrow so we could figure out this sleep system glitch. We had survived the night before but had been cold since we had only a sheet. But Ishmael had slept in the entirety of her rain gear and she had claimed to be toasty even. Tomorrow would consist of sorting this out, what to buy and how to continue getting good rest.