Date: 2011-05-19
From: Bearfence Mountain Hut

To: Byrds Nest #3 Hut
Miles today: 22.4
Weather: light rain

I got up pretty early, not knowing exactly what I was going to do today. The huts were either 11.5 miles or 22.4 miles, we also passed Big Meadows Wayside & Skyland Restaurant. Once again it was foggy, but not raining. I made it to Big Meadows Wayside and decided to have a second "real" breakfast. I expected to see Billy Goat there already, but apparently he missed the turn and went through the campground because I was already eating when he arrived. I had a breakfast sandwich, cinnamon bun, and chocolate milkshake, all was very good. I tried wrapping my shin today with an ace bandage type wrap, but it was too tight and had to be loosened. It felt real good when I wrapped it, but when I started walking if felt about the same. It was only 5 more miles to the first shelter and it was only 11:00, so when I got to the turn for the first hut I just kept going. I walked until Skyland Resort and thought about stopping, but they didn¢t serve dinner until 5:30, and it would be too late for me to make the shelter by dark, so decided I better continue on. I did sit in the grass a while with my shoes off to rest my feet. When I got moving again I came across the two women I had met coming out of Waynesboro. This time I asked their names, and the woman who has been following my journal told me her trailname is ¢Gamache¢. After what seemed like forever I limped into the shelter to find it empty. I ate, started a fire, and cleaned up; finally Goose and Ducky came in about 8:30. Today was a 1% day, meaning I hiked 1% of the trail today. Anything over 21.8 miles is a 1% day. It probably didn¢t do my shin any good, and I know the bottoms of my feet are sore. I was going to push into Front Royal on a 23 mile day tomorrow, but I think I¢ll take two days, especially since I am going to Front Royal to rest. There¢s lots of wild life in the park, I¢ve seen dozens of deer and they all seem quite tame, they just stare at you while you take their picture. I also saw a rabbit today, and I think I saw a Cooper¢s Hawk. I¢m not sure if he was harassing or being harassed by a couple of Crows. He seemed to be flying from branch to branch, and the Crows were kind of circling around trying to chase him away. Once I saw him make a run at one of the Crows, shortly after I heard my old friend the Barred Owl scold them both with the strange call they make when they are upset. He seemed to be telling them both to scram, take it somewhere else, because they seemed to move on. Yesterday I had a strange encounter with a bat. As I walked down the trail what I thought was a butterfly turned out to be a bat coming right at me. He turned at the last second as I raised my poles. He then circled around and did the same thing, twice more. He flew right down the trail at me in the middle of the day. I also realized the bird I was so excited to identify was the American Redstart. When I saw this bright bird flitting around the trail, hovering, and then doubling back catching some kind of bugs, I had thought it looked like a Redstart, but I thought they were bigger and not as bright.The weather actually turned out pretty good today with it being sunny a good portion, but we did get 3 or 4 showers; just enough so you needed your pack cover handy. Well, off to bed, I think it is going to be pretty cold tonight; it is windy already.