Date: 2010-06-05
From: Just short of the Hightop Hut shelter

To: Kiosk at the junction of the AT, US 211, SLD
Miles today: 37.0

One of the things I have a lot of on the AT and during the past 30 days is time to think¢¦ Suddenly I came to the realization that I was coming close to the 1,000-mile mark and that would be 217 miles more than I had walked in the past!The other thing I recognized is that for my two days in the Shenandoah National Park, I have barely met a living soul, almost nobody; it is as if someone is having a party somewhere and I was not invited. I mean I hike at an average speed of 2.5 miles per hour, some 14 hours a day, really stopping only to organize water or care for my feet and I expected to meet all kinds of interesting personalities and conduct amazing conversations into the wee hours of the night. I know that I have said before that I am not into the social gig of the trail, I showed up in Damascus, the week after Trail Days, I come into shelters late at night and leave at the crack of dawn, but today I met more bears (5) then people! More about them later.The trail as I see it is isolated from all regular, human activities. Aside from passing through a small, lazy town or crossing a for the most part empty highway, I am pretty much in my own world. This is something that demands a lot from the average thru-hiker from an emotional and mental standpoint. Some 99% of the locations have poor cellular reception (for me this was a shock, since during my hikes in Israel, I was rarely faced with this type of problem and I even had better communications capabilities during the Sahara Marathon, but that was an organized effort so maybe it does not count) and this makes the loneliness an even heavier burden. I am not only ¢on the go¢ 14 and sometimes 16 hours but also on guard for that entire time against any suspicious noises, sounds or movements up ahead, behind me or coming from the sides. In my head, I am constantly planning the next hour, the next day, or when I might hit the next town in a few days.What is happening in the outside world, interests me like the price of tea in China. I have no financial worries (I guess that is a good thing); do not have to worry what is on TV tonight (although that did not bother me at home anyways). Work related issues seem from the mountains of Virginia as significant as the streams of Afghanistan (I guess this too is a good thing for a limited time only). The nagging gnats that come out only at night, the hordes of ants that think I am part of the local ¢eat all you can¢ menu, and the mother bear that got separated from her cubs are a whole lot more interesting and important; just as my concerns are for good water quality, whether it will be a light rain or a torrential downpour and if it will be during the day or throughout the night. However, back to the bears¢¦As I started on my way this morning, winding through the trees and the bushes, I met on the trail at a ¢white of the eyes¢ distance, a male black bear. This SOB has, it seems very poor hearing and since I am not using a bell, we notice one another with only a short distance between us. Well he stood on his hind legs, looked at me from only a few feet away, but could not decide what to do. I did not move. I waited patiently for the ¢gentleman¢ to move off the trail. Finally he understood that he is dealing with someone whom it is not worth his while to deal with (the large, heavy backpack on the upper torso of the body makes for quite an impressive silhouette) and slowly takes his leave, I of course move on, NOBO. At around 18:30, I am nearly at the completion of the fourth segment of my afternoon hike (I divided my afternoon hiking into five segments, each of which is 60-90 minutes long, from the last road crossing or observation point to the next in line. I am making my way through medium sized weeds, when suddenly there is some unexpected noise and movement just ahead of me and to the side. Well I have just come upon a mother bear and her two cubs, one of the least recommended zoological scenarios. If this was not enough, the cubs have crossed the trail to the left, planting themselves a few feet off to the side while mommy bear remained on the right side of the trail. I understandably focused my interest on ¢mother dear¢. She stood on her hind legs in order to maintain eye contact with her cubs. I repeated all kinds of nasty words (I speak English, Hebrew, Spanish fluently, with a touch of Arabic) over the fact that I packed my Blackberry wrapped tightly in a plastic bag to protect it against the rain that fell some three hours earlier. Now of course I could not get to it. Mother Bear began moving in the direction of her cubs, but as she reached the trail, she stood opposite me like an offensive linebacker for the nearest NFL team at a distance of some 20 feet (too close for comfort) and made sure that I understood that I was encroaching on HER territory. All I wanted to do was move NOBO, but knew it was best for her to come to that conclusion before I made any move, so I simply waited for her to move on. That she did, but it was like one-step towards the cubs, two towards me. Thankfully, the cubs moved on into the forest, and mother followed, but constantly placed herself between her babies and yours truly. It was only after some tense moments that I had felt that a reasonable ¢separation of forces¢ had been executed and I continued on my way without looking too much in the other direction. But the tale of course does not end here. Some ten minutes later, while I am coming around a bend, I encounter another male black bear. I stop, this time the Blackberry is within reach; I am a fast study and move to improve my camera position. The bear, also an experienced actor, so it seems, began to climb a tree, one sprouting right next to the trail. I film a short clip and transmit it to my FB page for the world to look in awe. Overall, ¢Galilee Man and the Five Bears¢ held me up for some 20 minutes. But of course, there was no one in sight to share the story with¢¦ wishing your all a good day. I reached the kiosk that is at the junction between US 211, the AT and Skyline Drive, I am bedding here for the night.