Date: 2009-06-01
From: Jones Run Trail Parking Lot

To: Loft Mountain Campground
Miles today: 5.1
Weather: clear sky

I spent the entire day writing, after I said goodbye to Erik, while Certain was at work. We left her house a little after 6:30pm and she drove me back to the Shenandoahs. We saw more wildlife from that car ride than I have seen any day on the trail so far! We said goodbye and then I headed off into the woods at 7:45 pm- back to my solitairy life. I knew there was a campground about 5-6 miles ahead, where many people that I was with were planning on staying the night that Certain picked me up. About 15 minutes into the walk, I heard a dog barking. "It must have just seen a bear," I casually thought. A minute or so later, I happened to look to my left, and there, I saw my first bear! It was standing beside a tree. I was not the least bit scared. In fact, it felt no different than seeing a house cat. I got out my camera and hoped it would stay put so I could get its picture. Unfortunately, it was so dark that the images were blurred. I moved back down the trail to try to get a little closer. It would stand on its hind legs and put his forepaws on the tree, and then come back to the ground, always with its eyes on me. Eventually, it got annoyed and gave me a growl. "Fine, fine. I'll be on my way," I said to him. I continued along, trying to make it as far as I could in the remaining glimmer of light. I came to a rock outcrop that I thought would be a great place to camp, but there were no good trees to tie my hammock to, and I had no sleeping pad to even cowboy camp. So, I continued along. It was now totally dark. Suddenly, I saw a pair of eyes glowing at me on the trail a few yards ahead. I could tell they belonged to a bear based on the height from the ground. We looked tensely at each other for a moment or two, wondering what the next movement from the other would be. Nothing happened, so the bear continued on into the woods and I kept moving forward. Unfortunately, I was supposed to take a right! I noticed a third of a mile later, that I was almost at the Loft Mtn. campground store and no longer on the AT. It was at that moment that I learned to stop and read the tiny etched writing in the stone pillars along the way (especially in the dark!).      Finally, at about 9:45, I reached a pillar that read 0.1 miles up a hill to Loft Mountain campground. I had just passed another nice outcrop and wondered if I should set up there. I knew there were rules about camping in the Shenandoahs, though, so I started up the hill. I heard loud talking from what sounded like teenagers, and decided it would be much nicer to camp alone, so back I went. I knew it wasn't going to rain that night, and because the area was rocky, I decided not to put up my tarp. However, it was very windy. I tied my URsack to a tree about 25 feet away and climbed into my hammock. I was not very tired. The wind rocked my hammock and blew the bug netting onto my face. It was going to be hard to sleep! About an hour later, I looked over to my left, for some reason. The material on my hammock and the fact that I can't see anything without my contacts usually prevents me from seeing anything, but this time, I saw a large black bear standing next to my hammock! It was only a couple of inches away from me! I said, "Excuse me...!". He turned and looked right at me, then trotted off into the woods! Now, how was I supposed to try to sleep, knowing that bears would be coming by to investigate my hammock all night?! I wasn't scared, but the term "bear burrito" suddenly popped into my head with new realness. I didn't know if I was going to wake up with a wet snout prodding my bug netting.   I had a feeling, setting off onto the trail that night, that I would see my first bear, but had no idea of all that was to come! No more bears would walk by that night (to my knowledge), but the wind would unfortunately not allow me to sleep.