Date: 2003-05-13
From: Hogback Ridge Shelter

To: Spivey Gap
Miles today: 15.7
Weather: clear sky

Craig says : Slept in late today. We needed it. Didn¢t start hiking until around 12:15. The forest was so loud last night that I had to put in ear plugs just to keep from startling awake or getting creeped out. I got weird vibes from the site last night to begin with. Everything felt so eerie. The total feel of a place changes when you arrive there at night. Anyway, the sounds the wind makes through the trees; I thought I heard all sorts of things. A baby crying, muffled conversation, a radio flipping through channels, and all sorts of cracks and pings and whatnot. You get the picture. At one point a small branch hit our tent and Erin and I jumped a foot in our sleeping bag. It was pretty funny. The weather was really chilly and sunny this morning. Feels like autumn. The wind still hasen't let up which is fine with us. Anything but stiffling heat. Erin made the coffee this morning which was great. I added a little chai into mine because I'm gormet like that. Read a little "into the wild' before heading out.   Erin left about thirty minutes before me.At Sam¢s Gap I passed a huge interstate with trash all over the place. There was a big sign saying 'Hikers yeild to vehicles.' Met up with Erin before the big climb up Big Bald (5,500) while she was busy trying to figure out how to 'date stamp' the pictures on her camera.The climb was long and steep. Much longer and steeper than we¢d anticipated. There were fields of white flowers the whole way. Stopped and had a tuna wrap before the final push to the top. The summit was beautiful. The wind was howling. Erin's backpack straps were slapping her in the face.   Big Bald is just that. A big bald. 360 views. All grass. Snapped all sorts of photos. Met Bear Magnet at the top who was kind enough to take some ¢action¢ photos of us both 'per request of Erin's dad'. Hopefully we'll get them up soon. We kept on over big bald to big stamp (another bald just below) then back into the forest. Lots of thick short trees with gnarly branches and gnotted bark and more fields of wild flowers. Really beautiful. We planned on camping about three miles away.Just as the sun was setting and we were descending down the steep slope into the gap close to where we planned to camp we ran to another pyramid sign that we hadn't seen since GA. 'Bear Sanctuary' Just as Erin yells behind to me "look, we're back in a Bear Sanctuary" She startles, gasps, pulls her arms toward her chest and backpedals fast. "Oh my God," she says, holding her hand over her mouth. "I just saw a bear.¢ She back pedals more ¢...And it was f@#$ng huge!" Her eyes were wide. I never saw it but we both stopped and listened to it stomp around in the quickly darkening woods. I tiptoed down to her and we listened again but it had stopped walking. She points and whispers that the bear had quickly crossed the trail just in front of her and it was long. Maybe five or six feet. We looked to see if we could see it hiding but it was getting tough to see.   She whispers back. "Maybe would should talk loud" "Ok mister Bear" I say in a deep loud voice. "Just passing through. Be out of here in a sec" And we where gone. "You still wanna stay in whistler Gap?" I asked. Three miles away, and now completely cloaked in dark, we stopped at a campsite at Spivey Gap right near a paved road where we could perhaps drag our bloody pulpish forms if need be. A car passed occassionally and we both found the sound to be somewhat soothing.The moon was bright, almost full, casting a surreal silver glow on everything. We made a big fire, made another wrap, and sat around soaking our second-longest day. Tonight, I made sure to hand the bear bag real good. Erin says: My favorite moment of the day was when we were hiking High Rocks at around 6:30pm. Why you ask? Because Craig busts out and says to me, "My armpits are making me hungry!" Ah, my Onion.