Date: 2010-05-17
From: Waynesboro, Va

To: Harpers Ferry, WV
Miles today: 156.0
Weather: light rain

The next morning I left town and headed into the Shenandoah Nat. Park. Tintin was having issues with his pack that had fallen apart on the way into town and so he was going to be late hiking out. Only about two miles in I heard a rustling and looked up to see my first ever bear! It was only a cub but exciting never the less. Cubby and Dillydally made it to the shelter around 7 and Tintin eventually showed up around eleven once I was long asleep. The Shenandoahs were interesting. The hikes to me were a little dull. There were never many views or exciting hikes. There was however an abundance of both wildlife and beer. On a daily basis Tintin and I would spot bears and deer. One morning we were hiking around 9 and heard leaves moving. We looked and saw a massive bear standing about ten feet from us just staring at us. We whipped out our cameras and moved in closely for a shot. As we were getting closer we heard movement directly behind us, so we turned around to see about four bear cubs running from us up a tree. It only took about a second for us to realize we were standing right in between a mother bear and her cubs. Panicking, we bolted as far away from the cubs as we could. Along with the animals, the park had waysides (restaurant/store) spaced out every twenty miles. It was a little different from the hiking we were used to but I must say it was nice to hike 10 miles and then stop for a beer and some chips. Megladon had been hiking with his sisters for the past few days and when they left to go home, he joined us.   The next day, Megladon and I were going to meet up with Tintin at a nearby road in the park. We arrived at he road late around 8 to find that it was under construction and Tintin was nowhere to be found. We decided to walk to the nearest wayside right as it started pouring on us. As we walked a family driving by was nice enough to stop and offer us a ride which we gladly took. Once we arrived, Lulu and Sunshine were there and told us Tintin had just left. By then though it was close to ten and we decided to just throw our stuff down and sleep near the bathrooms. Right as I was climbing into my bag, several flashlights shined on my face. We got busted by the park rangers and were told to scram. We grumpily dragged our stuff into the woods and set up at the nearest flat spot. Leaving the park, there were about 60 miles to Harpers Ferry. They were pretty uneventful but there was the dreaded "roller coaster" which is nothing more than nine miles of annoying hills. The day into Harpers was fun. Apollo, Tintin, Megladon, Maple, Longshanx, and I all came in together and stopped at the AT Conservancy. There we got our pictures taken which they keep as a record of all the thru hikers. It was fun to look through the photo album to see friends that have already passed through and to put a face to the names you hear about hiking the trail. I then walked down to the outfitters to look at the shoe selection since mine had seen 1000 miles and needed retiring. I was stunned to see Baltimore Jack (AT celebrity) working behind the counter. He helped me pick a decent pair of shoes and sent me on my way. Stopped in one of the local ice cream shoppes and got to talking to the waitress. I was even able to score the four of us a ride to the nearby town where we checked into a cheap motel. Tintin, Megladon, Apollo and Three Bears all left the next morning while I kept the room for another night as I was planning to take on the Maryland state challenge.