Date: 2006-05-27
From: Standing Bear Farm 

To: Woodchuck Shelter?
Miles today: 18.1

After hiking about 10 miles in from Cosby Knob shelter where we stayed last night, we're in at Standing Bear Farm taking a long lunch break and picking up our mail. Thanks so much to all of you who have sent us mail already!!! We really enjoyed the "mom packages" :-) and various letters and goodies from Kaitlyn & Julia~! For those of you who are wondering how you can know when we'll be at the listed maildrops, you can call up my mom or dad at (207)327-2184 or email them PLC465@aol.com. We decided not to list out all our ETA's online for safety and flexibility reasons, thanks to Grammie Parker for that suggestion. We just departed Great Smokies National Park this morning after staying 4 nights at various shelters. As we were on our way into the park, Small Change hooked us up with some waters and even waited around while we drank them so we wouldn't have to carry the bottles with us. Our first night was spent at Mollies Ridge Shetler, where more trail magic happened, CASH and Coalcraker unloaded some of their extra hot chocolate, snickers, and other candy on us :-) We happily ate that right up the next day during an 18 mile day. On the trek up to that shelter AJ was hiking about 10 minutes in front of me and she ended up having to wait around for me (laying out in the sun... sigh) because I got held up by a rattlesnake next to the trail. I got within a few feet of him before he rattled at me and I jumped back and had to wait for a good 10+ minutes until he slithered on out of the way! We've seen a lot of other wildlife in the Smokies; 3 deer who each just grazed as we walked by within 10 ft, a wild turkey, lots of different salamanders, and even a black bear... As we were walking along one morning I heard some crashing in the brush and looked left just in time to see the big ol bear lumbering through the woods away from the trail (apparently he smelled us before we saw him, and wisely decided to take off running). I got a pretty decent look at him, but AJ saw more of a black blur. Just yesterday we were hiking with Whisp (we've all been hiking together for the last week or so), he was in front of us not more than 20 yards and he saw two bears in the trail (one standing up), unfortunately all we heard was them trotting off through the underbrush. Yes we've had some interesting encounters on the trail including meeting some very unique people. One guy, J, carried a fishing pole, a 2' long pipe, and some weird item that looked like a mop head???   Another group of gentlemen section hikers (who we had the distinct pleasure of seeing twice and staying with last night) was lead by No Pants ... yes he hikes in only skivies and a longish T... apparently he can't stand the feeling of anything on his thighs. We did also finally catch up to the famous Pooka, who was a really nice wildlife ecology soon to be graduate student. We spent two nights with Go Mommy (her daughter wrote that on her trekking poles before she left). Our buddy Brody got off the trail to play in a few music festivals - fiddlers rock! Danger Dave we dont' know where you are, but we miss our pizza...and your family potato gun fiascos! We know ya'll miss the nightly bear-bag-throwing antics that we provide - Fire isn't the Bradford pan-throwing champion for nothing!Funny how important food becomes - well, more like an obsession. I think we've been dreaming about pizza and Phish food ice cream to come in Hot Spring for about a week. Sometimes eating catapillars and tree bark just doesn't cut it anymore. Yes, indeed, it's a rough life. Sometimes you have to eat a pound of marshmallows to celebrate crossing state lines...who does that?? However, when all you have to worry about is hiking, eating, and sleeping, you can't really complain all that much. We'll try to be more consistent on our postings, to keep ya'll updated on our adventures! Thanks again to everyone who's created Trail Magic for us, and to all our friends, family, and loved ones back home - your support keeps the spirit alive!