Date: 2016-05-23
From: un named campsite. 

To: Iron Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 22.6
Weather: light rain

Today was a big day for me. My first 20+ mile day. It was tough at times but I am so happy to finally hit that mark. Sleeping next to the river was perfect. I woke up and I was still tired but I knew that I wanted to hike a big day. I even set an alarm. I hit the snooze button a few times since it was a little cold in the morning. I finally left camp around 830 and started down the trail. The first thing in the morning was a long 3 mile hike to the top of the mountain. Ups are always my worst and they usually take me a lot longer. Today was not too bad. It was mostly switchbacks that slowly brought me up to the top of the mountain. There were no views from the top so I started my way down to the bottom which would bring me out to a lake. When I reached the bottom of the mountain there was a deer walking in the road. It was a buck with little buttons but did not seemed bother by hikers walking near him. After the hike to the bottom there was a lake with a recreation area. In the distance I could see a bathroom and hikers always love a real bathroom. It was a nice little area and I took advantage of the trash cans but I did not have to use the bathroom. The hike around the lake was really nice. There was a shelter near the lake but it had to be shut down due to so much bear activity in the area. After hiking around the lake I made it to the dam. The trail goes across the dam and I sat there for a while and had lunch while taking in the first nice day in a while. It was just relaxing and I was ready to take a nap but I had a big day ahead of me. After the dam I had to start making my way up to the top of the next mountain. This one was similar with many switchbacks and all but it was really tough. It seemed to go on forever. The hardest part was usually on the map there are location along that way that help tell you how much farther to the top like a stream or a gap but not today. The only way I knew I made it to the top was when I started to go down. After the long hike up the rest of the day was a ridge walk with ups and downs but nothing that was too crazy. I made it to a shelter and took a little break before the final 7 miles to the next shelter. There was a beautiful view from the shelter of the lake and the surrounding area. I started to push on. I was working my toward the next shelter when I saw a hikers coming southbound and kept looking behind him. I figured he had a dog or someone he was waiting for. I started talking him and he told me there was a bear right next to the trial and he backed off to give it room. I got really excited to see a bear since I just missed seeing a bear in the Smoky Mountains. He seemed concerned about the bear and I told him I used to work with bears and we should go check it out. I really wanted to see a bear. As we approached the area I did not see anything and was becoming disappointed and then all of a sudden there was a bear sitting about 50 feet of the trail with not a care in the world. We walked by it and it did not move. It must have been used to people. It was an adult bear around 20 pounds with a beautiful coat and had a brown spot on its side. It looks like a young bear. I was going to keep going and let the bear be but I thought there were a few hikers behind me that I did not want to be scared by the bear. I yelled a few times and shuffled my feet a little and the bear ran over the hill. I figured he was not going far but atleast he was not on the trail anymoreI was getting close to camp when I saw a barred owl fly over the trail and land on a tree near the trail. I stopped for a little to watch the guy and see what he would do. When I started to walk again I could tell it was a long day. Everything was starting to get tight and took a little to get started. I made my way towards the shelter and the final water source was .2 away from the shelter so I wanted to get enough water for dinner and enough to start hiking in the morning. I grabbed 5 litters and it was the toughest .2 of the day. It added like an extra 15 pounds to a body that was already tired but I finally saw camp and knew that I completed my day. Another day tomorrow to see what the world will hold