Date: 2014-05-21
From: Calf mountain shelter

To: Loft Mountain camp ground
Miles today: 19.7
Weather: scattered clouds

In which today was exhausting and all about wildlife.We were the first ones out of the shelter this morning after another sleepless night of teenage drama. Glad to be on the trail hiking even though I was the spider web sweeper. The trail so far has been either up or down and on rocks which has been a little exhausting today. Little hills that really were nothing to speak of elevation wise kicked my butt. I couldn't get going. I felt like I was dragging. My feet hurt already and are throbbing as I write this. I'm tired and think it's also related to dehydration, long miles and not enough food. I'm very grateful to be in my tent as I write this.Right off the bat we saw three big black snakes crawling over the pine needle covered trail basking in the sun or slithering away from us which suited me just fine. At least they were harmless or non poisonous. The first snake let us sneak by. The second scampered away. The third snake was in no hurry to move so we had to delay our travel until it finally slithered across the trail and into the shrubs. Also saw a baby copper head right after the third snake and a deer after Black Rock which was a taste of the rocks to come in Pennsylvania.As we approached the campground we were seeing scat every where on and along the trail, fresh scat too. Big piles and little piles. I lost count of the piles and grew tired of taking pictures of them. Then finally a bear siting. The first one in the Shenny's and my second of this trip. It was down the hill to my right. I saw a black blob with 2 ears and a brown nose peeking up from the grasses. It just sat there and watched us walk by. I tried to get a picture but my heart was racing and my hands shaking so they didn't come out too well. Just looks like a black blob in green grass. To top it off another snake crossed our path by the rock. I almost stepped on this little one. It was small, gray, looked like a stick and had a yellow ring around it's neck.Finally, we got to the campsite after walking a circle around the back side of it. I was done for the day. My feet really hurt despite my new shoes. It was late and we walked to the camp store in hopes of finding ice cream before they closed. Mission accomplished and we ate it while we hiked another 0.3 mile back to the camping area to pick out our site. As we were walking back to the camping area we passed a couple and their RV who helped us with directions. They asked us if we wanted a glass of wine. We were bad thru hikers and said, "Thanks, but no. We need to go pick a site and set up camp". So we found our site and had to walk back to the entry station and pay for our site. As we walked by the couple they said "The offer still stands." We chatted for a little bit longer and were talking about food again. As we were talking the wife went into the camper and came out with a bag of food for us. Wow! How cool and thank you to them. We would have a feast in the morning while we did laundry! Grapefruit, cheese sticks, salad, carrots and a big bag of strawberries. Yum! Can't wait for breakfast!I'm so ready for bed. I'm tired and happy we had no rain today. I saw no other thru hikers again today. I'm still in this isolated little stretch. So thankful for Murphy and her company!