Date: 2009-05-08
From: Roaring Fork Shelter

To: Deer Park Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 14.8
Weather: overcast clouds

This morning everyone left the shelter very early. Everyone was gone except for me and Old Skool before 8 am. I was slowly getting ready and was starting to put my boots on around 8:30 as OS is telling me it is going to be a horrible day today with lots of rain and icky. Well, the thunder started rolling in and then the rain started dumping. Since I have dry boots and socks, I decided to wait the storm out. It rained and thundered and there was even some hail until about noon. Bruce showed up around 11 drenched and talking about how he sprinted across Max Patch and could see the lightening hitting the mountains around us. He waited out the storm with us as well.I left the shelter close to 1 and finally got some water. I'd forgotten to get some coming into the shelter and the closest sources were kind of far. I used my last liter cooking.Hatchet rolls through as I am filtering water and he is absolutely drenched. We hike together for a couple of miles and we got off the AT accidentally twice after creek crossings.I lost him on the uphills, but it was nice hiking with someone for a little while. The weather was sooo humid today after all that rain. It is still warm and muggy tonight. It is such a difference from the Smokies. There was a magical Tupperware box at Garenflo Gap full of trail magic. There was water, snickers bars, crackers and hand sanitizer. Thank you Hot Springs trail angel.I got to the shelter to see Raspberry and Raindancer set up, which made me very happy. Old Skool also showed up, which surprised me because he didn't pass me and I figured he'd already decided not to move from Roaring Fork Shelter.I'm meeting my mom in Hot Springs tomorrow and I'm very excited to see her, especially since it is Mother's Day on Sunday. I've never been to Hot Springs, so I hope it is an interesting town.My feet are still pretty swollen and I am thinking they may never shrink back to normal. Today was the first time since coming out of the NOC I've set up my hammock. I forgot how much more comfortable it is than the floor of a shelter. I am going to sleep good tonight.Addendum:I had just finished journaling for the day, and I was rereading some emails I've gotten from different folks. I was trying to decide between reading and bed. I was hearing a lot of rustling around me but chalking it up to overactive imagination. I shine my headlight to my right and there is a bear pawing at my bag underneath me and then at my hammock. Not slashing, just a curious nudge. My mind blanks and panics. There was no fight or flight, I was just frozen in fear. My mind is racing through my bag thinking about the bad things I still had in there: cook pot, did I take out my trash?, I think there was still food I forgot to take out of the hip belt pocket...I finally shout out: " Guys! Guys! There is a bear right beside me! What do I do?"Raindancer hollers back at me that it will be okay and not to panic. At this point it had lost interest in me and went to explore Old Skool's pack that was leaning against a tree. The bear grabs something out of the top of the pack and lumbers off into the woods. I guess it wasn't good enough because the bear comes back. But Old Skool in his badassery is ready to fight this time.He hollers at it and throw some huge rocks at it. The bear just looked at him with curiosity. This bear had no fear of humans, and it looked like an adolescent not full grown. Come hunting season, that is most likely a dead bear.We all emerge from our tents with Old Skool saying, "So I get to say I've fought a bear now, right?"I'm still shaking because the bear being inches from me and pawing me with a layer of silnylon between us can shake a person up. Raindancer and Raspberry invite me to sleep with them in their tent and I take them up on it. So there are 3 of us crammed inside a 2 person tent. It was cramped, but I slept. Everyone chose to hang their whole packs.We recounted their previous bear experiences and tried to sleep. Long night.