Date: 2014-05-11
From: Iron Mountain Shelter

To: Abingdon Gap Shelter
Miles today: 15.9
Weather: few clouds

Happy Mother's Day!I woke up this morning in such a terrible mood (probably because I was in so much pain from the big day yesterday). I was not looking forward to today. As we got packed and ate breakfast though, the sun began shining and it looked like today was going to be a really good day. I took some medicine to ease the aching and boy did it help. I suddenly had so much energy and I was ready to move! Plus, we heard trail magic would be waiting for us in about 5 miles! So we put on our packs and got moving and we got moving FAST. We got to the 4.5 mile mark in an hour! I don't think I've ever moved so fast and I still had so much energy flowing. I felt amazing!We had a couple Mountain Dews and Little Debbie snacks and played with the nerf football for about an hour before we decided it was time to go. We literally walked about less than half a mile when we ran into the biggest and probably the best trail magic on the trail by far. Apparently hikers from previous years (who went by the crew name Riff-Raffs), had set up to do trail magic. There were tons of food and drinks and even a volleyball net! So many hikers had come by earlier and ended up setting up their tents nearby. This was going to be an all day trail magic event that went on until the next day. With how amazing it was, everyone wanted to stay and enjoy it. Even Meticulous, Knaffles, Hooch, and Dirtbag decided to stay. The Turtle Crew was splitting up for a bit! After sitting around for another 2 hours, Tuna, SuperFeet, and I finally forced ourselves to get up and get going. We couldn't stay or it was going to lead to taking a zero day tomorrow and we couldn't do that. Not with Trail Days being a few days away!I'm not exactly sure how we managed to do it, but we hiked about 11.5 miles before it got completely dark all after 4:30pm. I was just so full of energy! It was just "go go go!" in my head. And I'm not even in pain! I might feel it in the morning, but tonight I'm good! I'm beyond proud and excited that we accomplished so much today. We hiked the fastest we've ever hiked before (in the same amount of time frame) and we hiked 16 miles (right after hiking an excruciating 14 miles)!!! And the best part is...we saw BEARS!!!!!!!!!! Not just one, but THREE bears! A momma bear and her two cubs. I was beyond excited and wanted to squeal like a child. Even Tuna and SuperFeet were giggling behind me (yeah, they were excited too)! We stood there for awhile just watching the bears. It was amazing they didn't run off since the wind was carryinf our scent in their direction. So we slowly and quietly inched our way forward and were about 30 yards away before we had to scare them off. I wish we could have gotten closer, but we didn't wanna be near momma bear when her cubs were with her. And then right after, we walked by a bunch of deers who weren't even scared of us! We stood less than 10 feet away and they just stood there staring at us. This day was just absolutely amazing and I've enjoyed every single moment of it!!! Yeah, this definitely beats all the other days. Best day on the trail yet!Thwap-Thwap! - Barnacles