Date: 2011-05-21
From: 4.5 miles before Pinefield Hut

To: 5.4 miles before Bearfence Mountain Hut
Miles today: 19.7
Weather: overcast clouds

(In which I have my first blackberry milkshake and listen to my iPod)I wake up at 5:15am, just as the sky is beginning to turn orange in the east. I slowly pack up camp, and stop to watch when the first sliver of sun crests the horizon. It's one of the first sunrises where I've watched the sun appear, and I'm surprised by how dim the sun first is, and how quickly the sliver grows.By 6:15 there's no trace that I was ever there, and I start hiking. In less than a mile there's a side trail to the first of the "waysides", small restaurants and concession stands where there are rumored to be excellent blackberry milkshakes. They don't open until 9am, but the next one isn't for 26 or so miles, and since they close at 6pm, I would risk missing both of the first two waysides if I kept hiking. After yesterday's difficulty finding a tent spot I want to stay at a hut today, which means that I have to check their mileage to gauge the impact of a two and a half hour morning break. The most plausible hut to stop at is 25 miles away, which I could reach early if I keep hiking, having gotten an early start, or late if I stop for food. I choose the food option, knowing that I can always push through and arrive after dark if necessary, and imagining the regret of arriving early at the hut, not being able to feasibly hike on and having plenty of time to think of the food I skipped.When I get to the wayside, I see a bear waddling around the picnic tables, making the food scavenging rounds. This bear is bigger than either bear I saw yesterday, but still quite a bit smaller than the pre-hibernation black bears I saw on the west coast. Poking its head around the bear-proof trash cans it seems oddly unimpressive, like a fat, lazy dog, and I think about how much more elegant foxes and wolves appear. I haven't seen any of either on the trip yet, but I have heard a pack of wolves or coyotes whose howls moved with alarming speed past the shelter near Albert Mountain one night, growing frighteningly close and then quickly fading into the distance.* * *Half an hour before the wayside is set to open, the short-order chef props the door open and invites me to come in for some coffee. Inside he and a female clerk perform the morning prep work. Not being a coffee drinker, I sheepishly ask if I can have some hot chocolate instead. The woman happily makes me a cup and I sit inside the still closed wayside sipping the delicious cup of hot chocolate and studying the breakfast menu. Just before 9am the chef makes me some pancakes, bacon, and a blackberry milkshake. The pancakes are nice and thick, and the milkshake is rich and creamy, one of the best I've ever had.* * *I hike alone and decide to try listening to the iPod Touch I received in my Waynesboro mail drop. I only put one ear bud in, leaving the other ear open to hear hikers and the sounds of the woods. Music sounds amazingly good after so long without it, and I spend hours listening to most of my collection. I'm pleased to find that I am able to think much the same while listening to music as I did without it.Having gotten less than five hours of sleep last night, the day becomes tiring by mid-afternoon. I listen to some of the podcasts on my iPod, Garrison Keillor Pod Castle and Selected Shorts, and find them a pleasant distraction from my exhaustion. Unlike listening to music, the podcasts occupy my attention, much the way a conversation would when I'm hiking with another hiker. When I do pass other hikers I take my earbud out to say hello, not wanting to be antisocial.With my free ear I hear rustling, and around a bend in the trail I see bear number four. I stop to get my camera only because none of my previous bear pictures have come out particularly well, but I'm not very disappointed when the bear decides to go somewhere else before I get my camera. Having mostly grown bored of bears, I wonder how far south it's possible to see a moose.* * *I'm prepared for more night hiking to get to the shelter, but at a road crossing a couple of hours before sunset, a section hiker warns me that last night a problem bear went on a rampage at that shelter, destroying at least one tent and sleeping bag as well as getting one food bag that had yet to be hung. Up the trail I see River Rat, who had passed me when I was waiting for the wayside to open. Having heard about the same problem bear, he found a tenting spot off the trail near some hammocking section hikers. I briefly consider hiking on anyway and sleeping in the shelter to keep my tent safe, but my tiredness casts the tie-breaking vote to stay.The spot is one of the few that meet all of the restrictions of the park, being over a hill out of sight of the trail and not near any road, campsite or water source. There are rocks almost everywhere and not much in the way of flat ground, but River Rat and I both find small, almost flat areas with only a handful of large rocks underneath. It's probably the least promising looking tenting spot yet for comfort, but once I've stopped hiking I'm glad not to be pushing on into the night.The section hikers have a campfire -- against the rules, but safely contained in a newly built fire ring -- and River Rat and I spend the evening trading stories with them and relaxing around the fire. Taking a break from the urgency of hiking reminds me once again how much more fun hiking is when you stop and take the time to enjoy it. It's a lesson I will likely have to continually relearn, but for tonight at least I have embraced relaxation, and let the urge to push ever forward fade down to a low, ignorable level.