Date: 2008-06-06
From: Calf Mountain Shelter

To: Blackrock Hut
Miles today: 13.0
Weather: clear sky

I didn't sleep so well last night. I was really hot, sticky and uncomfortable. Plus, someone in the shelter smelled just plain nasty. More so than is normal for a hiker. I was up wicked early, probably 4:30ish, but I did not wake Brad up, I just waited. He woke around 6ish and we packed our gear and were on the Trail at 7:30am, our earliest start yet. We are going to try to be up early and beat the summer heat, but it was hot already. And humid. The mountain laurel is in full bloom and lines the Trail on both sides. It is absolutely beautiful. I love walking through these parts and there are lots of them today. We cross Skyline Drive a whole bunch of times (7 or 8) but we don't see any views. I thought we would have beautiful sights but today it is just plain road, or maybe a parking area with an educational board, nothing spectacular. The terrain was relatively mellow. We had a few climbs but they were only made difficult, or unpleasant because of the sweltering heat. Otherwise, it wasn't bad at all. We saw another deer and this one jumped higher than I've ever seen before, and it did it with such grace! I also saw an enormous turkey. Big as it was, it ran away at quite a clip when I stumbled upon it. We stopped at Riprap parking area and took a long lunch. Off came the boots and socks; what a great feeling that is! One of the guys from the Angel Network was dropping a hiker off there and gave us all a bottle of much needed water. There was a 12 mile stretch without a single water source. Not a good thing on such a hot day. Fortunately we both had our camelbacks full and that lasted us. We make it to Blackrock Hut, drenched in sweat and dizzy from the heat. We enjoy some cold water from the spring and just sit doing nothing at all except trying to cool our bodies down. We wander around and find that far below the spring, down the hill, the water is moving along and there are even pools. We strip down to nothing and take a sponge, or rather a bandana, bath. It's pretty cold and a little shocking at first, but it feels SO good! It is great to wash the sweat, salt, dirt and sunblock off my body. I feel like a new hiker! Brad goes to use the privy and all of a sudden he screams for me to come quick. He came face to face with a black bear! The bear had been just beside the privy looking for food under the rocks. And he says they were each pretty surprised to see the other! The bear ran into the woods but we can still see it through the bushes. It keeps walking and I follow behind it with my camera. It doesn't seem to mind. It walks a few feet then stops to look at me. I am able to get about 20 feet from it each time. It's pretty good sized but looks so soft and squishy. I follow it for about 5-7 minutes before I think better of it. What if he suddenly wanted to follow me? Yeah, not such a hot idea stalking a bear. I'm not able to get a good photo cause there are too many tree branches in the way. But it doesn't matter because I am so excited that we saw our first bear!!!We make Annie's for dinner, mmmm, mac & cheese! Then we set up our tent. It is so hot out that we leave our rain-fly off so it is all screen and we can get more air. It's different, a little scary because I feel so exposed. But it is really cool cause you can see the stars up in the sky. It's a beautiful way to fall asleep.