Date: 2005-06-16
From: Bearfence Hut

To: Rock Spring Hut
Miles today: 11.5
Weather: scattered clouds

7:53pm - RendezvousToday has been fun. I don't feel like I've done much, but I've had fun doing it. Things started on a good note. I slept in until nearly 8am. I crawled out of my tent, stretched, and saw a bear ambling away. Yep, the shelter's bear resident returned. Chalk up bear #6 for this trip.I dallied at breakfast and even made some hot chocolate since I had plenty of time. I hit the trail around 9:15 and spent some time exploring side trails around Bearfence Mountain. There was a pretty good rock scramble along a ridgeline that I particularly enjoyed. Several families were hiking along it and I chatted with a few. An hour or so later I was surprised to see a gigantic bear step onto the trail about 30 yards ahead of me! #7 paid me no mind and crossed the trail without even glancing in my direction. I silently crept up and had a good, close-up view of him foraging about 10 yards off the trail.Peanut caught up to me a few miles later, but she hadn't seen the second bear. As we descended down a side trail to have lunch at Lewis Falls, I spied a yearling bounding away. Seven bears in two days - wow! Sadly, Peanut missed that bear, too. That's the price you sometimes pay for walking behind somebody.Lewis Falls was pretty nice, but more impressive from the bottom. There's an unofficial trail leading down, located right behind a sign warning people to stick to the trail. "Falls can kill," it reads, illustrated by a stick figure plummeting to his or her death - the gender is indeterminate, but the figure has a smiley face.Next up on the agenda was Big Meadows. We headed to the lodge where I investigated the dinner menu. I deemed it too expensive and planned to buy something from the camp store instead, which was my next stop. It was an easy mile walk. I bought dinner for today and tomorrow, a spare breakfast, and a blackberry milkshake. Those things are addictive. I also called my dad, but there's no word on the camera yet.I then wandered back towards the lodge, veering off toward the campground to make use of the showers and laundry. Feeling much cleaner, I returned to the Lodge looking for Peanut. The tap room opened at four and it was five. I didn't find her, but I found Starr Hill Amber on tap. I couldn't pass up a local brew from Charlottesville, so I grabbed a pint and a stool. I chatted for a while with a fellow named Mike who is out with his family for the week. It sounds like they're having a blast. I recommended they check out the Bearfence rock scramble tomorrow; he bought a second round for us both. (Does that count as a Yogi? If so, it's my first!) Eventually his family showed up. I thanked him and turned to leave, but ran into Peanut. Of course I had to stay and help her split a plate of nachos and wash it down with a third beer.At long last I was able to extradite myself from the black hole of a tap room. I found a computer in an open room with an Internet connection so I quickly discovered that I had no important messages waiting for me. I think it was a public terminal, but I wasn't entirely sure so I quickly removed myself from the premises when done. I ate about half the dinner I had planned - the Dinty Moore stew made the cut, but the nachos didn't leave much room for minidonuts or applesauce.So now I wait. Matt Hahn, a former coworker at Vecna who is now a medical student, should be joining me any moment. He'll be hiking with me for about a week. He's supposed to show up around 8:30 and the plan is to night-hike to the next shelter, about 3.5 miles up the trail. It's 8:20 now. I'm thinking that his car will acquire a can of applesauce.