Day 137: Pinefield Shelter to Calf mountain Shelter

September 22 2013
Miles: 26.4
Total: 1320.9
Bear count: 6

We really did it - we got up at 5am.  And you know what?  Not that much different from waking up at 6am.  It is dark either way!  I guess we did need to use or headlamps for about an hour while hiking. 

We made some good mileage early on and found ourselves at a camp store by 8:30.  A luck would have it they opened earlier than the other stores in the park!  We proceeded to spoil ourselves with some much needed junk food, continued to charge or electronics, and Jamie even managed to wash his shirt (hot water, again, a beautiful thing)!

We trucked along till lunch time, taking to us at just our halfway point for the day.  By this point Shannon was feeling sleepy, so she took a much needed nap while Jamie took advantage of the cell signal to update the blog.

After lunch we entered a zone of extra bear activity, and sure enough we saw a momma bear and two cubs on Skyland drive as we were crossing.  Someone driving to fast scared them off.  Later on though we came to another teenage bear right in the middle of the path.  It was pretty windy at the time so he didn't hear us coming for a few moments and he took of as soon as he looked up.

Speaking of, you may be wondering what we do with our food at night, especially in the land of bears!  Well, if we are camping, we throw a rope up into a tree branch.  In shelters there are three different possibilities.  If there isn't a high chance of near activity, most folks just hang the food inside on a little cord; there will be a can above on the cord to prevent the much more common problem of mice.  In a place like the Shenandoahs however, bears are protected and therefore abundant.  Stupid people also may feed them, making them associate people with food.  No good.  So there may be a bear pole at a place like this -a fifteen foot high metal pole with little "u"s on the top.  There is a second pole that you can remove (and for some reason they are made out of like cast iron, what's the deal?) to hang up your food on the top.  The other option a shelter may have is the bear box.  These are big metal boxes that humans can get into but bears can't (most people are smarter than bears, but not the folks who go around feeding them).  We included some pictures in here for your perusal.

Well, tomorrow I'd another early wake up as we are bounds for town!  We are only planning on 12 miles, which will be nice after these big days we have been pulling.  Oh, tonight we have a shelter to ourselves.  First time since Connecticut!

Day 136 - Bearfence shelter to Pinefield shelter

September 21st 2012
Miles: 20
Total: 1296

Today was a lot warmer than we expected!  We got up at a very reasonable time and were out hiking by 7, but of course we realized that we needed to resupply at a "wayside" (rest stops in the park).  Unfortunately, the store didn't open till 9.  So, we took the opportunity to clean up a bit (hot water at the Lewis campground!).  We managed to wash our socks and undies, charge our accessories, and wash Shannon's hair (well she did that her self) all before the store opened.  Starbucks coffee and bacon egg muffins for second breakfast to boot!

The stop held us up a bit, but it really is such an amazing feeling to take care of errands like that in an effective manner when you are on the trail.  It is what makes town visits so damn exciting!

We headed on from there for about 10 miles before we stopped for lunch at High Top mountain, where luckily we had cell signal.  We moved on to phase two of our efficient task completion, and within the hour we had a hot lunch of chili and Doritos, Shannon got Solomon to replace her boots (thanks Solomon!), Shannon tried to get Soles to replace her inserts (come on Soles, you can do better!), and we set up out next two mails drops with dad Lyon.  Not too shabby!

From that point on out was a pretty easy day with great weather and mild climbs (OH, better yet "mild climbs and climes"!), and we finally have a great water source at the shelter we are in tonight.  There may be a resident copper head, though, but they probably sleep at night...right?  Let's hope that is the case.

Ok, off to bed -we are going to wake up at 5 tomorrow, for real! We are actually going to do it.  No backing out and snoozing till 6.  26 miles to do, not an easy task for lolligaggers.