.September 2, 2006
I can enjoy some more freedom hiking today thanks to Lynn.
She dropped me off at Jarman Gap.
I hiked .1 miles on the blue blazed trail to get to the AT. This is the first cement marker with distances on a gray band that I noticed if you enter the park from the south.
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It was cloudy and raining a little. It's been like this for 4 days now, I am getting a little discouraged with the weather. I hate missing views, but Bill Irwin hiked the AT blind so although I am missing views I thank God for my sight. My first stop today was Sawmill Run Overlook where I met Lynn.
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I again met her briefly, this time at Turk Gap
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The AT is known as the long, green tunnel. Today, it is the long, green, wet tunnel.
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I was running along and heard the crack of a branch to my left. I stopped dead in my tracks. That was too loud to be a deer. It must be a bear. He was about 20-25 feet to my left. He was standing up bending a small tree over and eating the leaves. I walked up the trail a little trying to get a better look. I watched him for about 2 minutes and then he looked my way. He grunted and scattered off in the other direction. I couldn't get a clear shot with my camera. Bears are pretty shy around people, especially people with cameras. I then met Lynn at Riprap Trailhead. It was just a few yards off the AT.
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Lots of smooth trails today.
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A few miles further along the trail I saw a cub right on the trail about 30 feet ahead of me. I reached for my camera but he was gone. Now I had one important question: Where was Momma Bear? I was hesitant walking down the trail. I didn't want to get between momma and junior. I applied a tip from Runtrail's Journal and yelled out, "Where are you Momma Bear?" I did this several times letting momma know I was in the area. I continued down the trail without incident and never saw Momma Bear.
I met Lynn at Blackrock Gap. The sun has finally come out. I wanted to get up to Blackrock to enjoy the view before Mr. Sun changed his mind.
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Blackrock Summit
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The very top of the mountain is a big pile of rocks. The AT doesn't go quite to the top. You know me. I am not satisfied being 30 feet from the top and scrambled up the rocks. Here's the view.
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With all the views I had missed the last few days, this afternoon was making up for it.
I met Lynn at Doyles River Parking. I walked a couple hundred feet down from there on the Skyline Drive to check out Big Run overlook. I am 3 days behind on views and need to catch up.
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This afternoon was nice view after nice view.
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I made a 3/4 of a circle around Loft Mountain Campground. I saw some campers that were just a few yards from the AT. After this I met Lynn and we watched a fawn.
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Here's a couple shots near the summit of Loft Mountain
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Crossing Ivy Creek
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More views
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I had just a couple of tenths of a mile left for the day. I heard something to my left. About 50 feet away a saw bear dash into the bushes and head up the hill. That's two bears and a cub for today. I guess I've seen Papa Bear, Momma Bear, and Baby Bear, but no Goldilocks. Just a minute up the trail I saw Lynn. She was standing still and quietly listening. I could hear noise over to my right.
"There's something over there," she said.
"I saw a bear just a minute ago," I said. "He was running up this way."
We could hear him but not see him. We waited about 5 minutes and then he climbed down a tree. That took us by surprise since we weren't looking up there. He never spotted us and we got to watch him for about 10 minutes. The woods was too thick for any pictures. We walked back to the car. I was done for the day. Today's new AT mileage was 25.4. A new personal best. Lynn was surprised how many I did and said "You did that many miles today? Last I knew you were at 12."
The high mileage was due to lots of running and Lynn's excellent crewing.
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