Day 26 - Thought Foot's Bear Encounter (May 4)

Thought Foot woke early to the sounds of sniffing and scratching. He turned his head lamp on, and the bear eventually ran away. It was looking around for food near the fire circle. I slept in my tent near a stream, and missed the bear.

I thought I heard a bear sniffing and scratching around our tents a few days ago when we were at the Walnut Mountain shelter. The sounds stopped so I went back to sleep.

We met Hollywood and Rebel today on the trail. Hollywood just graduated with a degree in wildlife management from Hocking Tech. We talked about botany and he helped me identify a few plants.

We went over another bald today. It was at an elevation of about 5,700 feet. I met a couple older ladies who wanted to know about my hike. They thought hiking like this was really cool. It was nice to talk to someone other than another hiker. Hiking feels very normal now. Its hard to imagine life before the trail.

There were several steep ups and downs today. We did 19 miles. I forget the name of the shelter we are at tonight. Several people came late.

Michelle showed up. Someone said she does a lot of blue blazed trails, but she yellow blazed her way here from Hot Springs today.

Hollywood and Rebel are also here. Rebel was telling us about his bear encounter. He hung his bear bag too low, and a bear got all of his food along with his friend's food. Two of Hollywood's friends showed up after dark. I did not get their names.

We are going to Erwin tomorrow and staying at the hostile on the trail. My pack has gotten too heavy. I need to send a few things home. I have my alarm set at 5:30 AM tomorrow so that we get into town early enough to resupply and do laundry.