Trail magic, reunions, and bears

OK, so today was fabulous. 😀 It did storm hard last night, but my mat survived the field of stones, and the trail was gorgeous, and by 9 AM or thereabouts I was at Loft Mountain to meet my 2013 trail angel friends Beth and Bernie, who were camping there for the holiday weekend. They made me breakfast,and gave me coffee snd Cokes and a banana and watermelon and Sour Patch Kids and goodies from their hiket box… and we chatted and laughed for a good couple of hours. I love you guys! Thank you so much! I hope your drive home is (or was) safe and easy.

That was the best part of the day. It was real trail magic—not the food (which was awesome!), but the chance to sit and talk and share some trail stories. It was a lot of fun!

Then I stopped in the camp store and got to pee in a real toilet, with its own paper! And a sink to wash my hands!

It’s the little things. 😆

I skipped the Wayside, but everybody was talking about the bears down there—a mother and two cubs, frolicking. Apparently it was adorable (and at a safe distance). I didn’t see the bears. I find I’m fine with that. People are seeing bears all over the place, but I saw a bunch last time. I don’t feel a burning need to run up the score.

Speaking of bears… Unicorn and J-Rock had another bad encounter! They were dispersed camping 6 miles before Blackrock, and a bear showed up and chased them. It kept circling in front of them. They were scared and freaked out and did anothet 6 miles to get to Blackrock at 10 PM. Ididn’t hear them. They reported it to the ridgerunner. They, and some other people I talked to, aren’t planning to do anymore dispersed camping until we’re out of this area entirely.

Two of the Scandinavian girls were also at the shelter! I saw them tonight. Haven’t seen them since… the Barn? I’m not sure. Thunderpee is a couple of days back, because appatently she has more time on her visa.

Tomorrow I’m going to try to get back on track with a big day. We’ll see how that goes.

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