Day 71 (Sunday, June 22nd) - Camp at 869.3 to Camp at 889.3

Today's Miles: 20.00
Trip Miles: 889.30

A face in the woods

Woke up to a damp, dreary looking morning. Everything was wet to some extent, but I felt that we'd get a chance to dry out at some point today. Just a feeling.

I was out of camp first with A and Y right behind. About two miles into our hike, at Skyline 92.4, as we crossed the road, Yvanna saw what she thought was a trash can down the foggy road. Then she noticed that it was moving toward us. My first bear after 870 miles in the woods and I see it on the road. It walked toward us, but at a good distance and then turned off into the brush along the side of the road. Pretty cool to finally see one.

The three of us hiked on to the Black Rock parking area. We waited there for M and N and had a snack when they came in. We talked for a bit and then I headed out alone. We wanted to make Loft Mt. Campgrounds, another 6.2 miles away, where we could do some laundry and grab some food.

As I walked along I saw something move on my left. I spotted two bear cubs climbing up a tree and saw Mama Bear staring out of the brush at me. I started to slowly back away while keeping my full attention on the sow. After a few steps, a voice from behind me asked, "What do you see?" It was a hiker I didn't know who had come up behind me. I had been so focused on the bear I never heard him. I pointed to the bears and he said, "I knew it wasn't a squirrel."

"You scared me more than the bear!"

Oh deer

Yvanna and Andi came along and we all tried to get close without aggravating Mom. N came up next and almost ran toward the bears she was so excited. She said Mike was behind us (sore knee) so I went to find him. When I did we all passed the bears (turned out there were three cubs) taking pics and trying not to make mom angry. Five bears in two hours after more than two and a half months; crazy.
Our animal day wasn't over. N saw another bear when she hiked out ahead of us and over the course of the day we saw nine deer.

As we got close to Loft Mt. Campgrounds, at around 3:00 p.m., a SOBO hiker came by and said, "Hi, John." I didn't recognize him and was trying to figure out who he was when Natalie yelled out, "It's my dad!"

What an excellent surprise. The best trail magic for Natalie. We all went up to the campstore and had a great reunion. We had some drinks and snacks and a lot of talk. We dragged out our gear, because the sun had broken through at last, and dried out our wet gear. There was a laundry there and a shower and we took advantage of them both. Ron (Natalie's dad) shuttled us down to a restaurant where we chowed down on burgers, chicken nuggets, grilled cheese, ice cream, chips, and soda. We still wanted to get some miles in, so around 7 we headed back to the trail. We took some pics with Ron and said our goodbyes. A great visit!

We hiked out a few more miles and found a campsite, set up for the night and went to bed. A long exciting day. Thanks Ron for finding us. Natalie was thrilled and the rest of us enjoyed the chance to meet you. Hope to see you again soon.

Good Night All.

Foggy morning

First bear sighting

Traffic jam

Nat and Dad - what a great surprise!

A nice reunion

Rock field