Bears Den Hostel to David Lesser Memorial Shelter.
Today was a great day. It started with more trail magic. The group of 2012 thru hikers spent the night here at Bears Den. This morning they cooked omelettes and sausage for all of the hikers that stayed there. I was the only thru hiker but there were 10 or more section hikers. It was a great meal. I was only doing about 11 miles today so I took my time leaving the hostel. After breakfast I took a nap, and watched two episodes of Seinfeld. During that time I ate two pepperoni sandwiches from my food bag. At 12:00 I started hiking. My shins bothered me the first mile or so.
After 1.4 miles I came to the 1,000 mile mark. It's amazing I've hiked that far. It was at a stream. I filled my water bottle while I was stopped. Someone had made 1,000 out of small rocks. I added to it to make it look nicer.
I saw two snakes today. One was a 5 ft black snake, the other I'm not sure about. It was about 2 ft long. One guy here at the shelter saw a rattlesnake on trail today. I wish I had seen him.
I passed Airborne and Hawkeye a couple miles before reaching the shelter.
I got to the shelter at 4:30 pm. I was the first person there. Airborne and Hawkeye soon followed. From the shelter I went down a steep hill 1/4 of a mile to get water at a spring. I had two pepperoni sandwiches, an apple pie, and two breakfast bars for dinner.
A little later four other hikers showed up. The three thru hikers were White Russian, Miles to Go and Flash. Tennessee Jones is a section hiker, he was at the hostel last night and at the shelter the night before that. He's a nice guy.
The David Lesser Memorial Shelter is very nice. It has a large attached deck with benches. There's a covered picnic table area with a swing. There's also a very nice tenting area with benches and it's own fire pit.
Tomorrow is a short day into Harper's Ferry.
It's a little after 9:00 pm, time to go to sleep.
Jeff,
ReplyDelete1000 miles!!!! What an awesome milestone to reach. You have made some cool memories from all those many miles. We are looking forward to the next 1000 miles.
The noodles in a pouch, was a pretty interesting dinner you shared with us the other night. Is that typical for evening meal?
We enjoy seeing the different shelters along your trip. They look like they get more to them, as you travel farther north.
Looking forward to your next post.
Rick and Amy
The rice sides work best. Just adding boiling water works pretty good. It's my favorite.
DeleteHey Jeff....I am pretty sure that other snake was a Scarlet Kingsnake - highly aggressive and likes to bite guys with gray beards...LOL, kidding. Non-venomous.
ReplyDeleteTerry Cooper
I was thinking it looked like a Eastern Milk snake.
ReplyDeleteBe careful! How are the ticks? Are they bad?
ReplyDeleteLora
I haven't had one tick on me yet. I have heard a couple people say that they've seen one or two. My guess is that I'll see more of them as the temperature rises.
DeleteWay to go Jeff!! Take it easy on the shins and give them some time to warm up each day.
ReplyDeleteAnd the snake is a milk-snake but I'm not sure which one. It looks too big to be a scarlet kingsnake.
Congrats on 1,000!
ReplyDeleteWay to Go Jeff!!! We toasted you today at Steve and Diane's birthday lunch. I don't know if anyone told you, but you were the inspiration for Steve's graduation speech. You probably would have squirmed a bit, but it was a great tribute to you. Keep trekking, we're with you.
ReplyDeleteSusan C.
Congrats!!!!
ReplyDeleteDarren