Appalachian Trail Day 13 - Wayah Shelter to Wesser Bald Shelter - Bear in Camp! (Mile 120.4 to mile 131)

Last night was a rough one.  Around 2 am, in a half-dreaming state, I roll over to go back to sleep, thinking for a second I should get up and water the leaves while I am slightly awake...  I drift off, dreaming of fireflies around a campfire, then bolt awake. These aren't fireflies drifting outside my tarp! There are lights shining INTO my tarp.  I can't hear anything, then realize my earplugs are muffling the sound of people talking rapidly and pointedly in my direction.  Laying in my hammock I pull up the side of my tarp. 

"What's going on?" I shout up the hill to the shelter. I can see several people walking back and forth with bright headlamps shining about.

"There's a bear!" replied one of the men on the hill reply.

"Where?" I ask.

"Behind your hammock."

I about fall out onto the ground. Penny emerges from her tent, looking a little dazed and confused.  We walk to the shelter. The 3 men staying in the shelter are outside with Karma. They said Joanie Cash woke them up reporting a bear was in the camp and ate "the food bags of the 2 women with the hammock." We check our food bags and they are tied where we left them and fully intact. 

"Did you guys see a bear?" I ask.  They unanimously did not, but Penny and I don't want to take a chance. We grab our sleeping pads and quilts and head for the shelter. Up until now I have avoided shelters like the plague. They are known for very active mice that reportedly crawl on your face and defecate on your clothes.  Mice are gross, but being eaten by a bear would really stink... 

Daybreak is beautiful, but everyone is tired, and the events of four hours ago seem to have occurred last month.   Bears are large and lumbering on first appraisal, but surprisingly agile and devastating when they find camps and food.  Would a bear be in our camp, we would see some evidence.  After a lot of discussion, we think that maybe Joanie had a dream in her exhausted state precipitated by the stress from the lightening storm the night prior.

After leaving camp, we see lots of trees gouged by bears...

                           

Karma and I hike up to Wesser Bald Fire Tower. We are on top of a rickety wood structure waiting for Penny. She doesn't show up. We wait 30 minutes when I try calling her. 

"Hello?" the call drops.

"Hello?" the call drops.

We do this for 15 minutes when we get a text that she is almost at the shelter! She passed the fire tower without seeing the side trail. We head down the hill to a beautiful shelter area just past a gorgeous piped spring near the top of the ridge where we filtered enough water for dinner and tomorrows hike into NOC. 

We set up and sit in the shelter for dinner when a couple comes in. They are obviously exhausted. They are out of water, have no map, and have never backpacked before.  They are totally out of there element.  Just because you saw "A Walk in the Woods" (about an ontogenarian Robert Redford who made it 6 weeks with lots of yellow-blazing), doesn't mean YOU should walk in the woods without preparation!!  I offer them water from my bag, but Karma goes way further by walking back up the ridge to get them water. She filters it for them. Later, they walk up to the water and we are pretty sure they drank it unfiltered. They will probably not get giardiasis up this high, but it's a roll of the dice... 

Todays stats: 11 miles, 2200' elevation gain

Trip stats: 61 miles, 14K feet elevation gain

AT total: 131 miles, 30K feet elevation gain