Bears, Berries, Trees, snakes and Yellow Jackets

Nephew and I started hiking north at mile marker 907 on April 9. From that point until I left the AT to heal on June 4, we never saw a bear in the wild.

   Once I started hiking south on June 17, I started seeing bears within just a few days. I have now seen 8 of them. Four of them were cubs, two were less than 300 lb and two were mature adults.

    A ninth bear hung around my tent one night for close to a half hour. I heard him crashing through the woods as he neared my camp site so I was prepared. It was a bit unnerving when it felt as if his nose was within a foot of my head!  I had on the tent's fly sheet so I could not see him or actually feel his breath, but the volume of air coming out of his nose told me he was big. I zipped and unzipped the fly's zipper quickly and that scared him away a few times.  Then I had to do that and shout at him to make him run away some distance. 

    The whole time I was doing that I kept thinking " a real Maasai would have already jumped out of the tent with his trekking poles and proven his bravery." I am such a wimp! 

    Finally the bear left me and went over to where I had tied my food bag in a tree. I must have hung it well because when I awoke the next morning it was undisturbed.

  Before leaving the AT on June 2, I got to pick and eat wild huckle berries for the first time (see picture). I also got to see the Keffer Oak Tree, the 2nd largest on the AT (see picture).  It is 18 ft around and estimated to be over 300 years old. 

   During the afternoon of June 1, I apparently stuck one trekking pole in a yellow jackets nest. A few of them let my legs know they were not happy about that! It had been many years since I had experienced their ability to bite and sting.

   Earlier on the same day, I stepped right over a Copperhead snake (see picture).

I had no idea I could jump that high with a full pack on! 

    So Nephew, be on the lookout when you return to the south! BTW we think Adam will summit Kathadin by midweek next week. Keep him in your prayers please as he has not had the chances to heal up I have had.

Uncle