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Journal
| About Downunda | Trail
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1st June 2002 From:
Bearfence Mountain Hut
I left the shelter at 6:30 A.M. this morning, as I wanted to get to the camp store early. I came off the trail at The Big Meadow's Lodge and wandered around for a while in the adjacent campground looking for the store only to discover it was one mile away. As I was asking one of the staff where the store was, this guy offered to drive me down to the store. His name was Jim and he was having a weekend away to have a break. He and his wife have a B&B in Philadelphia. His wife has an illness and he is suffering from working endless seven-day shifts keeping the B&B going, so they blocked out a few days without guests so he could take a break. He said he is going to put the business up for sale. I have a photo of the home here on a business card he gave me and it is a mansion-home. It has seven guestrooms with seven bathrooms. On the meadow just down from here, people are wandering around everywhere looking at the deer. There are lots of deer and their newborn wandering around. 'Real' said he couldn't believe the number of people that were around down there at 6:30 A.M. this morning. 'Real' and I are sitting under a shady tree in the grass just up from the store. 'Real' has his plastic tarp hanging out to dry on a nearby bush. This gets the attention of two rangers who come over to check us out. Although they didn't specifically say, they are checking out our intention to camp here, which is not allowed. Camping is not allowed within 1/4 mile of a paved road. As it's beautiful and sunny, with a nice cool breeze, we intend to stay here until late in the day, then duck off into the woods and set up camp. This is a great spot to sit, as there are lots of people coming and going to the store; some come over and talk with us. Another thru-hiker, 'Trug" and her dog, come and join us as do 'Three day' and his friend, 'Zac'. 'Real' has just gone to buy his second pint of ice cream. I've had a Klondike ice cream, a block of Hershey chocolate, a hot chocolate, a can of tuna (yuk!), a pint of butter pecan ice cream, and a two liter cup of Mountain Dew. That'll do me until dinner. It's now 6:00 P.M. and 'Real' and I are camped off in the woods, a short way from Big Meadow's Visitor's Center. We have had a few beers and our dinner, so I'm going to have a quick wash (sponge bath) and jump into my tent to escape the insects. There are quite a few deer wandering around checking us out. One of them is making a snorting noise. I guess he is the leader and is warning the others to stay clear of us. It's been a great day and it looks like being a clear night. I plan to
do a few miles tomorrow and feel all set to go. I'm off to bed now, so
I'll say goodnight. |
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It's 12:00 noon and I'm at the camp store at Big Meadows (on The Skyline
Drive). When I got here I saw 'Real' sitting up on a grassy knoll just 50
yards away.