Samwise Hikes the Appalachian Trail! - Trail Journal -
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June 19, Pinefield Hut - mile 875.8

It's been a nice short day, although summer is definitely upon us. I feel completely soaked - with sweat - even thought I had a shower only 3 hours ago at the camp ground. I stopped for three hours there today during which time I got a shower, did my laundry, got some lunch at the camp store & then hiked up an extra half mile to the registration station to use the phone to call Tony. I wasn't so keen on the extra mileage, but I couldn't reach him Sunday when I was a Rockfish & we needed to confirm meeting up in a couple of days. I'm so excited to see him! We're renting a cabin at one of the campground/lodge areas here in the park for Thursday night.

In the wild life news, I saw another bear today, which was fun. Just as I came to the top of the last mountain, I head some noise in the leaves off to my right. And then suddenly I saw a black fuzzy head bounding down the hill. I also saw 5 deer & 4 Eastern Cottontails, all of which seemed so tame, I could nearly pet them. One of the deer was actually a buck. Only the second time I've ever seen a buck in the wild.

There are some very nice folks tenting at the shelter here tonight, just out for a week on their first real backpacking trip. They are full of questions & want to hear all about thru-hiking. It's fun to watch the young lady's eyes get big when we talk about bears or snakes or shelter mice. It also made me laugh when she came back from the privy saying she'd rather not use it & 10 minutes later Sue ( a thru-hiker ) came back saying "What a nice privy here!" I used it myself a bit ago & thought it was pretty spiffy, too, especially compared to a lot of others I've seen! I guess it all a matter of perspective.