The morning she left Luray, VA she was up at 7:30 am and Sonshine and her Mom had the continental breakfast at the motel they were at and packed up to leave. Sonshine wrote some postcards and letters to send off. While Sonshine was packing up she broke her camp spork into three pieces. This was her second spork for the trip, she broke the first spork just before the Smokey Mountains. After they checked out of the motel, they went by the town outfitter to buy another spork.
At the outfitter, the owner said that he did not have any of the sporks Sonshine was looking for, but that he had a truck coming in that day with a package of them. He showed her some metal options and then he went into the back room. When he reappeared from the back room, he had a spork that he used for stirring his coffee and he said he would wash it and give it to Sonshine. Sonshine thanked him and as they talked, she learned that he was originally from Baltimore and that he had been running on the AT that morning. He asked Sonshine if she had seen any bears yet and when she told him no, he warned her to be on the look out for bears because there are so many in the park, (SNP). Little did Sonshine know then that she would see one that day and that she would be stuck waiting a bear out in a privy!
After the outfitters and a trip to the post office, they went to the library to pick up a fellow hiker: GENTLE BEN. Sonshine's Mom dropped off Sonshine were she left off the trail and took Gentle Ben about 25 miles north to a trail head for him to get back on the trail.
Back on the trail, it was up, up, up and away. Many hikers on the AT have said that the AT breaks the old adage that "what goes up, must come down," because the AT seems to continuously ascend without much descending.
Sonshine decided to stop at Pass Mountain Hut for a break and an early dinner. Pass Mountain Hut is known for it's "kissing trees." These two trees are about 20 feet in front of the hut. There were four hikers at the hut when Sonshine arrived; 3 GUYS FROM TEXAS who are thru-hikers and a section hiker named Ben who was hiking south. They all talked for about an hour, then the 3 guys from Texas left, heading 6 miles north to the next wayside grill on Skyline Drive to get Blackberry Milkshakes. Sonshine helped Ben plan his hike for the next several days and then he headed south.
Sonshine was reading through the shelter log, reading about the hikers she knows and how long ago they had been at the shelter. Sonshine had just gotten her journal out and had begun to write about her day, when a bear jumped over a fence that was behind the shelter and landed directly in front of the shelter. This was the first bear that Sonshine had come in contact with. Sonshine stood up and and began yelling and waving her arms wildly, to attempt to scare off the bear. The bear looked at Sonshine, unfazed. Sonshine waited a few minutes and tried to scare the bear again, this time the bear came towards her with his head down. Sonshine grabbed her pack and ran to the privy, which was actually a four-sided structure (the privies are usually three-sided structures) and the bear followed. The bear was outside the privy snarling, banging it's head on the walls of the privy, scratching the walls and pacing around the privy for 18 hours! It was 6:20 pm when Sonshine got into the privy. Sonshine was praying most of the 18 hours, asking God to send another hiker or park ranger to help her scare the bear away. Sonshine was yelling and banging on the sides of the privy, making as much noise as she could to scare the bear away from the privy and campsite. She tried to call 911, to ask them to call the ranger's station but was unable to get cell phone reception. Throughout the night she heard deer coming close to the privy and she prayed that the bear would take an interest in the deer and chase after them, but the bear was fixated on Sonshine and her food. Sonshine was beginning to feel like Jonah, in the belly of the whale! Sonshine was reading her Bible and was able to read 12 chapters of Matthew over a span of a few hours, because the bear seemed agitated when she would turn on her head light for more than 10 to 20 minutes. She was unable to sleep because the bear would take a break for about 20 minutes and then attempt to get in the privy. At day light, about 4:30 am until 6:30 am the bear became more aggressive and agitated. Maybe that was the bear's normal breakfast time? The bear would back up and then run directly towards the privy and stop just short of hitting the wall of the privy.
At 12 noon the next day, after 18 hours inside the privy with the bear actively pursuing Sonshine, she heard a hiker and he started yelling. The two of them yelling back and forth to one another seemed to get the bear's attention. The other hiker came towards the bear with his hiking poles and the bear then ran off. Sonshine was thanking God that she was not claustrophobic and for not allowing the bear to break down the privy and attack her!
Sonshine thanked the other hiker and she hiked south to the nearest ranger station about 2 miles away, to report the unusually aggressive bear activity. Once she reached the ranger's station a ranger took her report and called an environmental biologist to come and talk with her about this incident. After an hour, Sonshine had spoken with several people at the ranger's station about the bear. It was decided that a AT Ridge Runner would go up to the hut and spend the night to see if the bear came back.
Sonshine then hiked on the Front Royal, VA to a hostel called Terrapin Station Hostel to spend the night.
1 comment:
This is simultaneously terrifying and exhilarating.
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