AT Day 53

2014/5/23 Mile 951.5

Cool morning but pleasant. Got to hiking and saw a bear about a mile in.

By 930 I was passing Skyland Lodge so I decided to pop in for a coffee. Ended up sitting down and having a second breakfast after checking out the menu and getting the WiFi password.

Back on the trail I met Walk Worthy at a road crossing. We hiked together just chatting about all sorts of things. Soon after we ran into Spiderman who WW knew.

I listened as they discussed some of the ins and outs of their faith. Both were well acquainted with the bible and quoted it continually in the discussion. Eventually we moved on to other topics and I learned WW ran a construction company and Spiderman was a newly graduated Physical Therapy Assistant.

We lost WW at a road crossing as he had to stop to call his friend who was coming to meet him. Spiderman and I continued on together and I found out he and his family live near Spartanburg, SC and he keeps bees. Looks like we a few things in common.

Had 3 more bear encounters over the hike and one was a mama and her cub bringing the total bear count for the day to 5. Also saw a non-coral snake (red meets black, you're OK Jack) and some deer.

Had a pre-dinner at Elkwallow Wayside and met Rugby, his dad Big Tex, and Sole Power. We were all heading to Gravel Springs Shelter so we didn't hang around too long.

At the shelter were tons of folks. Makes sense considering the fact that it was Friday of Memorial Day weekend. Lots of section hikers but good company and someone built a massive fire.

I hammocked in a little clear spot back in the woods instead of taking up space in the shelter.