NS: GSMNP 2003 September (another bear)

“After bp’ing from Clinkman’s Dome to CS#68 on Forney Creek Trail and back the previous week, I tried for CS#70 and CS#69 from the trail's bottom:

9-21-03 Sunday – Hiked from "The Road To Nowhere" on the Lakeview Trail to CS#74 in 2.5 hours, a real good time for me. My legs are getting stronger, but my
endurance lacks from previous years. Rain started lightly at about 11 p.m. or so and continued all night. Nuts began raining on and around my tent. Then suddenly there was a lot of nut cracking right outside of my tent! A bear was there feasting on the nuts and some of the shells were hitting the tent! I hollowed at it and it ran. A while later more nuts were falling, some hitting the tent so hard that I thought they were branches. I got up and looked, but there were just nuts. The tree was so high that I could not see the bear with a flashlight. Mad, I went for a walk. After returning I moved the tent about
20 feet and settled down to sleep again. A few more nuts came my way, but only a few. I think the bear was throwing them at me.

9-22-03 Monday – I bp’ed on Forney Creek Trail to CS#70 in a light rain, but it started to pour as I set up the tent. With a see-through mesh top and the door open, the rain poured into the tent before I could set-up the tent's rain fly. I got in the tent, but what a wet mess it was! It poured very hard for three hours, but finally quit at about 6:30 p.m. I got up, had supper, looked around and wondered why people thought this site was so great. It does have plenty of good tent sites without any run-off water. Slept pretty good in spite of a lot of wetness.

9-23-03 Tuesday - The creeks were very high. No way could I continue upstream with creek crossings ahead. So I spent the day waiting for the run-off to finish and hung up everything to dry. I made a rut in the campsite by walking 'round and 'round in a big circle all day, thinking about My Old Flame.
http://www.thebackpacker.com/trailtalk/thread/25878.php
Everything dried except cotton items.

9-24-03 Wednesday - The creeks went down some, about 5-6 feet down. So at 2 p.m. I started upstream to CS#69. Ten minutes later I crossed a subsidiary creek on a log bridge. In another 10 minutes I reached a major crossing of Forney Creek. No way! I would have been waist deep or deeper in some parts. Disappointed, I turned downstream and bp'ed to CS#71.

9-25-03 Thursday - Found a large, white, birdseed, bulk container with the bottom removed. It was great as it served as a seat for some action in the woods. There were so many roots in the ground, the blade of my new, steel shovel separated from the handle! But I did get things buried. Something had gotten into my clothing and I received many ichy bites on my arms and chest. Bp'ed to CS#74. Fontana Lake was at the lowest level that I have ever seen, but it still looked beautiful.

9-26-03 Friday - Hiked up and out in 2.75 hours, good time again. Still nursing the bug bites and some fresh ones.

Picked-up mail from home. The previous trip to the hospital ER for an infected finger cost over $400! Checked e-mail and saw my female friend in Bryson City. A surprise, I have a lunch date with her Tuesday, if I am not back on a trail. (Maybe she is interested in more than just buying my car.) Showered at the Fontana Dam and spent the night at the Fontana Hilton Shelter.

Met a woman from Martha's Vineyard (Mass.), who was completing her last section of the AT going south. She was using a Sierra Zip Stove, just like my new one. She swears that it is the greatest stove for bp'ing. I do, too!

Also, met a NC man, 42 years old. In one day he planned to hike from the dam up the AT to Spence Field and down Eagle Creek Trail to the first campsite. On the next day, he was going to continue down Eagle Creek Trail and out, and then drive for six hours to get home! He said that his wife is quite a hiker. She was elsewhere on the AT leading a group of hikers. She did the entire AT a couple of years ago. Her trail name: Mother Goose!”

“Great report NS.


8)”

“thanks dude. i'm gonna have to read that other thread about your woman.”

“Glad to hear that you are doing well. Sounds like you are hiking a bit faster these days. BTW, Oct. 11-17, I'll be with three other folks on the AT in the Smokies from Fontana to NFG. We're spending the night Oct. 11 at the Fontana shelter. Why don't you think about hooking up with us that night at the shelter. Our shuttle will be dropping us there Sat. afternoon around 4 p.m.”

“I hate bears.”

“Very enjoyable read - what a bear encounter. So much for caged shelters - how 'bout a nylon wall.”

“Ohhhh sure...you just had to go and make me jealous...”

“Was Mother Goose's husband's name Bill?”

“I was in the Smokies this past weekend and saw my first bear in the backcountry. I was amazed at the speed and also how quiet she was while going through the brush. Great report.”

“Great report, ns. Thanks.”

“Ah yes, it's a good mast season in the Smokies. Many of the trails will look like they're coated in rancid peanut butter blobs from the bears eating all the nuts.”

“BS - Yes, I think.”

“NS
He is a friend of mine. Local boy done good. His wife (Mother Goose) hiked the AT with three of her children along.”