Skywalker--Close Encounters on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Walker

Author:Bill Walker [Walker, Bill]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 1460999428
Amazon: 1460999428
Publisher: CreateSpace
Published: 2011-03-12T06:00:00+00:00

Shenandoah National Park (“the Shennies” in AT lore), which runs 104 miles from end-to-end, is considered one of the easiest parts of the AT. To be sure there are one thousand-foot climbs, but the trail is well-graded, and the inclines rarely more than ten or twelve degree angles. Indeed, I recommend the park as a good practice place for somebody trying to decide whether to attempt the AT.

Because it’s a national park, hunting is not permitted. As a result, there’s a prevalence of large animals, notably deer and bears—and they’ve largely lost their fear of humans. By some accounts there is a greater bear density in Shenandoah National Park than anywhere else on earth—more than one per square mile. And unlike in the Smokies, which we traversed at high elevations in the early spring, while the bears were still foraging at lower levels, we would be in “the Shennies” in high summer. Thus, when I entered the park it wasn’t the usual things—weather and difficult terrain—that occupied my attention. It was bears.

At the seven-mile mark I came across two hikers struggling to extract water from a grudging spring. “Any luck?” I asked, walking up on them.

“Barely,” the barrel-chested Colonel Mustard replied.

His diminutive friend Pee Wee added, “There is a creek that runs pretty well a few hundred yards ahead.”

I bolted ahead, and upon arriving at the creek looked around to make sure I wasn’t invading the drinking space of any large animals. I heard a rustling sound on the other side, but it didn’t distinguish itself from the hundreds of such sounds one hears here throughout the day. It never ceased to amaze me how much noise a mere squirrel could make. I took the bait every time I heard one.

After drawing some water I climbed out of the creek. Colonel Mustard and Pee Wee were passing by with wide-eyed looks on their faces. “Did you see that cub?” Pee Wee asked.

“No, where?” I asked.

“A minute after you passed us a cub ran down the hill between you and us.”

“Did you see the mother anywhere?” I asked.

“No,” he replied, “and we weren’t about to wait for her either.”

So now I had a one-second glimpse of what was apparently a large, but scared bear in southwest Virginia and a near miss of a cub here at the beginning of Shenandoah National Park. Everybody seemed to have great tales to tell on this entrancing subject except me. But I wasn’t envious.

Camel and Bear came along while I was taking a break off one of the Skyline Drive crossings. They were two of the more likeable members of the Sleazebags and I was glad to have their company. As we sat there a car stopped and the driver opened his trunk to offer us a choice of soft drinks. Life wasn’t bad.

We reached the Blackrock Hut at dusk, after what would be the first of a string of twenty-mile days. Because of an estimated six million annual visitors in the park I had perhaps expected something palatial.

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