Day 3 – Riding the Roller Coaster (part one)

3.8 miles / 20.1

Bears Den hostel

Blessedly quiet last night. Brief moment of concern that critters were into my pack, but after getting up and checking, turns out there was no issue.

As a guy who had gotten pretty comfortable with staying up until 1am, hiker midnight (8-9 pm) comes mighty early and settling in for 10 or 11 hours until dawn takes serious adjustment. There’s a lot of dozing in the interim.

Still, each morning so far has brought with it a headache, so I tend to lay listening to the early morning birdsong as the light grows. It is exquisite, even with the pain. I’m probably experiencing caffeine withdrawal, with a single cup of coffee with breakfast.

I’ve been hearing a lot of positive stories about the Bears Den hostel from the folks coming from the south. That, plus the possibility of going to the local brewery for lunch and an IPA with “Just Tom” was sufficient motivation, so I decided to make that my destination today, even with the short miles.

I was still packing up when Tom came by to say he was on his way and that he would meet me at Bears Den. I let him know I was running later than I’d hoped, and that I didn’t expect him to wait. He said he expected to be taking a shower, and so he thought he’d still be there.

I finished packing and saddled up. The first landmark was the ledges of Raven Rock. There I met up with two ladies walking with their dog. They were quite friendly and we shared a pleasant moment looking out across the hills I had yet to traverse.

I came upon the WV / VA border soon after.

I had around 700ml of water for the 3.8 miles, and at first I thought that would be enough, but the air was dry and trail required some heavy exertion. I ended up sweating off a lot of what I was drinking. That forced me to collect water one more time before the last push up to the Bears Den (now under all that water weight).

I pulled into the hostel parking area around 11:30, and there was no sign of Tom. So I figured I’d just taken too long to get there.

Not too long after that, though, he pulled in with someone else. It became clear that he had offered a ride to this gentleman, and also, the hostel was closed up until 5pm, so he hadn’t got his shower. So our pilgrimage to the brewery was off. Sad, but understandable.

So I settled in to wait until 5pm to checkin. Immediately, a couple showed up accompanied by an Asian gentleman. He was trying to get in to check out the place since he had rented the entire space for next weekend. The hostel folks had given him a key and directions but the door also had a combination lock, and he had no directions to open that. Turns out the combination was derived from a riddle based on knowledge of the AT. The gentleman was grateful for the help, and we chatted for little while before he left.

Shortly after I met up with another gentleman hiking up from Waynesboro, VA with his dog, Casey. She was a sweety. I believe HIS name was Rick. We sat and visited for the afternoon until the hostel opened for registering. I’m really happy with how easy it is to get to know folks, so far. We have a couple who just came in, very friendly and talkative. Hard to finish up the blog!!

Supper was frozen pizza and Dr Pepper. The resident pup here was assiduously ignoring me until I brought my pizza to the table. Then she was my best friend.

I’ve signed up for another day here tomorrow, and perhaps the following day, since it’s supposed to rain on Saturday. We’ll see.