This new page is gonna be simple ; just "memories" from hike and no particular order will be involved in it. I'm not a web master yet so please bear with me and enjoy the Rhythm and flow (if any )
The AT is about 90% a people experience, in my estimation. Writers on AT subject put AT hikers as introvert type. But that, to me, is a reason why personalities on the Trail are exposed in bright colors. It's sort of like boot camp: very greulling physically, you're away from home and you can reinvent yourself for a while. You hope you won't be dishonest and mess up the good parts of who you are, but you also want the best "you" to emerge with the physical challenge that takes place. You have to "adjust". You want to discover the essence of yourself ,the bare bones you. You want to be able to look back and say I didn't mess up anyone els's hike. But then, you can't fail to do that in big ways or small. Because we're a rather large number on the trail and in the shelters, we have to interact somehow.
Humor is a constant in the shelters. You can get the picture of what its like if you access the spirit of some wild creatures, all mixed together in a game preserve, and then put them in human form. Maybe I'm "sharing too much here" (i am a Christian, not a Pagan, after all). But for purposes of storytelling, lets say, I'll have to go with that and see how it flows. BEARS are the topic of the conversation one night at a shelter early in the hike. One comment was "ROUGE BEAR??!! ROUGE bear? I thought ALL bears were ROUGE BEARS! What the hell good is it to BE a bear, if you CAN'T be a ROUGE BEAR!!!
Hikers are often asked "Aren't you afraid of bears'?. Every conversation with non-hikers includes that question. I suspect each hiker asks him or herself that question a time or two along the Trail, especially when they see bear sign RIGHT on the trail("Thank you, Mr. Bruin, I see your calling card"). There are times when you just KNOW there are bears nearby, and you really hope not to have to see one up close and personal. Bears who have raided shelters tend to keep near the shelters and wait for everyone to settle down before that dinner bell rings in their head.I heard of one guy pitching his tent away from the shelter because he snored like a bear and didn't want to disturb other hikers. In fact, he snored so loud that some in the shelter thought they were actually hearing a bear. But it was just this guy.Then, when all was quiet and everyone was getting groggy, some even already asleep, it sounded like there were TWO bears snoring over there where "Snore Bear" was. Where he was happened to be perilously close to the "bear cables", where everyone hoists their food bags. People woke up, headlamps and flashlights popped on, and they see and hear something that only happens in really, REALLY bad dreams. Here this guy is, sawing logs like Paul Bunyan, and this 500 lb black bear is contentedly having his way with an assortment of marshmallows, Ramen Noodles, cocoa powder and freeze dried dinners. Occasional grunts of delight from the bear, and constant shuffling ripping tearing sounds could be heard ALONG WITH I S**T you not the SNORING of the "Bear Snorer" guy. I was there the next day, the morning after it happened, the guy had just left the shelter. The looks on those guy's faces as they were telling me what happened left no doubt in my mind that it actually happened. The guy slept through the whole thing!!! Woke up like Lazarus being called from his tomb, looked around at the trash all around him and calmly unstrung HIS feed bag, made breakfast (oatmeal with HONEY, i was told), grunting contentedly and shuffled a bit as he ate, I understand.
