We finished hiking this section on September 22, 2007.
Day 1
Very hot and humid day.
Zero only had 2 bottles of water during this hike and ran out of water before the hike was done. Dirigo ran out of water too.
Dirigo
There was not much tree cover during this hike so we were very hot, sweaty, and tired from all the ascents. Plus, it was very buggy so we did not stay very long at the overlooks.
Looking towards Massanutten
We were driving to Loft Mountain Campground after our hike and got stopped by a bear jam. There were 2 cubs hiding in the woods but one brave cub came close to the road with the mom.
Momma and cub
First time trying a blackberry shake and our blow up mattress.
Day 2
Hurry up and get out of the sun because it is hot again today. We only encountered other hikers near trails intersecting the AT. Hot, humid, and buggy again! But beautiful views!
Ivy Creek was a great place to take a break and cool off before ascending yet again.
Ivy Creek
Also probably a good place for a bear to get a drink? Zero busted up her elbow and got blood on her saddle bags today.
We tried to stop every 20 minutes to give Zero water on this hike and this time we brought 4 bottles of water for her.
Python & Zero
Dirigo kept seeing bear scat along the trail. We knew that we were hiking in momma bear's territory. Python actually saw a large bear during the hike but fortunately the bear ran away as soon as it saw us.
Pinefield Hut – The hut was located beside a dry stream bed but fortunately the spring had water. We met an elderly man who was probably homeless. His shirt was drying on the picnic table and he was wearing blank dress pants. He was eating Ramen noodles and we offered him our left over trail mix.
Pinefield Hut