I slept great last night, much better than the night before. I’ve only got about ten miles to Bear’s Den, so I decided to sleep in this morning. I didn’t get out of my hammock until almost 8 am. I had a little soreness in my right hip but otherwise felt great. I had a nice casual breakfast and talked with “Chapstick” and “Trippy”. They came into camp around dinner time last night and were planning on going to the shelter after Bear’s Den. Maybe I’ll see them again in Harpers Ferry.
Once you leave this shelter there is a boardwalk that you have to take over some swampy area before starting the Rollercoaster. This is a 14-mile stretch of pointless ups and downs (PUDS). None of these climbs are too bad. I think the worst one is only a 500 feet climb but most of them are more like 300-foot climbs. Lots of people think this is so hard, but after growing up with the saw teeth up on Massanutten Mountain this section really isn’t too bad. The worst part about these PUDS is that there are really no views along this whole section of trail.
Most days I don’t put on podcasts until after lunch, unless I have a hard climb to start the day. This morning I put them on right away. I knew this was going to be a boring day and I would need some distractions. I was right, it was a boring day. The only interaction I had with anyone was shortly before the Sam Moore shelter; I ran into the Ridge Runner for this section. We talked for a little while before he had to get going. He wished me luck with the rest of the trip and started south.
I continued north, I had another five miles to go, and it was only 10:30. It was going to be an early day, which was good because my right leg was still a little sore from yesterday. I made it to Bear’s Den at about 1 pm and got a bunk for the night. I was also able to get a pizza for lunch. I ate most of it then and saved the rest for later. I spent the afternoon talking to a lot of day hikers. There were a lot of people out “hiking” up to the Bear’s Den Overlook. It was a nice relaxing afternoon.
I only did 9.8 miles with about 3,000 feet of elevation gain.
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