Shenandoah National Park (Camping with the Brats + David)

I saw three more bears last weekend; an adult and two cubs!  They disappeared into the woods before I could wrassle them (it would have been real cute), but Eli still saw them so I will count it as a win.  I found the trip very enjoyable.  We hiked in on Thursday and camped beside what sounded like the Niagara Falls - the entire night I woke up at various points in the night thinking it was raining.  On Friday morning I got to cross off a  life goal of bathing in a mountain stream.  By a small miscalculation of time we ended up at our night camp at 1 p.m.. We spent the afternoon damning up a small stream, watching David flick the frying pan at Isaac off a stick, playing cards, and David and I taking pot shots at each other with a homemade bow and arrow.  Saturday we hiked the Devil's Stairs - it was just a trail up a gorge that crossed the stream multiple times - and a couple of miles of the AT.

Cloudy Night

I hiked a bit of the the AT through the Smokies; I went from Tennessee to North Carolina.  I just wanted to try out things, and take pictures of the stars.  Alas  I didn't take my school backpack which had my camera.  It was a bit cloudy, but when the clouds parted the stars where beautiful. So many tiny bits of light.

If I am serious about hiking in the cold I need to get a sleeping bag; my fleece does not cut it.   In any case I don't think I will get out again for a while; the next few weekends look booked.