Bear encouter!

Day 47

Date: 17.06.2022

CDT Mile: Mile 1'050.00

Miles hiked: 25.6 miles / 41 km

Elevation: 4'580 feet ascent (Aufstieg 1'396 m) / 4'570 feet descent (Abstieg 1'393 m)

Camping at: 10'853 feet / 3'308 m

Wow, we seem to become stronger and also getting used to get up a little earlier. I like hiking early in the morning. Getting up early however is another thing! But if you get up early, the chances to see animals is higher, miles seem to pass easier, uphills not as hard, more miles can be hiked a day, and it is chillier in the mornings too. I leave camp shortly after 6am. And not 10 minutes on trail, I see my first black bear on trail! I first didn't realize what this big brown fluffy thing was, until it noticed me, looked at me and run back to the woods. Sadly I didn't had time to take a picture, I was too surprised as I didn't ecpext at all to see a bear that early and the entcounterment only took less than a minute. Still it was awesome and a great start into that day! May I should now hang my food bag and not keep it next to me in my tent during the night... only a couple of minutes later a get scared due to some noise out of the woods. It is Shay screaming my name🤣 and 4 miles later I run into The Piper and Duskman at a junction. I take a break and eat my breakfast. Soon later also Boss and Patches arrive. They haven't seen the bear and are disappointed. We hike on, ups and downs in the forest and through big beautiful grass field's full of flowers till we reach a bigger stream for lunch. Again there was no water till there. It was a beautiful morning but now dark black clouds are covering the sky and we can hear thunder. They come our way so I fast finish lunch and hike on. We have two big climbs ahead of us. The thunder comes closer and I get rained on a little. But I hike in the forest and only a few drops reach me, to little to be bothered to put my rain gear on. And soon later the sun is out again and the bad weather moved on. The first uphill was nice and not as bad as I feared it. But the second uphill was brutal. The trail was not nice, full of stones and big rocks and very steep. And out of the blue loud noise comes my way. What the heck is this? A second later a motorbike crosses my path. I literally had to jump off trail. In total there are 5 motorbikes cruising up that path, flying and jumping over the rocks. And it is so loud! Really annoying. Normally the trail is closed to any motorized vehicles but this part apparently is not. Also the weather has changed, not in my favor. The black clouds are coming back. Just less than 2 miles before I reach the little hut we plan to camp tonight, I get hailed on. Within no time the path was covered in little white hails. This spectacle lasts a couple of minutes only. Luckily I had time to put my rain jacket on. Shey cought up to me and together we wait out the storm trying to find some shelter in the woods. We finally reach the hut with Patches, who run down the mountain to escape the hail, around 5pm. Boss is here already too. He hiked all the miles without stopping for lunch and has reached the hut already around 3.30pm! And a young couple from Israel, Sherom and Hadasch (I don't know how to spell their names...), whom I met in Lordsburg on my second day, are here too! That's funny how suddenly you run into each other again, not seeing each other for months! Also The Piper and Duskman and the K2's get here later too. And Vista, a girl I met for the first time yesterday. So we are quite a big group tonight, all trying to reach the hut for shelter from the bad weather today. We won't all fit in the shelter but as we want to hike out very early tomorrow, the K2's, Vista and The Piper and Dustman prefer to pitch their tents. The other 5 of us gonna sleep in the hut😁 It is so nice not to pitch a tent for once. I hope no one snores tonight!