The Mysterious Case of the Vanishing Bear Can

Wait until you hear this…

Day 10 – Dick’s Creek to Bly Gap – 9 miles

Today was another big milestone: the first state line crossing! I hiked alone for a few miles after getting dropped off at Dick’s Creek Gap, then I ran into a couple other hikers who’d spent the night at the Green Dragon around lunchtime, and we headed toward the Georgia / South Caroline border together. 

It wasn’t a super steep climb, but it went on for a while. I found that if I shortened my steps a bit, I could go a little longer without needing to take a break. I’m still trying to keep the sun off my skin, but the trouble is that my shirt is black and it pulls in the heat if I put my hood up or leave my sleeves pulled down. I’m really looking forward to getting my lightweight sun hoodie when it’s a bit warmer. Finally we saw the tree with the state line sign – goodbye, Georgia! 

We took pictures then went down the hill to the nearby Bly Gap campsite, the site of the famous twisted tree. (I forgot to take a pic of that one, I was too tired.)

We set up camp and ate dinner with the other hikers, joking about how our current group had more inhabitants of the UK than the US. A couple of them were finishing up their triple crown and they regaled us with tales of the PCT and the CDT. 

Day 11 – Bly Gap to Standing Indian Shelter – 7.6 miles

Woke up late and started late today. The climb out of Bly Gap is a real kick in the ass, with the steepest angle of ascent I’ve seen yet. I didn’t sleep super well and was really dragging, which led to me feeling pretty discouraged that this is still feeling so hard. By 1 pm I’d only done 3 or 4 miles, so I stopped at a shelter and ate lunch, then decided a nap was in order. I crawled under a rhododendron, propped myself up on my pack, and slept for an hour or so. 

When I woke up, I realized the eclipse had started. Hypothetically, if I had quickly glanced up at the sky, I would have seen the sun looking more like a sickle. I really enjoyed the weather change as I took off again. The light had a look about it as if a storm is coming, and the birds had all quieted. Best of all, the temperature had noticeably dropped. When the sunlight returned to full strength, I admit to being a bit disappointed. I finally got to Deep Gap and considered staying with some others at the nearby campsite, but I was feeling strong and decided to add a mile and go up to Standing Indian Shelter. 

“But there’s been lots of bear activity there, bears taking down even properly hung food bags!” Not a problem, thought I, for I’m carrying a bear can, and Bruin doesn’t have opposable thumbs. So I traipsed up the mountain and found one other hiker staying there, also with his bear can. We carefully packed away anything that could remotely be carrying a scent, and stored our cans at opposite ends of camp. When we woke up, it was cold, foggy, and rainy…and my bear can was nowhere to be found.

I searched that mountainside for an hour, trying to find that damned thing. I found evidence of other bear visits – torn cord hanging from trees, food wrappers strewn beneath them – and finally concluded that when Bruin couldn’t get inside my can, he vented his feelings by tucking it under one foreleg and trotting it home. Which left me stranded without any food, two days from my next planned resupply. 

Now, one might suggest I just hike for two days on no food. But the forecast called for several days of cold rain, and with no food, my body wouldn’t have sufficient fuel to keep me warm. One might also suggest that I stay inside the shelter, wrapped in my quilt and conserving energy, for two days until the rain stopped…but I wasn’t confident I’d be able to keep warm. I started texting every shuttle driver in the area, asking if they could collect me from Deep Gap and take me to Hiawassee or Franklin. (Hiawassee, lest we forget, is all the way back in Georgia, but I didn’t care; the important thing was getting off the mountain and back to a place where I could feed myself.) Most of the shuttle drivers were booked solid due to other hikers wanting to escape the rain. I finally got hold of one who said she only had a small window of availability; if I could be at Deep Gap in 30 minutes, she could bring me into Hiawassee. 

Folks, you better believe I FLEW down that mountain. I ran past (and nearly into) a few friends who tried to tell me I was going the wrong way, but all they got was a “Can’t stop!” tossed their way as I hurtled downhill. I wasn’t about to run the risk of missing my shuttle and being stuck up there hungry all day in the rain. But fortunately I made it back to Deep Gap with a few minutes to spare, and my driver got me back to Hiawassee right as the rain let up. I sloshed into Trailful and announced, “I am here to spend money,” then upgraded to a BV 500 when they didn’t have my original BV 475 in stock. Across the road to Ingles to re-buy all my food, medicines, etc, and then my shuttle driver helped me find a place to stay for the night. So here I am – back in Georgia, a few hundred dollars poorer, but hopefully done with snafus for the trip. We’ll see….there are a lot more bears between here and Katahdin. You win this one, Bruin.