An early start. We see a teenage bear and watched him for about 10 minutes while Digby tried to photograph him. We stopped at Elkwallow Way - a roadhouse - for a big breakfast and were able to do a resupply, which meant we did not have to leave the trail to get to the town of Front Royal. We stayed at the roadhouse for about 1 1/2 hours and ate eggs, bacon, toast, hashbrowns, coffee and finished it off with a pint of flavoured milk!
We had a late lunch at Gravel Springs Hut with Marcus and 'Slightly Inappropriate', and stayed an hour to enjoy their company before we did another three hours in the cool of the late afternoon.
While we were looking for a good campsite in the bush, I saw a hiker coming towards us. I had left a stick lying across the track to mark a good campsite, and I was worried he would kick it out of the way and I would lose the location. So I asked him to watch out for the stick. I was so focused on this that I did not happen to notice that he was completely starkers, carrying his pack, until after he had departed. It was a special day on the AT - The 'Hike Naked Day' on the day of the winter solstice.
This night was really memorable as the grunting outside the tent was such that Alison sent me out to scare off the bear that was obviously about to eat us. The poor deer got quite a shock as I emerged, but the night was peaceful after that.
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