Pit Stop - Boulder, CO

While I'm off the trail for a couple weeks, I'm living the AT experience vicariously through my hiker friends continuing their journey. I'll share that with all of my loyal blog followers...

I spoke with Smokestack today. Since I parted ways with him at Kinsman Notch on Tuesday, he's pushed his way through most of the White Mountains of New Hampshire. His weather has been fantastic and he's thoroughly enjoying his climax of the AT. He summited Mt. Washington on Saturday July 31 under clear, calm skies. He said it was phenomenal scenery.

His best story came this morning... He was lying in his hammock beneath clear skies so he left his tarp rainfly half open. He awoke at 6:30AM and as he was lying there, he felt his hammock swinging a little bit. This confused him a bit since there was no breeze at all. Well, he rolled over and between him and the mesh of his bug net was a bear looking him right in the face. He said the bear was so close he could have kissed him. Well, he sat still for a few minutes while the bear sniffed around his hammock and his gear. He tried shooing him away verbally, but the bear ignored him. At this point he started yelling to the other campers who couldn't readily see his hammock area. "Hey Boundless! Ginger Root! Get this bear away from me!" he yelled. They didn't believe him. They thought he was being funny. Well, another tenter came out at this point and shooed the bear back into the woods. He's been disappointed this whole hike that he hasn't seen any bears. Umm... Yeah, this completely makes up for it and then some.

Finished up my friend Gene's bachelor party in Boulder. Stellar best man, Andy, had a rented house for the 19 guests. We went clay pigeon shooting, we rock climbed, rappelled and did a micro brewery tour. It was an awesome time with some great friends and the bachelor had a blast.

This afternoon I'm picking up a rental car in Denver and I'm off to Yellowstone National Park... expect to be there tomorrow. I'll continue the break-in of my new hiking boots and see a national park I've been dying to check out. I'll have my 'Where's Nate' tracker map running for safety's sake. I'll also take a bunch of pics and post them. I'm so excited for this trip and so grateful that I can pull it off. Off to big sky country...

-natedog