Many know that I have been doing much of my hiking with Fire Fly these past 1,000 miles or so. As the ranks thin out there are fewer and fewer "mature" thru-hikers that seem to match our pace. On the upside, it's great to have company and she is well-versed in CPR - a good thing for this old 58 year old man. On the downside, she happens to be convinced that she has a guardian angel looking out after her.
It seems as though this has been true. I am constantly hearing of "bad boy" animal sightings like bears, rattlesnakes, copperheads, etc., but I have yet had the pleasure of experiencing these beasts in person. On numerous occassions we will bump into a hiker who will say, "did you just see the huge bear down the path?", or, "did you step on that rattler also?" Nope. The only thing I can admit to is seeing a bunch of "girly-girly" beasties such as a baby bear, a baby bunny ready to eat food out of our hand, cute little sunfish coming up to us to nibble on our fingers, a deer approaching us like she wants to be petted, etc., etc.
Bird told me that if I didn't see a bear before New Jersey, I would be sure to see at least one in this fine state. Not so...not one. Sherpa, who was within one-half mile of us on his hike, came across a huge black bear in the field and got some great pictures to prove it.
On the good news front, Fire Fly and I were hiking with Helmet the other day when her guardian angel must have let her guard down because we came across a den of four copperhead snakes (thanks to a previous hiker placing a sign on the trail, noting, "snakes this way"). So not all is lost. Perhaps I need to find myself a "guardian devil" so I can see some of the cool stuff on the trail:)
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