Day 6 — 12 miles
Bearfence Hut to Rock Spring Hut
June 7, 2002

We awoke this morning to a very moist, dense fog over camp. We packed up as quietly as we possibly could. Wingfrog and Spam had come into camp the night before and were still sleeping. We were back on the trail by 6:00 a.m. It had been a very cold night and was a very cold morning.

This morning we are headed 8.5 miles to Big Meadows. When we arrived at the Wayside/Campstore it was still closed. We waited in the cold outside until the store opened. We had hoped to get breakfast at the wayside, but found out when we got there that they didn't serve breakfast.

So, we bought a Gatorade and an ice cream sandwich and stood out front until the ice cream was gone. We then hiked a mile up the road to the campground to do some laundry. My boots were absolutely soaked after trudging along the soggy trail all day. We put on the cleanest clothes we had in our packs and put the rest in the washer. Jeremy took a shower while I waited for the clothes to dry, then weheaded back down to the wayside.

I was wearing my flip-flops, so I wasn't too excited about the mile walk to the wayside. We put out our thumbs and the third person to pass picked us up. He dropped us off and we gave him a dollar for his trouble.

We ate a nice lunch and finally got to sample the elusive blackberry shake. All the stories about it were true, it was worth the wait!

After lunch we tried to hitch a ride up to the lodge. Unfortunately nobody was willing to pick us up this time. It was just over a mile, in flip-flops. Not much fun! When we got to the lodge I went to the front desk and left a message for Jeff Alt. Then we went downstairs to make some phone calls.

Jeremy fell asleep briefly in a comfy chair. After we made all the calls we needed to, we headed down towards the amphitheatre to find some sun and let the boots dry out a little. We lounged around in the sun until about 3:30 when we headed the remaining 3.5 miles to the shelter.

As we walked we passed a group of 6 that were at Big Meadows next to us. We arrived in a short time at the shelter. There was a guy and his 9-year-old daughter already there. They were out on their first backpacking trip together and she was very excited. A long while later the group of 6 arrived at the shelter. They were whooped!

It was their first backpacking trip as well, and they really didn't know what they were doing. They were carrying very heavy equipment, and looked more like a group of car campers than a group of hikers. The single male in the group even asked us where the garbage can was. Was he serious? We're about 4 miles from anything and he thinks there's going to be a garbage can here! Oh boy!

After a brief look through the trail register, it was very easy to decide to tent. The mice were everywhere. There were even stories of mice biting people! We spent another cold night in the tent.