June 1 - Big Meadows Campground

From PJ:

[Those videos] are from yesterday. Saw one more big one after that. Although that could have been a squatch.

Snail

From PJ:

Only wildlife today so far.

He looks like he outgrew his home

Another Bear Sighting

This one was pretty big. We scoped each other out, and then he ran off.

Dude Crew

We are in bear country for real. Patriot and I just set up camp in a very popular area - Big Meadows Campground. Technically we are not on the campground because it costs 20 bucks, so we just set up on the other side of the road in the woods a bit. We got camp set up and were just hanging out when I saw a black bear about 10 yards away. Just casually walking towards us. He walked off when I yelled at him, but I figured he wanted to check out the dumpsters about 200 yards behind us.

There are also tons of deer around here that could care less about humans. The Shenandoahs are awesome because it is a really touristy area, so every 20 miles or so there is a wayside (restaurant) or camp store. I sold out today and did laundry and took a hot shower. It was glorious.The showers were actually really nice, I came out feeling like a new person.

Also the terrain and elevation are really easy. I was able to get in 20 miles today by 4 o'clock, then eat, shower, do laundry, charge my anker and phone before bed.