🌜Camping at Minerva Hinchey Shelter

Mile 1687.8

There is a new shelter here but I arrived kind of late (8:30pm) and didn’t want to disturb people who were already asleep. Apparently the old shelter was pretty rough- I see notes in the map indicating a porcupine was eating the wooden structure😂, among other shortcomings.

Long slow day of hiking with foot/ankle pain, trying to keep it slow and steady after all the mayhem in the mud over the last couple days. This pace afforded me lots of time for photos and I took a nice long lunch at a beautiful pond teeming with salamanders (they were fun to watch).

My pals hiked ahead and have a lead of about 10 miles at this point. I wish I could keep pace but realized that I just needed to take care of myself as a priority.

In my last half hour of hiking I encountered 3 black bears on trail- 2 cubs and mother… I made loud sounds the cubs quickly ran up a tree- mother retreated into the woods making a huffing sound but remained watchful 😬. Eventually the cubs scrambled down and disappeared into the woods and she thankfully followed them. Quite amazing to watch from a distance but I kept and eye on trail behind me all they way to the shelter just in case- they were gone.

13.2 miles of hiking in beautiful weather, finally!Read more