Day Eleven

I put the final touches on the trail today. I spent most of my time blazing the trail. I used yellow diamonds as patterns so they would not interfere with any other trails. I have seen blue squares in other places so I made sure to use a different color. Although they are clearly visible, the blazes are not fluorescent. I did not want them to be too bright as I was afraid they would take away from the trail.

This weekend I am planning to fix one of my signs as it is misspelled. I will most likely hike this one up before Monday to mount it, along with the others which are stashed in the woods for the time being. I had tools stashed in the woods for the past two weeks which I took down today. There were more than I anticipated but I was able to get all of them in one trip.

Everything is starting to wrap up and I plan to start the writing process soon. It is my understanding that I will need to present my project at some point as well as pass in a write up. I will have Monday and Tuesday to complete the presentation after starting this weekend.

I had my second bear encounter today. I was hiking up and stopped for for a second near a stream. I heard what I thought to be footsteps nearby and yelled hello. To my surprise the steps stopped and there was silence. I yelled louder and heard a bear lumber off into the woods. I could not really see it well as I was in a thick leafy section of woods. I could sort of make out the outline but I could tell from the sound that it was big. I could hear sticks breaking as it walked unlike smaller animals. It was really strange as I thought it was someone hiking at first. I did not know it was a bear until it turned and headed the other way. It was not that far from the first one that I saw so I am wondering if it was the same one.

My weekly reflection will summarize the week and I will post that over the weekend. If you want to go for a hike this weekend, head up to the Bulkhead and then follow the yellow blazes across to Balancing Rock. Let me know what you think!