Well, we made it! Danny gave the full low down, lots of pics, and his experience on his blog - dannyhoerman.blogspot.com.
What he didnt tell you was how he practically had to drag me down the trail at some points, it was quite a physical push for me. The bear and the river were no big thing to him but seriously, waist deep swift moving water, Andrew falling back on me, Danny pushing me forward, me squeezed between the two while trying to keep up with Andrews big steps and trying not to fall and be buried under the Teklanika, I thought we were goners.
And the bear? Andrew hears the bear and what does Danny do? Take out his bear spray and walks forward to check it out. He sees the bear sit up and as I am crappying my pants he slowly backs up, calmly shouting at the bear and yelling to me that it would be fine. At the risk of sounding cliche and a bit extreme I felt like I was watching him make the spiritual quest he had been looking forward to for so long and I got to ride on his coattails and enjoy the spice of the adventure!
10 blisters later on my feet and hands (word to the wise: if a rock has just been pulled out of the fire, it is not a good idea to try and pick it up) I feel like I can add my name to the crowd of hippies and vagabonds who have made their way down the loooooooooong trail to the bus.
