Day 70 July 15, 2011 Pointe au Baril to French River 51km
15 Jul
Black bears and abandoned towns
I know it’s summer and all, but the heat is incredible these days. At least today wasn’t as humid as the previous few days, but I should really be getting up earlier to beat the heat.
After running for only about 8km I came across a black bear, my first since just outside of Moncton. The bear took off as soon as it saw me but it did so as I was crossing a bridge and so I was able to watch it run down the embankment and then saunter away. It was pretty cool. I carried the bear spray after that though.
My feet are starting to hurt again. I’m getting more blisters and they are pretty much relentless. I decided to try the new shoes that Mizuno had given me. They are the same as the ones I’ve been running on, only they don’t have 800km on them. It was incredible the difference between the two. When I put the new pair on, I did notice that they seemed to have a bit more cushion in them, but I didn’t think it was that pronounced. But when I switched back in the middle of the day to my old shoes, it felt like I was running in slippers. I could feel everything on the road. My left foot especially feels way better in the new pair. I don’t think I’ll be wearing my old ones again anytime soon.
I passed through the small town of Still River during lunch. It looked like a town out of a horror movie. All of the buildings I passed were abandoned and run down with weeds growing up all around them. It was quite eerie. I’ve included some photos below of a motel I walked by where all the doors where open but the furniture was all still inside.
I saw my second bear of the day while I was doing my cool down walk, though unfortunately it was road-kill by the side of the road. As I walked by it a woman pulled up in her car, got out, and then in a rather accusatory tone asked me “Did you hit the cub?” Did I hit the cub? I looked around to see if Mike and the RV were near me but they weren’t. I wasn’t sure how she thought I hit it seeing as I was clearly running. It was a bit odd. I’m pretty sure she put the cub in the back of her car and drove off with it because when we drove by 5 minutes later after I had finished cooling down it was gone. Do people eat bears?
We then drove back to Pointe au Baril and met up with the Grants and Grampy and took the boat out to their beautiful rustic cabin. After a huge pasta and sausage dinner I quickly fell asleep.
Tomorrow I have my first day off during this trip where I don’t have research, media or other jobs to do. Can’t wait!!!
I know it’s summer and all, but the heat is incredible these days. At least today wasn’t as humid as the previous few days, but I should really be getting up earlier to beat the heat.
After running for only about 8km I came across a black bear, my first since just outside of Moncton. The bear took off as soon as it saw me but it did so as I was crossing a bridge and so I was able to watch it run down the embankment and then saunter away. It was pretty cool. I carried the bear spray after that though.
My feet are starting to hurt again. I’m getting more blisters and they are pretty much relentless. I decided to try the new shoes that Mizuno had given me. They are the same as the ones I’ve been running on, only they don’t have 800km on them. It was incredible the difference between the two. When I put the new pair on, I did notice that they seemed to have a bit more cushion in them, but I didn’t think it was that pronounced. But when I switched back in the middle of the day to my old shoes, it felt like I was running in slippers. I could feel everything on the road. My left foot especially feels way better in the new pair. I don’t think I’ll be wearing my old ones again anytime soon.
I passed through the small town of Still River during lunch. It looked like a town out of a horror movie. All of the buildings I passed were abandoned and run down with weeds growing up all around them. It was quite eerie. I’ve included some photos below of a motel I walked by where all the doors where open but the furniture was all still inside.
I saw my second bear of the day while I was doing my cool down walk, though unfortunately it was road-kill by the side of the road. As I walked by it a woman pulled up in her car, got out, and then in a rather accusatory tone asked me “Did you hit the cub?” Did I hit the cub? I looked around to see if Mike and the RV were near me but they weren’t. I wasn’t sure how she thought I hit it seeing as I was clearly running. It was a bit odd. I’m pretty sure she put the cub in the back of her car and drove off with it because when we drove by 5 minutes later after I had finished cooling down it was gone. Do people eat bears?
We then drove back to Pointe au Baril and met up with the Grants and Grampy and took the boat out to their beautiful rustic cabin. After a huge pasta and sausage dinner I quickly fell asleep.
Tomorrow I have my first day off during this trip where I don’t have research, media or other jobs to do. Can’t wait!!!
