Six year southbound hiker

On my way up the mountains after leaving Pearisburg Virginia I met an amazing southbound hiker.  We got to talking and I found out that the last time he saw his friends and family was six years ago at a lake in Maine.  I asked the obvious question, "Why so long?"  He told me that he won't return home until he's done and they aren't accustomed to traveling long distances.

He seemed sad and looked a little green when talking about his friends and family so I tried steering the conversation in another direction.  I noticed he was traveling light and therefore wondered if he was working on and off as he hiked.  He told me that he doesn't, but he's been taking his time and living off the land.  I was impressed... I haven't bumped into anyone like that yet.  Supposedly he eats whatever nature provides and drinks his water straight from the streams unfiltered.  A true outdoors man in my book.

One thing I did notice is that he had a very unique shelter.  He told me he made it himself and that it was completely weather proof.  He said he was very protective of it because he made it himself, and it was about the only piece of gear he had.  A few times he's had to snap at people to keep them away from it.

The topic eventually switched to bears.  I told him that I'd only seen a small cub and never really had an issue.  He told me a huge bear came into his camp at night.  He supposedly tried to hide in his shelter but the bear flipped it over with him inside it.  However, the bear left him alone after that and both him and his shelter were unharmed.  That's definitely the craziest bear encounter I've heard yet out here.

We talked about food for a while but his appetite I found kind of disgusting.  I asked if he ever went into town for some good o'l American food?  He said, "No. Never."  He mentioned that he finds crossing the street way to dangerous and that people treat him differently than everyone else.  I didn't want to dig into that one.

Before I hiked on I asked what his trail name was.  He said, "Michelangelo!"  Interesting name, so I asked him how he got that one.  He said, "We'll my favorite movie growing up was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Michelangelo was his favorite... plus I am pretty smart for having such a small head."  I laughed at that and then wished him a good safe hike.

Below is a picture of what Michelangelo looked like... pretty rugged dude if you ask me.