"A.T. Hiker gets eaten alive by no-seeums"

I can see the headlines now.

BUGS! I absolutely lost my tolerance today for the gnats, no-seeums,
mosquitos, and those obnoxious stalker flies that endlessly buzz
around your head. I wore myself out swatting at them all with my
bandana...and, come to think of it, impaled myself with my hiking
poles trying to discourage those tiny bastards from making a meal out
of me. I understand the purpose for the bugs. A fitting end.... a meal
for some larger creature in the food chain. But does there have to be
so MANY??? And why do they have to be flesh-eating AND so tenacious?
Anyway, I had a great 22.1 mile hike today up and over "The
Priest" (over 3,000+' elevation drop followed by...shockingly... a
3,000+" elevation gain). Let me tell you, this is not doing anything
for you Catholics. It was truly brutal. However, the trail register at
the priest shelter was hysterical. I have never seen so many
confessions. The highlight of this possibly most brutal day yet on the
A.T. was the Tye river. After that never ending downhill, I plopped my
feet in that cold mountain river and they felt alive once more. I was
hanging out on a rock that formed a little pool that was full of
tadpoles, I mean pollywogs, when I noticed a cluster of them to one
side. They were voraciously attacking something and when I got a
closer look, I saw they were eating another tadpole! Who new those
cute little frog children were canibals!!!

Speaking of wildlife, I had several interesting encounters today. This
morning as I walked along, I nearly stepped on this tiny ball of fuzz
in the middle of the trail. At closer inspection, I see it is a tiny
baby bird probably learning how to fly. I saw mama eyeing me
suspiciously as I watched junior hop around for a few minutes. It was
really cool. Later this afternoon, I see a deer up the trail. As I got
closer, I expected her to run away quickly. She never did. I thought
to myself, "this deer must be deaf!". I am not kidding when I say, I
walked right up to this deer...like 5 feet away and it never ran away.
It mosyed off to the side and just sat there and looked at me. It was
quite an experience.

I am camped next to a noisy creek and it's not just the gurgling
stream making all the noise. There are several barred owls howling at
eachother from what sounds like a tree right over my head. It is, once
again, a jungle out there.

I am camped near three ladies from Indiana that are section hiking.
We had a nice conversation at dinner. It is so nice to see so many
women out on the trail. Go ladies, go!