The 4000 Challenge 8-10-13

Mike has had an interesting and adrenaline pumped week.  First off, he's charging up the mountains and has hit his goal of reaching a few more 4000 ft. peaks.  I am in awe of Mike and Brooke and their sheer determination.   Check out the views behind him!  Here he is atop Mount Osceola...

 And here he is on South Hancock in Maine.  Check out that smile on Mike's face - he lights up the mountaintop!

 

He also had a close encounter of the scary kind with a black bear.  Mike said "I woke up at 4:30 this morning to the sound of one of the tents being torn to shreds. Brooke peeked out and said "it's a bear!" I came out of the tent and found myself face to face with the biggest black bear I had ever seen. I climbed up on top of the car and yelled at it, and it began to come toward me. I stayed put and braced for impact but it turned around abruptly and took off back into the woods.  Our tent is toast!"

Mike went on to say, " The campground required us to store food in the car so we've been putting it in the trunk. But there were a ton of other campers who cooked meals and left food on their picnic tables and then went into their RV's to sleep for the night. Brooke was not in the tent that was attacked, as that was the tent we used to store our extra clothes and gear. It was about three feet from our tent, and when Brooke looked out and said it was a bear I figured I better try to get it to go away so I went outside to face it. To be honest I was a bit apprehensive when I got in front of it as I had been around plenty of black bears but never one that size. I thought getting on top of the car would make me look bigger, but when the bear came at me anyways I thought there would be a fight until it surprised me by turning around. My adrenaline was really going!"

Thank goodness Mike and Brooke are ok and survived the encounter with no physical harm.  Being the tough hikers that they are, they continued on their journey and later crested Cannon Mountain....

Keep it up Mike and Brooke!!  I can't wait to hear what the next week brings.

Check out more updates on FB on Unite4kids and Hike4kids.