Climbed up Blood Mountain yesterday which offered outstanding views and upon which sits one of the oldest trail shelters on the AT.  The climb down was rocky and beautiful, though brutal for Stew, who still has a troubled knee.  At least the descent brought us to Mountain Crossings, a wonderful one- stop shop for thru- hikers, offering food, supplies, showers, laundry... and even a bed for the night if you need it.  We resupplied and then set off up the trail again- Stew sporting a new knee brace that we were hoping would ease his pain. We caught a second wind, although the day was getting late, and sped down the trail.  We made camp at a nice spot near a large fire ring, although we were totally alone. We hastily hung our bear bags, eager to get to bed.  However, at 11:30pm we awoke to large crashings and movements close to our tent.  It was so heavy and loud, we knew it had to be a bear! Sure enough, we heard our bags get ripped off the branches. In fact, the noises didn't subside until 4:30am.  We were too terrified to glance out at it,  though the claw marks on the tree in the morning showed it was quite light.  ALL of our food was eaten, including a bottle of olive oil and my toothbrush with toothpaste!  We picked up    all the garbage and it led us to a " bed" of food wrappers on which the bear slept- we could see the imprint of it's body! Needless to say, we learned our lesson about appropriately hanging our food.  We hiked the four miles back down to Mountain Crossings, and now $90 lighter, we're getting ready to set off again.  What a night!  

Here's a pic of the garbage we picked up and the toothmarks in my vitamin bottle: