What a yucky day. No fun at all. The showers and rain poured all day, amid cold wind. In several places the trail was a fast creek for a mile at a time so the feet were soaked.
More seriously, my rain gear failed. I quickly noticed the rain coat leaking so pulled off my warm shirts to keep them from getting any wetter.
I walked wet all day and was too cold to stop unless I pitched the tent or found a shelter. I ate all of the day's snacks in morning, deferring lunch to Roan High Knob Shelter. But at 6194 feet, it was too cold to stop - there were even two little snow patches. I pushed on without lunch, but all my heat was from my internal furnace and I needed to give it fuel.
At the next road crossing, the local Baptist Church had set up a covered tent and were feeding hikers. Two giant cups of tomato soup and some brownies provided the fuel I needed, and I could eat under cover.
I was ready to call it a day. Just get to the next shelter. I reached it only to find it open to the blowing rain and the entire floor wet. I had to keep moving. Today was becoming a test of will and cold. I would have taken any dry spot. I finally reached a nice shelter (a converted barn) at 7pm. Perhaps ten hikers were there but they were all already in their sleeping bags and silent, with just a small headlamp here and there. It looks like other hikers may have had as good of a day as I did. Or maybe they got out of the rain much earlier and just went to bed.
Unfortunately I had serious gear problems.
- My rain gloves failed, so they and the warm liner gloves are soaked.
- My rain coat failed so my warm shirt is damp, and the t-shirt wet.
- My rain pants failed, so my hiking pants wet.
What do I have that is dry? My sleeping bag, warm socks and wool hat. Hmm, not a great situation.
I shed the wet stuff, put on the dry socks and hat and the damp warm shirt and get into sleeping bag. The shivers trigger my jumpy legs so I probably looked rather comical. Slowly my body warmed up, but the soaked feet and hands took forever to even dry out. During the night each time the clothes are dry and I get warm, I pull something else damp into sleeping bag. A misty fog settled in so the pants and t-shirt got even wetter waiting for their turn (I hadn't thought to cover them up). The sleeping bag top is wet too but the down is dry, and the moisture from the drying clothes escapes.
I'm going to have to re-evaluate my rain gear. I carry an emergency poncho (those $1 specials) and used it successfully on my two western hikes, but the Appalachian Trail is wetter. Maybe I'll use it over the other rain gear.
19.5 miserable miles
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