Rain - Aug 9

Photo: the trail today

The forecast was 40% chance of thunderstorms last night and 60% chance of thunderstorms today.

It started raining yesterday in the early evening and poured all night. Black Brook was up 18 inches, flooding over the boulders I hopped across yesterday.  It was still raining hard at 7am this morning and finally stopped at 9am. 

We chat with some southbounders who hiked in last night. They report that the trail was a running creek and their descent down Old Blue Mountain was pretty dodgy. The last two hikers were going so carefully they finished an hour after dark. That's a tough day.

I think about whether to zero today but I do not have any pad left in the schedule. I'd rather hike in warm rain now than cold rain in Nova Scotia. I don't have a cell signal for an updated forecast or radar.

The topo map shows a very steep climb up and over Old Blue Mountain and a fording of Bemis Stream at the end of the day. Those seem to be the only hazards in such rain. 

As I set out, a trail sign warns that this is a difficult section in bad weather, mentioning the two hazards I spotted plus an exposed walk along Bemis Ridge.

There is one set of footprints already this morning, so someone is ahead of me. Then I pick up a second set of tracks, southbound. I'm not the only crazy one out here. It turns out that both tracks are the same person.  He took a break and then stood up and walked the wrong way for a mile. 

The climb up Old Blue involves some mountaineering again, but I'm getting used to that. I'm even starting to enjoy it. 

The trail is a fast running creek two inches deep with pools of six inches or more. The attached picture is the trail!  I pick my way carefully to keep my shoes dry'ish for a while but after an hour or two I just slosh through.

I start meeting southbounders. Some stayed in a shelter halfway up and others started at the road that is my destination and report that the creek is high but passable.

One group is twelve boys from Quebec. They are from the same camp as the twelve girls I saw yesterday. Most of them seem in good spirits despite the rain. I love seeing youth outdoors. Nature is such a good teacher. 

I run into another hiker, Freak, who has heard of my trek. He is very excited to run into me after hearing stories about me from other hikers. I'm still not used to running into people who know me by reputation, and it always feels awkward. My hike might be longer than others but I'm just another hiker, and a fairly slow one at that. 

I do reach a big milestone today. I have trekked 3,000 miles so far. I planned to write a little celebratory more in the hiker registry at the Bemis Mountain Shelter, but forgot about that when I walked past. 

The ridge walk again is a mix of sup-alpine and boreal forest. The rain clouds block any views but it seems like a pretty stretch. In any event there are lots of low bush blueberries that I munch on. 

The rain gets lighter throughout the day, ending as a more of a steady mist than rain. I wade across Bemis Creek and climb Spruce Mountain to meet Spirit at Highway 17.

13 miles.