People started stirring in the shelter early. I think it was 5:30a when the first person got up. Then a group below us started shortly after him. You could hear the rain and wind outside. I was glad to be cozy and warm in the shelter. I expect this shelter is the exception for how comfortable it is. Warthog and I finally committed to moving at 7:45a. I can’t imagine I could have negotiated for any more time. He was getting antsy.
We really should have taken a zero today. I was listening to the wind in the trees and knowing the forecast, I was not excited. Being that we were only day two back on the trail, it seemed premature to stay. So we pushed on. All in all we made our miles (15.5 in total), but the first five were horrendous. To start, we were in the woods so the wind was cut down. However, we quickly moved out onto balds (hills/mountains where trees don’t grow) and there was nothing to protect us from the wind. I thought, “these must be at least 40 mph winds!” Later, Warthog said he thought they were 50-70 mph, with gusts at the high end. It was blowing so hard, the rain felt like hail as it whipped into our faces and onto our bodies – even with full rain gear on it hurt. We would regularly get pushed off of the trail. One guy ahead of us was even knocked over from it. We had to lean in and plant our feet, using the walking sticks as anchors to keep us from making negative progress. A couple of times we huddled behind rocks or went just down the hill from the top for a break. Unfortunately, we had to stay hiking at the top so we could follow the trail. We kept hoping to push over a ridge and be at the end of the balds, but they kept going. It took an incredible amount of energy to hike over those. By the end of the five miles, we were already done for the day. Our whole bodies exhausted from the fight. It was stupid and dangerous to be out when we were. I was just glad there wasn’t any thunder or lightning accompanying the rain.
After a couple more miles, we had a quick, miserable lunch at the side of the road and then pressed on. Fresh fallen trees covered the trail making things more acrobatic. It stayed rainy and grey for most of the day but finally cleared up around 4p. Just in time to walk through a meadow with a gorgeous magnolia tree. It was so big, at first I thought it was an oak. I was absolutely amazed when I realized what it was.
Just a couple of miles out from our campsite was a waterfall. We stopped for a break and photos. Our campsite for the night is in another meadow right near a river. At the site were several butterflies drying out their wings from the rain. As we ate dinner, we watched a mallard surfing the river. He went swiftly by on the current, wings tucked, making no adjustments to his direction. He acted like “Ain’t nothing going on here… just making my way down the river.” For some reason both Warthog and I thought it was the funniest thing. Maybe we’ve been in the backwoods for too long.
After dinner I was absolutely shot. I climbed into the tent and was done for the night, my body exhausted from battling the weather. The mesh and canvas of the tent feeling like a luxury and the three inches of sleeping pad allowing my body to start resetting.
– ansel