There is no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather
~John Ruskin
AT miles: 13.0
Ascent: 1782’
Descent: 1583’
Weather: warm and very rainy
Sightings: 2 frogs, a red eft, and a chipmunk
High points: walking in the pouring rain singing “Just singin’ in the rain”
After the best night’s sleep I’ve ever had on trail, I woke up ready to roll. Like yesterday, today’s walk was fairly easy — the trail was mostly wide and smooth, with only a few short steep sections.
The entire AT is known as the green tunnel, but today I saw the clearest example of “a green tunnel” ever. This was straight out of a fairy tale.
We walked through Caledonia State Park, where we enjoyed some civilized amenities. Washing my hands in a sink was an unexpected luxury. The trail was so nice!
We then had a short steep ascent onto a long ridge where we found another cute decorated shelter — Quarry Gap Shelter. It had potted flowers everywhere, multiple benches, and a porch swing! Very cool! I love finding benches on the trail, so this flowery bench made me very happy!
We pressed on, and the skies, which had been ominous all day, let loose. It torrented, with occasional booms of thunder. Thankfully the lightning stayed far away.
A gorgeous toad came out to enjoy the water.
We splashed along the trail. Eventually we found a private cabin that was locked, but we enjoyed sheltering from the rain on the porch, sharing our dry space with a man and his homeschooled son and a guy named Jonathan. Amusingly, they were all at our shelter last night and are at our shelter again tonight!
After two hours the sun came out and we arrived at the shelter in the sunshine. We’ve been hanging out here, talking and sharing stories.
Today is a great day for a long walk in the woods!