Smile. Be happy. Whatever’s happening … nothing sucks forever
April 26, 2023
AT miles: 13.9
Ascent: 4137’
Descent: 2733’
Weather: rainy and cold (mid-40’s) ~~ just plain miserable
Sightings: lots of raindrops
High points: doing nearly 14 miles with LOTS of up-and-down and a long break to adjust my gear in a little over 7 hours! Occasionally, I impress myself!
I want to give a shout out to my wonderful husband, who has supported my hiking wholeheartedly and has never questioned the cost of my expensive super-light-weight gear. Today the nasty combination of rain and cold definitely required that high-tech gear.
Given the dreadful weather over the next three days — more cold and rain — my four friends from Richmond have decided to head home. I really want to complete this section, so at 7:00 a.m. I left the warm bunkhouse and headed out into the cold damp world.
It misted for the first few miles, the trail was surrounded by pretty mountains laurels.
Then, about 8:00 the skies let loose. The weather forecasts have been for fairly light rain all day, so I was unprepared and wearing the wrong clothing. However, it’s hard to stop in the rain to change, so I hiked as fast as I could to the first shelter — Sassafras Shelter, about 6 miles down the trail. I arrived cold and miserable (but not quite shivering) with numb hands. I put on my rain pants (only hiked in once before), I put on an additional two layers under my raincoat, I put on my alpaca beanie (half the weight of wool, warmer, and more water-resistant), and I even donned my goose down mittens with waterproof outer liners (never worn before). I felt very high tech, much warmer, and ready to face the rain again.
While I was there, three other people arrived suffering from varying degrees of hypothermia. Two of them actually set up their sleeping bags and crawled inside to get
warm. Another dug out his hot hands and was using them to try to get his hands to look less gray, I ended up unbuckling one hiker’s backpack because his hands were too numb. The weather today was nasty!
Armed with my high-tech gear, I actually sort of enjoyed the second half of the day.
I hiked up Chenab Bald (5062’). Supposedly it has great views, but today this is all I saw.
The woods were lovely in a foggy, haunting, ethereal way.
I called the hostel around 1:30 to arrange for a shuttle. Since I was over 3 miles away, I should have given a pick up time of 245, but I absentmindedly said 2:30. I thought about calling to change the time, and then decided that I would try to hustle down the mountain and get to the warm hostel sooner. I succeeded, even stopping on the way to take some pictures of a wildflower I have not seen before — yellow wakerobin! It’s a stunning member of the Trillium family. The yellow petals twist around each other, looking a bit like flames.
I have been hanging out at the Wolf Creek Hostel, eating and talking with John and Ash and random others. I am very thankful to be warm and dry, and I am feeling badly for all the hikers still out in this weather!
Today is a great day for a long walk in the woods!