Start: Unnamed Campsite (AT mi 1670.3). Stop: Minerva Henchy Shelter (AT mi 1683.7). Today’s miles: 13.4 miles. Total AT mileage: 659 miles
Oh what a night. My tent started leaking because of the condensation at some point. Sadly, it was dripping on my face and coming up through the floor.. and I had to get out to pee-so that only made it worse. Suddenly, when a drop splashed my face for the billionth time, I remembered my umbrella! I pulled it out, opened it, and propped it up over my head. It worked beautifully to keep from my shoulder up dry the rest of the night.
Somehow, my sleeping quilt got damp but never soaked. I was so surprised and even more thankful. When my watch went off at 6:30, it was still pouring-so I turned it off and rolled the other way. I did this several times: wake up, decide not now, and fall back to sleep. From a laying position I could see the bottom FarOut and Sauce’s tent.. and looking the other way, I could see another couple’s tent that showed up sometime after I got inside mine last night.. just down the hill a little ways. None of these folks were up yet, so my reasoning was-why should I be?
Finally, at sometime after 7:30 I think, I had to pee-so it was time to get to packing before everything I owned was drenched. My air pad and sleeping bag liner were wet, so they didn’t get packed into the compactor bag I keep my “dry important stuff” like they normally do. I put my quilt, clothes, electronics and toiletry ditty bags in the compactor bag, compressed them down, then the pad and liner went in, then the wet food bag went on top. When my tent is wet, it and the ground cloth get stuffed in an outside pocket or get strapped to the outside somewhere. When they’re dry, they go under the food bag. Today-they were utterly soaked.
After packing, eating, and using the bathroom, I headed out. Sauce and FarOut had just gotten up, so I made sure I knew how far they planned to go before I left. For the next day or so we’ll be hiking to the same places, which I love.. nothing beats getting to camp and seeing friends, speaking of-I really miss the rest of the tramily, too. After the weekend, I’ll have to keep hiking with no zeros planned until I get to Lincoln, New Hampshire, which is where Andrea will start the whites with me. I have to manage an average of just under 14 miles a day to get there in time, which I’m pretty sure I have it worked out.. as long as nothing unforeseen happens.
Anyway, it poured almost all day. I took very few pictures because my phone was put away. I ate a snack at a shelter by a big gorgeous pond. I did end up getting one picture there before hiding my phone away. It was absolutely gorgeous, and I was sad that it was cool and rainy and I couldn’t swim.
I slipped and slid all up and down the trail today. It was mud puddle after mud puddle pretty much all day long. I fell to my butt twice, although I didn’t hurt anything, and I slid and came close to falling more times than I could count. I ate lunch at a shelter off trail a bit farther than anticipated with Sauce, FarOut, and a guy doing a section hike. I don’t know that I ever learned his name. He’s a school teacher and out for a breather since school just finished.
We went the last 5 miles to camp, and I set up my wet tent, praying it would dry out enough to not literally soak my body when I got in. Shockingly, since arriving at camp, the rain has stopped and the wind has picked up. I left the vestibules open and went to get water. We all ate dinner at the shelter, SectionHiker started us a fire to enjoy.. it’s pretty chilly tonight. None of us have service, so we don’t know how chilly LOL. The couple that camped near me last night are here, Spotts and SnapShot. We ate dinner with them, and while standing around the fire, DoubleDecker and Smiles appeared! I haven’t seen them in a long time, so it was nice to catch up.
There are other people camping here tonight too, a guy we met at the RPH shelter in NY is here, a couple I passed earlier today and a lady that came into the shelter we ate lunch at all made it here, too. It’s a big crowd, but we’re all spread out nicely, so it’s wonderful.
After hanging out at the fire until close to 8pm, I slowly walked back to my tent to see what I was working with. To my complete dismay, the tent was *mostly* dry!! Not perfect, by far, but my body should be able to remain dry in it tonight. As a precaution, I went ahead and set up the umbrella, just in case the sky falls out again and it starts dripping in. I’m so so so hoping it doesn’t happen.
As I’m sitting here typing this, the wind is wiping through here and making things creek. Like branches of trees and things. It’s pretty creepy really, to think about a wet tree falling. I’m thinking it’s time to put my ear plugs in and sleep away my scary thoughts until morning, when I can see outside my tent again. Normally I like not being right on top of people, but now that I’m in a space all to myself, it’s got me creeped out for sure.
Sleep well, y’all. Hopefully I’ll have service tomorrow and I can upload yesterday and today’s posts. There are ever only 3 reasons a post of mine didn’t come out the following day-low battery, no service, or bad weather. Yesterday and today have been the last 2 combined! Haha, only so much I can do with that. I hope y’all understand 🙂 Sweet Dreams!