Start: 542.1
Stop: 564.4
Today’s Miles: 22.3
Total CDT miles: 428.8
It rained off and on all night, but never heavy. Which means I slept like a baby. This morning was the first time I had to pack everything up, inside my tent, and then pack my tent up wet. This felt like an every day thing on the AT, and here we are almost a month in before having to do it here. Wild.
We got packed and started hiking, me in my rain jacket. I somehow got ahead of Pebbles, because I got to the water source first, a big cow pond overflowing. There was absolutely no way to keep our feet dry, but I was more afraid of face planting into the pond than anything. I waited for Pebbles and he was kind enough to fill up my CNOC bag for me, since he could reach way farther than I ever could.
We filtered water and then kept walking. Sometime mid morning the rain left us and the jacket got hot, so I stopped to take it off. Also, the terrain turned into a lush valley of all the shades of green, and so many Aspen trees. It was truly beautiful, I think the damp soil and wet leaves had something to do with the magic. Whatever it was, I was grateful for the change in scenery. I’d pick green grasses and trees all day over the cactus, dirt, and scrub brush of the desert.
We made it to a water cache, and as I’m telling Pebbles about thinking of taking a break, he just points to the sky and says, “well, I’m going to keep going..” hmmmm. I looked up. The most angry clouds I’ve seen in a LONG time were heading our way. So much for my break! I packed up and kept walking, the whole time having a feeling of being chased. We were in a big open area for quite a while, Pebbles all but running to the trees ahead.
The sky dropped out just before I made it to the tree line. Pebbles had his pack off and was squatting down in a “lightening position.” Hell. I hadn’t even noticed the lightening yet. I took my pack off and walked to the edge of the trees. It was dumping buckets of rain, and even started to hail. I was glad to be under the tree cover, but annoyed that it was so short because less than 100 yards up, the trees were gone and the trail was very exposed again.
After hunkering down to wait out the storm for about 15 minutes, I started to make the comment that I hadn’t seen lightening in a little while.. when a fresh strike crashed across the sky. Just kidding. I’ll keep waiting! When it finally passed, I was glad to be moving again, because it got cold in the rain and with all the waiting around. The most irritating part: the dirt road that was the trail practically turned into peanut butter. We were slipping and sliding, and huge blocks of mud were getting stuck to our feet.
It seemed to take a million years to get to where we wanted to camp. My legs are worn out, with all the fighting with the mud. Im shocked I didn’t slip and fall, honestly. Now that I’ve typed that, I’m definitely going to fall tomorrow. Ha. We eventually settled on a semi flat area off the trail and into some woods. Once we set up our tents, it started to sprinkle, we could see storm clouds coming our way, but they held off dumping rain on us long enough to let us eat dinner. Pebbles came over to my tent to share some of the avocado he packed out. I don’t know why an avocado in the middle of the woods is the best thing on earth, but it is. Especially in a bean burrito with cheese!
It’s kind of cold, with the rain clouds covering the sun all day and being a little damp. I guess I’ll try to warm up and get some sleep! Until tomorrow, friends! Good night!