Day 28 - 3/29

Daily mileage: 18.9
Total trail mileage: 323.0
Starting location: Flint Mountain Shelter
Ending location: Bald Mountain Shelter
Weather: Cloudy all day. Raining in the morning, on and off raining
in the late morning to early afternoon, raining and sleet in the late
afternoon. 35-45 degrees during the day

I am at
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=35.952909,+-82.561125

The sun did not come out today like it was supposed to. I got a late
start because it was raining when I woke up, and I was hoping it would
stop. It didn't. So, I got started in the rain. Eventually it died
down a bit and came and went every now and then.

My plan was to stop at Low Gap if the weather stayed bad and continue
on to Big Bald if the rain stopped. Well, the rain just got more
persistent as the day went on. But, I unfortunately didn't notice Low
Gap, so I arrived at the top of Big Bald with the temperature getting
colder, a mix of sleet and hail coming down, soaked, and windy. I
started to set up my tarp as a bivy (original plan), but that effort
didn't last long as I realized how stupid that was. I haven't
actually set it up as a bivy for a night in nice weather, so trying to
do it in the wet, cold, and wind was a futile effort. As I was
packing it back up and concerned about hypothermia, Mellow Yellow
showed up. He also missed Low Gap. So, we both decided that our best
bet would be to continue to the shelter in the failing light.

We got here and while I can't say all my stuff is dry, my sleeping
bag, sleep clothes, and I am at least dry. I'll sort everything else
out tomorrow. The good thing is that I don't have far to go tomorrow,
so hopefully the sun comes out as I plan to get a late start.

The views from Big Bald are supposed to be pretty good. If the clouds
clear, I might hike back up without my pack just to check it out.
We'll see what the morning brings.