Total trail mileage: 333.6
Starting location: Bald Mountain Shelter
Ending location: No Business Knob Shelter
Weather: Cloudy and raining in the morning, clear and sunny in the
afternoon. 35-50 degrees during the day
I am at
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=36.023034,+-82.428611
This morning was the worst experience on the trail so far. I woke up
and it was still raining, so I decided to stay in my sleeping bag in
the shelter for a while. Staying in the sleeping bag and reading
wasn't bad, but eventually I needed to get up and start hiking. And,
the rain and clouds didn't clear off like I expected. So, around 1pm
I had to put on the wet and cold clothes.
For those of you who are at home and can't quite picture it, think
about setting out your clothes for the next day (including shoes and
everything), put them in the bathtub, and then throw them into the
refridgerator over night. Then, in the morning put them on and go
outside. That approximates what I have to do on some days. Today was
especially worse. And, it is my least favorite part about backpacking.
As soon as I started hiking though, the clothes that I was wearing
started to dry out and then the sun came out. The rest of the day was
actually pretty good (other than the sections that still have 6-12
inches of snow).
I only had a little over 10 miles to do, and the terrain was pretty
easy, so I made good time. I got to the shelter (and set up my
hammock) along with Camp Chair, Mellow Yellow, Andre, Mouse, Grandma,
Butter, Phineus, Dethmarch, and Sugarbush (and thrir dog Cole). We
got a fire going for a good part of the evening. Most of us are
heading into town tomorrow and only have about 6 miles to go.
In my opinion, the worse possible weather conditions for hiking are
mid 30s to low 40s, raining, and windy. Any colder and the
precipitation is usually snow which is much easier to stay dry in.
Any warmer and the rain doesn't make you cold as much. Well, the past
couple of days were pretty close to my text book worst weather.
Hopefully it stays clear for a few days.
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