The pitter patter of rain drops on my rain fly last night was the perfect white noise. I slept like a baby. In the morning, I heard McKay calling to ask if I was awake. “no,” I grunted back and rolled over and went back to sleep.

An hour or so later, the rain had slowed to somewhere between a drizzle and mist. I found myself vertical and out of my hammock. I ate a honey bun I had bought in town for old times sake and then we headed out.

The hike itself was wet but pretty uneventful. It drizzled the whole time but I figured it was better to keep my raincoat off and be wet from rain rather than from sweat. So we ascended and descended through the fog and raindrops, conversation more muted than usual. 

We made it into camp and I immediately changed into dry clothes, cooked a hot meal (instant mashed potatoes and spam – it tastes like it sounds) and got into my sleeping bag for a nap. 

By the time I woke up, Mosey (a 27 year old who had been traveling the country and living out of a van with her boyfriend) and Cosmo (another 27 year old, but who was a former Art mover from Japan but living in Brooklyn) had shown up. 

The rest of the day was spent huddled in the shelter with the rain coming down around us, letting conversation flow where it had to. Cosmo telling us about some of the craziness of the NYC fine art scene, mosey telling us about how her boyfriend was still vanning around the country, McKay talking about a 3 month outdoors camp he’d gone to. 

When another guy rolled in with a ukelele, the night got even better. He blasted out karaoke songs and we sang along to the ukelele versions of John Denver, The Avett Brothers, and even an unhinged version of Greenday’s dookie.

We all agreed to a day off in the shelter tomorrow. The storms supposed to get worse and no one wants to get soaked. 

Despite the storm pounding down on the tin roof of the shelter, we were all in a great mood as we rolled out are sleeping bags in the shelter. We stayed up chatting until deep in the middle of the night – At least 9:30. 

Key stats:

Miles: 8

Elevation gained: 2,000 feet 

Songs played on a ukelele that definitely shouldn’t have been payed on a ukelele: at least 7