I slept like a log last night. By the time I was all packed up and ready to leave, even Still Packing was just about ready to hit the road. I waved bye to him but it was raining already so I didn’t want to stop to chat. I gave him a quick “good morning,” gave snoopy a rub on the head and headed off. 

I wore my raincoat today because it’s supposed to rain the better part of the week and I wanted to keep my clothes as dry as possible. But instead of getting my clothes drenched with rain, they ended up dripping with sweat. As I climbed and descended, my shirt got wetter and wetter. 

I’m used to being the fast one out here. Before getting hurt, I was passed maybe 2 or 3 times total. But now that I’m trying to be smarter, I’m taking it slower. But that doesn’t make it feel any better when people fly by you. Still Packing passed, then a group of 2 I didn’t know. Then a third person passed me. I stayed at my pace but silently cursed them all. 

After 7 miles I hit a deli that was supposed to have burgers and resupply options. It had burgers (and apple pie!) but the resupply was pretty barren. While others stocked up on what limited items there were, rocket and I headed outside and stuck out our thumbs.

I’ve never hitch hiked before coming out here. And I don’t see myself doing it when I leave. But there is an excitement that comes when a truck pulls over or someone walks out of a store and offers you a ride that is hard to beat. 

Even though we were dripping wet from rain, we were offered a ride to town by a guy leaving the deli. We tried to shake off as much water as possible before throwing our packs in the trunk and hoping in the car. The driver introduced himself with an incomprehendable name due to his thick drawl and lack of teeth. I introduced myself and hopped in shotgun. I couldn’t understand a word the driver said the whole time so just said “yup,” “no way” and nodded a ton. 

I know we’ve been in the woods too long because once in town, I found myself singing out loud to the songs that played over the grocery store speaker. I only noticed I was doing this, however, when I saw rocket doing the same. We resuplied quickly so we could head back to the woods. Where we belong. 

It took no more than 5 minutes to get a ride back to trail. A man walked by us and preemptively told us he was going the other way so he couldn’t give us a ride. A minute later he pulled a u turn and told us to hop in the bed of the truck. 

The next 2 miles of hiking were all uphill and, after sneaking another meal in at the gas station, were tougher than expected. But we strolled into camp, sopping wet, just before 4. 

While everyone else piled into the shelter, I set up my hammock and got my stuff ready. I then came back to cook dinner (cold ramen) and get a game of rummy going. It was just me, rocket and still packing playing tonight but I still came out on top. Snoopy was so impressed, he fell asleep on boombox, trapping him in the corner of the shelter. 

While there are 8 people crammed into a 6 person shelter, I’m prettty excited to fall asleep in my hammock. 

Key stats:

Miles: 9

Elevation gained: 2,000 ft

Mile marker: 594

Percentage of the day it rained: 100%