Monday, June 15 6:57 pm 15.7 mi
AT 612.0 Stealth Site → AT 627.7 Doc’s Knob Shelter
Weather: Steady rain overnight and most of the day today
Trail Conditions: Had a lovely time swimming today. Spent most of the day walking through waterfalls making their way up or down the trail, or wading through an inch or more (above my knees!) of standing or very quickly moving water. Water sources were abundant and flowing well, to say the least!
My Condition: Noticed the cold and wet today more than ankle or foot pain. The ankle pain is still present and I can feel the ankle groan and creak at the end of the day, but I don’t feel hindered by it or constantly hurting like it was at first.
Not a ton of miles today, but I really had to earn each and every one today! Broke camp late trying to wait out the rain, but eventually let Mother Nature take the victory and took down my tent in the rain. Opted to pass by Dismal Falls after seeing the trail had already become a stream, and quickly saw I probably made the right choice as what was supposed to be a meek, meandering stream flowed by in powerful, white capped waves and rapids. Large sections where you’d normally find beaches and banks were completely underwater, making for large, knee deep traverses through some rather chilly water. On the bright side, I was able to do 15.7 miles WHILE icing my foot/ankle! My rain gear held up to today’s test and although I was damp underneath, I wasn’t soaked like a dog the way I’d been with my previous set up. Passed up the Wood’s Hole hostel, thought about continuing onward but this shelter has a beautiful deck and I have the whole place all to myself, out of the rain! Didn’t see any other hikers today, but I was watching my step more than the water rushing by. Could’ve taken the Ribble Trail bypass from AT 616.1-AT 623.7, cutting off a lot of miles and water wading, but I’m here to hike the AT, and character is who you are when no one’s watching.
Post Trail Analysis
One of the wettest days on trail. My trekking poles came in quite handy during some of the deeper water crossings, making sure I wasn’t about to fall into a sinkhole weighed down by my soggy pack. Some days, you are able to keep your feet dry by weaving around and hopping over wet spots on the trail. Today was not one of those days, and I VERY quickly abandoned my attempts to keep my feet dry. Very proud of myself for not blue blazing today – I knew there was a popular hostel, I knew I could get there and get dry and cut off some wet, sloggy miles, but I also knew that I didn’t want to make that choice. This journey held incredible meaning to me, and I didn’t want to shortchange myself, even if it made things easier. I don’t necessarily consider myself a purist – if there’s a trail leading off to a parking lot where I’m meeting a ride, and another trail from that same parking lot leading back to the AT but 50 feet further down the trail, I wouldn’t hesitate to take the one that put me moving in the right direction and also meant I wouldn’t have to backtrack. But I didn’t want to be cutting off miles from my journey, and I held to that standard for the duration of the trip. I had one particular crossing that looked to be more dangerous than it actually was, whitewater rushing down a rocky bit. Despite its fierce appearance, the current was easily navigable. I was disappointed this particular evening to find quite a bit of graffiti left at the shelter, which had been very recently scrubbed clean by the hard working trail crew from this region. Worse yet, much of it was more vulgar than is appropriate for a public trail, accessible to people of all ages with a desire to hike. I very much appreciated the opportunity to have the whole shelter to myself, particularly the clotheslines. Despite getting in to camp with daylight yet to burn which definitely helps, I knew that the drying would only take the edge off the wet gear – no more drips, but I’d still have the “pleasure” of putting on incredibly damp gear in the morning. I happily crawled into my dry sleep clothes and my warm quilt, enjoying the pitter patter of raindrops falling from leaves as I drifted off to sleep.
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