Wednesday, June 17 5:42 pm 19.6 mi
AT 637.1 Pearisburg, VA → AT 656.7 Pine Swamp Branch Shelter
Weather: Pouring rain all day plus cold. Atrocious hiking weather!
Trail Conditions: Shoes were submerged in cold water not even 30 seconds into starting the day’s hiking. Waterfalls on the trail, standing/moving water on trail most of the day, one mid-calf rushing water source at end of day right before shelter
My Condition: Better now that I’m in dry clothes! Really had to earn every mile today. I’m proud of myself though – I easily could have taken a zero after seeing the weather report and the steady rain this morning (weather report 100% accurate too – rain ALL day), but I pushed onward. That’s the kind of grit I’m going to need to make it to Maine!
Dave and I took the shuttle back to the Pearis Graveyard at 7:30 this morning. The shuttle driver is saving for his next adventure, the Continental Divide Trail, and was very appreciate of the tips we gave him for making an earlier run than the 9:00 am. The AT goes past a LOT of cemeteries. Rain just kept coming down – stopped briefly at the Rice Field shelter for lunch, and the wind was whipping rain into the shelter – ¾ of the floor was wet. Shoveled food into my mouth and got moving again before the cold, damp, windy environment could set me to shivering. I spent some time thinking about motivation and perspective today – as miserable as being cold and soaked to the bone can be during a 20 mile day, it still doesn’t hold a candle to some of the bad days I’ve had at work back in the "real world." I kind of startled myself – despite knowing it would likely be a less than pleasant hiking day, I felt pulled to get in some miles rather than stay warm and dry and comfortable. Met a brother-sister duo at the shelter that do a section hike like this every single year – that’s awesome!
Post Trail Analysis
This was one of my tougher days on trail. I learned today exactly what it means to really be soaked to the bone. I kept up a good pace to stay warm, and was so relieved when I pulled up to the Rice Field shelter. Normally, I don’t stop much – I keep a steady pace and push on from the morning when I put on my pack until I reach camp for the night, snacking on the go rather than stopping to prepare a lunch. Today, I needed to stop and get out of the wet. A couple were just pulling out from the shelter, and sadly they were cutting their hike short due to a family emergency. I wished them well, sharing in their heartache as I pulled off my rain gloves and dumped out the water from inside of them with my pruned fingers. Grateful to be curled up in the one dry corner of the shelter stuffing my face full of food, I watched the sheets of rain come slapping down upon the picnic table that served as the stairs up into the shelter. Needing to get moving again before the cold set in, I hung out with LOBO for a few minutes after he arrived before setting out, my sights on spending a night in a dry shelter.I spent the first couple miles after lunch shivering, teeth chattering, as I waited for the exertion and my Wim Hof breathing to start churning out that inner fire that would keep me warm the rest of the day. I slogged through the day, not able to find a dry piece of fabric anywhere easily accessible with which to wipe down my phone screen or my glasses. Cold, wet, and miserable, I got to the shelter, which THANK GOODNESS had space available. The brother-sister duo was already here, and I really enjoyed getting to chat with them as I basked in the comfort of my dry sleep clothes and the warmth of my quilt, clothes dripping from the clotheslines. I was ravenous after such a tough day, and I can’t imagine what the two of them were thinking seeing this hairy monster gobbling down inhuman amounts of food. LOBO arrived, and the four of us were able to enjoy a well-deserved respite from the elements in this beautiful stone shelter. Lisa, the sister of the brother-sister duo from the shelter, reached out to Dave and I and let us know that she was able to give us a ride when we were near Swift Run Gap (Waynesboro, VA area). The reality is that to be a thru hiker, you’re going to have days like this that test your resolve. The easy choice would’ve been to zero at Angel’s Rest, but we pushed onward. We knew it was going to be a wet, miserable day, but hikers hike and that’s just what we did!
*No pictures were taken today. No fun whatsoever was had today. Today, hiking was WORK. If you're at all thinking about thru hiking, you're going to have days like this. When things get tough, you're going to need to get even tougher!
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