We did not sleep well, rain came along with the wind and it was once more relentless. The privy did not provide much protection, unfortunately. Due to our lack of sleep and motivation to pack up during the storm, we stayed in the tent until 11am. 11am! Most hikers would have had 14 miles done already!
By 11:30 we were back on trail and we had tent sites in 13 miles on our mind. Already we were looking forward to this day coming to an end.
The trail cut along the wind free eastern side of the northbound ridge for a short .5 mile, then cut over to the gusty western ridge. Once we made the switch we immediately got slammed with the wind and rain. Not only was it drizzling, but the rain was blowing the rain from the nearby trees and brush. It was miserable, and it was like this for at least 8 miles. Then finally some relief, we cut back over to the eastern side of the ridge where it was just foggy and misting. I had to keep my pace up due to how cold I was, everything I wore was drenched. My rain jacket did not hold up very well, my socks and fleece gloves were completely soaked through, our hoods never came down. But something exciting- we passed the 500 mile marker!
We had two ascents today up to 6k feet, then back down to 5k feet, then back up, then down down down. On the way down, the last 4 miles, we were teased with sunny hillsides in the distance. Joe said, "The clouds are going to break soon", it didn't.
At one point the clouds above gave us a glimpse of blue sky, but seconds later it closed up and it poured. This occurred a few times during that hike down.
When we got off the ridge, we had a water source- a small creek. We were soon on the hunt for a camp site. The trail quickly led us to an unlined blacktop road, we looked left then right, and started to cross. We noticed a truck parked on the side just 30 yards away and the driver was waving at us. I waved back and continued crossing. The driver started yelling at us "Hey, you guys like Bananas?" Sweet! Trail magic!
After chatting with an angel for a few minutes we were back on the search for a place to camp.
While we were making camp the rain paused, we were very hopeful of the rain clearing out, we even set our wet gear outside the tent to dry- we would still have a few hours of daylight left. But as we were sitting in the tent changing into dry clothes- the rain started up again. After we scrambled out to get wet gear from the ground, we settled with the awful weather and made hot potatoes and spam. We deserved spam this day. Anything to take our mind off the miserable wet and cold. Silver lining= no wind.
-Madelyn
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