Day 62-Back to Rain on My 2 Month Anniversary

May 19-14.6 miles-Bailey Gap Shelter to Laurel Creek Shelter-AT mile 675.2

Ah yes...back to rain. At least I didn’t have to pack up a wet tent! I was nice and dry in the shelter. 

Surrounded by my bags of food. 

We hung around the shelter for a bit, hoping the rain would lighten up. Alas, it did not. I left just before 8:00. We had 14.6 miles, so seemingly a short day. Turns out there were lots of rocks, and a really long climb. Well, everything seems long in the rain. I did stop for a few photos. 

This snail doesn’t mind the rain. 

Spooooky...

Finally saw another one of these little critters!

I made it to War Spur Shelter for lunch. Sure Foot and Dusty were there. Just prior to getting to the shelter, I had to pee. I stopped and went to use my p-style. Just as I let things go, my foot slipped on a small rock and the p-style flipped sideways. Well...it was warm down my leg...for a moment...*sigh*

We did the never ending climb after lunch. Today I wore the dishwashing gloves I bought in Marion. They were great until I got up on top of the ridge, and the wind was blowing. My hands were freezing. By the time I got to Laurel Shelter, I no longer had opposable thumbs. Sure Foot had to unbuckle the chest strap on my pack for me. 

I am once again sleeping in the shelter. Two months on the trail, and now I am apparently a Shelter Rat. Actually, I just didn’t want to set my tent up in the rain. Plus, in the shelter, I have spots to hang my wet stuff (and there is a lot of wet stuff). There are 5 of us in the shelter tonight, so I’m sandwiched between Dusty and Polar Bear. 

So, two months on the trail today. Today I was thinking, as I was walking in the rain, that one difference between now and when I started is that I am more confident in my walking, especially downhill, I don’t “stutter step” as much anymore. That makes me faster. And, today, on a particularly good bit of trail, I was almost running! Carefully, of course. I suspect I will continue to improve. Of course it would be nice if it wasn’t raining, and there weren’t so many rocks. However, neither of those are likely to happen...






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