CCCCOLD AND WWWWET

My biggest fear of hiking the AT is the cold. I think I can deal with being hungry and am confident I’ll have water but I don’t want to be cold…cold and miserable. So l spent another night out in my tent and things were good even though it was in the 20’s. Then began the rain. It rained the whole night, sometimes pretty hard. I didn’t stake out my fly tarp good enough so it rested against the sides of the tent and quickly soaked up water. Thank goodness for my blow up pad. It looked like I was floating in a pool. As long as I didn’t fall in, I was OK.

But falling asleep was another matter. I guess it happened but I really don’t know when.  So I got up at six, packed everything up but the tent and hiked for 4+ miles just to see what my rain gear would do. The Columbia rain pants worked great, my Ski Round Top jacket, not so much. But  nevertheless I was warm and dry. And ever so happy to get home and eat a bowl of cereal.  My knee is giving me some cause for concern but I feel like I’m committed and don’t want to let anyone down, particularly me. I quit the wrestling team in 10th grade and a Triathlon a few years back and I will never get those moments back. So now my biggest fear is being cold and wet. I’m gonna knock that one down too.