Cold and Wet or Warm and Dry What Would You Choose?

Day 31- 5.6 Miles today from Pecks Corner Shelter to Tricorner Knob shelter, 1,900 Feet Up, 1,200 Feet down, Total 299 AT miles

Rain Rain Go Away?

It was a bit scary last night looking at the wildfire for miles as we traveled to the shelter. The fire looked like it was heading directly towards the shelter and we would be surrounded by fire. We arrived at the shelter right at dark and most hikers were already in bed. Fortunately there were two spots available for us in the shelter.

The rain started early this morning as expected. Today we planned on only hiking 5 miles to the next shelter. The weather called for nasty heavy and cold rain and lightning later in the day as a cold front whips through. It is expected to rain heavy for at least 16 hours starting at 2 pm.

The Penalty is Worth It

I definitely don’t want to be exposed on these knife ridges during a lightning storm. Unfortunately Pecks Corner shelter was a 0.4 mile penalty down to the shelter and now it’s 0.4 mi penalty and a 300-ft climb back up to the AT.

Today is the first time we are going to test out our rain setup. I pretty much have mine dialed in with trash compactor bags and a frog toggs poncho.

Knockerz has a trash compactor bag and a pack cover. She has a raincoat and an umbrella. If you’ve read my earlier posts you can read that I almost died from cold and wet and I insist we have dry sleep setup fully protected from wet.

It will turn much cooler once the cold front comes through later tonight. Tomorrow night we will test our cold weather setup because it should be in the 20s the coldest we’ve seen so far.

Alive and Well

I don’t know what it is but there’s something about a cold rain that makes me feel so alive. As we’re walking it’s just a slight rain but the breeze is cold and it blows the rain into your face. I find it refreshing especially since I know I have warm dry sleep setup waiting to warm me up.

Today is an Indica type day, mellow and chill. As we hiked this short hike we came up on a real cruisy section of the AT. Some really nice trail work was done where they had built a nice retaining wall and built the trail up over what look like a formerly very technical climbs. Trail maintainers are so great, thank you all.

Goodbye God Bless You Cookies

As I hiked I finished the last of my absolutely favorite cookie which is an oatmeal raisin cookie. These were given to me by the Sevierville First Baptist Church trail magic at Newfound Gap. We have greatly enjoyed all the gifts they gave us as we do this pilgrimage in the cold wet rain.

The spruce trees hide good bit of the sun so it’s totally separate ecosystem. I counted half a dozen mosses all growing in the same spot. With the lack of sun on the forest floor there are mosses everywhere. Even mosses in the trees. It is an eerie but beautiful forest.

 A Race With the Storm

A nasty storm has been chasing us for a while now. In a very short period of time it is going to dump an inch and a half of rain. Thunderstorms and constant rain is forecasted so we want to get to the shelter early and chill.

We arrived at the Tri-Counter shelter early as expected before the heavier rains were supposed to hit.

This website contains affiliate links, which means The Trek may receive a percentage of any product or service you purchase using the links in the articles or advertisements. The buyer pays the same price as they would otherwise, and your purchase helps to support The Trek’s ongoing goal to serve you quality backpacking advice and information. Thanks for your support!

To learn more, please visit the About This Site page.