Into the Woods and Out of the Woods and Home Before Dark

We all tried to sleep early, since there wasn’t anything else to do. While falling asleep wasn’t as hard as it normally was, staying asleep was. I’d heard the intermittent pattering of rain on the roof. But right at 5, the skies opened the floodgates. And it HAMMERED the shelter. No leaks, so everyone inside stayed dry. But I felt bad for the poor souls outside. To be honest, there was some room on an even lower platform of the shelter, and I felt bad that no one had taken up shelter on it for the night.

I tried to get some more shut eye, but the rain was fierce enough that I couldn’t lull myself back to sleep. So I spent most of the morning laying there, waiting for an appropriate gap in the storm to get up. I’m no meteorologist, but I at least know the basics. The clouds have to dump rain in the mountains to pass over, but most storm systems are here today, gone tomorrow. (Kings Quest reference for those in the know). Or, at most an hour or so long. So patience is key here.

The moment came, and the shelter filled back up with the familiar faces from the night before. One poor hammock camper forgot to set up his drip line, so he got a bit dumped on. something about vlogger here?

Anyways, hiking out in the rain wasn’t very notable. I rocked the rain jacket, but no rain pants, as I figured we’d be getting into town soon anyways. Our stop for today was Stecoah Gap, where we were looking to spend the night

drying out at the Stecoah Wolf Creek Hostel.

It started just kinda misty, like how it is when you’re stuck in a cloud. The views reminded me of the paintings of a man looking out above the cloud. This combined with the nature-imitating sounds filled me with a form of false romanticism with regards to how hiking in the rain would be.

The reality was tons of rock avoiding. One wrong step could end a hike after all. And I didn’t come all this way to stop in North Carolina. Danielle, Michaela and I worked our way through the descent. I don’t remember much, until about the last mile. Suddenly, it started hailing! Or at least, there was some type of sleet. That was our cue to start booking it down the trail. Or, at least, mine. I passed by Anne on the way down — she’d left earlier than the rest of us, so it was good to see her — and we fumbled our way to Stecoah Gap, where I called for our shuttle. Unfortunately, given the road work from Helene damage, it took Lonnie, the hostel owner, a bit of time to reach us. But once he did, it felt like a godsend. Being back in a warm vehicle… it does wonders for the soul.

At the hostel, I was in a room with Richard, while the three others got their own room. We quickly got showered and changed into the loaners, and I tried to use Lonnie’s laptop to get some blogging done! Crazily though, at the keyboard I ran into a ton of writers block. Normally, typing comes as the easiest thing in the world for me… but not today. It was also time to do some logistics.

When we started discussing doing a 15 to Fontana Dam afterwards, I realized I wouldn’t be able to get my box from Fontana at that rate, given I wouldn’t get to the marina until after the shuttles already left. I guess it’s recent, but instead of calling for a shuttle, there were now set times, with the last one being at 4 PM. So I called and asked them to bounce it. To be honest, I was a bit surprised they did, but happy I didn’t have to make the trip. To the Dollar General with everyone else then!

At the DG, it was… a bit of a desert. Most of the fresh food section was closed, and the snacks and breads weren’t very good either (I know some resupplies might be worse than a Dollar General. But this was barely even half of a normal DG). I just ended up picking some of the more “bougie” ramens (read: Shin Ramen) and some candy and such. We also picked up some chicken tenders to make for dinner tonight, since we were cooking on our own.

And that’s basically how the rest of the night went! There were some other hostel goers, but we made a little dinner of some leftover pasta available at the hostel, with chicken tenders, and Michaela added a TON of frozen taquitos.

I realized a little late that I should have a small gear explosion to see how my pack dealt with the rain. To be honest, I was a bit disappointed. While nothing got majorly wet, and the items that live in the pack liner stayed dry, everything was still a bit damp. For some reason, I thought the Ultra on the Circuit would hold up better. Maybe I didn’t roll it down correctly? But even the food in my Dyneema bag was a bit damp. So I guess it goes to show, nothing in life is truly waterproof. It’ll be a reality of the AT, yes. I was just hoping it’d work out better.

Late at night, watched some of the UConn game vs USC. Glad to see Paige Bueckers out there kicking butt. Laid out a GSNP itinerary, and went to bed. Gotta love hostels. Probably my favourite part of the AT.

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