Date: 2009-04-13
From: Overmountain Shelter

To: Mountain Harbour B & B
Miles today: 9.2

What a difference a day makes, as Egg so aptly said this afternoon. Remember how I said yesterday was my best day out here? Well, today was probably my worst, or at least my most trying. We woke up in the morning to rain and wind pouring into the shelter. My sleeping bag has never been wetter. It was miserable. Grommet satyed upstairs with Ducky who was up all night throwing up. She came down and told us Ducky was in bad shape and we all agreed that we would split up the stuff in her pack so she wouldn't have to carry a full pack. The weather was getting worse but we waited until Ducky was ready to go. We left about 10:30 and were all miserable to begin with. The wind was insane, we were scared for the 2 big climbs we had that day and none of us were sure how Ducky was going to make out. So Egg went first and then me and Loon. Storm, Grommet, Ducky and Madison were behind us and within 20 mins I couldn't wee them at all. I waited for Loon to catch up and then we waited and waited for the others who never came. Tekla and some other guy finally came up and relayed the message that Ducky was too weak to go on and they were staying with her to call 911 and have her taken to the hospital. Wow. Loon and I didn't know what the right thing to do was because Egg was even further ahead from us. We finally decided we shouldn't split up among us so we went ahead to get Egg. We found her hiking back towards us and after much deliberation we all decided that to hike all the way down in the bad weather was a bad idea. So we went on. The first climb was up little hump. Oh. My. God. The wind was so unreal that my pack cover blew off instantly and I lost it forever. My Mom helped me make it so it was actually really sad. I had no time to greive for it because the wind gusts were over 80 mph and I was trying with all of my might not to get blown off the bald. We took shelter behind a boulder for a few minutes just to catch our breath. And then we pushed on. We thought we had mde it, but then we approached big hump and we had no idea what was coming. A hour and a half of the most intense wind I have ever experienced. It was relentless and at least 80 mph. At one point a crow tried to fly in front of us and literally couldn't. It was totally stuck going against the wind and started going backwards. Unreal. I had a moment of total exhaustion and just thought to myself 'I have to keep going. I don't have an option here. Just keep waking.' It has never been that hard for me. There were times I was blown 5 feet from the trail. Plus, the whole time I was worried about the divas and Ducky behind us. We finally made it off the bald and stopped to rest. A bunch of guys passed us and Mr. Green Tea stopped to chat and told us that the paramedics came by Overmountain shelter and took Ducky around noon and he saw Grommet and Storm hike off with the dog. I was glad that they had started hiking and weren't more than 2 hours behind, but I got even more worried when I heard they had Madisn with them. How would she handle hiking wthout Ducky? And in that wind?A couple hours later and the 3 of us were out of the mountains and at Mountain Harbour B and B. We started to pitch our tents and Tagalong came out and talked some sense into us and told us to get a bunk in the bunkroom and that they would even pay for it. What would we do without the Tagteam???? Minutes later Storm and Grommet came off the mountain with Madison and eevrything was ok. Turns out Madison did wonderfully in the wind and we all shed some tears because we were so glad that we were all together again and in one piece. What a trying day.The hostel was cozy and we shared it with Ms. Muster and Ketchup and a couple of section hikers. The Tagteam slept in the B and B. We resupplied, ate some pizza, took a shower and watched Speed and Benny and Joon. Loon and I went up to the main house to pick up our laundry (which Mary the innkeeper couldn't believe belonged to women because it was so gross) and met all 5 of their cats! Bailey was my favorite. Ducky came from the hospital to pick up Madison (turns out she had a bug, not giarrdia). And then we all went to sleep.Reality changing moment: Being reunited with the divas after such a difficult and trying day.