Date: 2011-04-04
From: Woody Gap

To: WoodÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs Hole Shelter
Miles today: 6.9
Weather: overcast clouds

April 4, 2011: Please Keep Your Arms and Legs Inside the Ride at All Times April 4, 2011:START: Woody GapFINISH: Wood¢s Hole ShelterSTEPS: 26,445MILES: 6.9You may as well either just skip today¢s entry altogether, or just relax and enjoy a tall tale, because even though everything I am going to tell you about today is true, you are not going to believe me. You are going to think I¢m stretching the truth, if not outright lying. You go ahead, and then you check and see what the weather was where I camped out last night. But suspend doubt, and let me tell you about my day, because it was probably one of the most interesting days of my life.The day started out lovely, just as the others have. I was a bit alarmed because my bronchitis and upper respiratory infections are still troubling me, and maybe even getting a bit worse, but I¢m doing okay. I don¢t feel sick: my body actually feels pretty good except for the persistent cough and a bit of shortness of breath. On occasion it still hurts to take a really deep breath, so I have to rest often to avoid overtaxing myself and getting out of breath, not easy on a trek like this. I just really thought the antibiotics would have kicked in by now.During my trek I encountered a couple of Ridge Runners (I have to research to see if these folks are volunteers or what, and if I see another I¢ll just ask), who warned me about increased bear activity near Woods Hole, and about an approaching weather system that looked kind of bad. As the beautiful day progressed, I was sure their bad tidings were mistaken. There wasn¢t a single cloud in the sky! The day was as beautiful as the previous I¢d seen: crisp mornings that might require an extra layer against the chill, warming to a beautiful midrange from 60 to nearly 80 (depending whether you were on the sunny of the shady side of a mountain), cooling to a chilly but tolerable morning of about 40 degrees. That had been the routine of the previous days and I liked it. I could deal with it. This day had surprises in store, however¢¦lots of them!My intent at the start of the day was to make it to Neel¢s Gap, about 11 miles past my day's starting point. Now, remember that the exchange rate for 11 Austin Miles is about 44 Appalachian Trail miles. I have determined that one Zilker Park or even Lakeway greenbelt mile is equivalent to four Appalachian Trail miles, and this is based on my own very scientific equivalency calculations based on twelve common areas, so this is a fact. You are reading it, after all, so let¢s start there. Anyway, the point is, I hoped to go much farther than I was likely capable, even under the best of conditions.I walked and I walked, and then I walked some more. The day remained beautiful, but my feet were beginning to trouble me a bit. Tessa was a little sluggish, too, and looked as though she needed some down time. As I continued to plod on, my feet began to hurt more AND Tessa began to tire more, so I decided that we would make this day a short one and seek shelter at the first opportunity, especially with the reports of bad weather coming (although really, how bad could it be? The sky was absolutely clear and, except for a bit of a brisk wind, the weather was really pleasant!)All I can say is, thank goodness for tired dogs and barking dogs, because between them, both caused me to pull off the trail and camp rather that head on to Neel¢s Gap. And the truth was, I felt that if rain were coming I would welcome the sound of it beating a gentle rhythm against my tent. I was actually looking forward to getting my tent up and curling up with my Kindle to enjoy a nice spring rain.Woods Hole Shelter became my destination. Previously I had never camped near a shelter. I¢d been comfortably on my own. But with the threat of bad weather to come, I thought it might be best to camp near other folks, just to feel safer, if nothing more. I made my weary way to Wood¢s Hole, thankful for a somewhat shortened day.When I arrived the shelter was full. Word had spread about approaching bad weather, and hikers were seeking shelter early. I hadn¢t planned to sleep in the shelter anyway¢¦they tend to be rodent-infested and uncomfortable, and I like my tent¢¦but I wanted the reassurance of others. I pitched my tent in the best spot I could find, which wasn¢t easy as the wind had continued to escalate. BagLady, thanks for helping me with my tent. I hope to see you again soon. Anyway, after my tent was erected I hiked with BagLady for about a quarter mile to the nearest water source, where we both filtered our water.I was feeling pretty damned accomplished. My shelter was up and I had fresh water: two big housekeeping tasks here on the trail. The night was young. I had time to boil water and eat a hot meal! (Remember that on previous nights I hiked until late and just fell into bed.) This was going to be high living! I sat in the shelter (a three-sided structure with a roof, typical of the structures along the AT) and boiled my water to reconstitute my freeze-dried meal, as I visited with other hikers who were doing the same. We all chatted for a while, then I decided that it was time for me to retreat to my tent. I slept somewhat away from everyone else, but still within shouting distance. It was almost no time after that that all hell broke loose, very suddenly. I felt a few fat raindrops hit my tent and then all of a sudden the sky just opened up. The rain went from zero to sixty in four seconds flat, or so it seemed! I was putting on every base layer of clothes I had (and thank goodness I did), and preparing to ride the storm out with Tessa, in our tent.Ride it out we did, and ho, what a wild ride! From what I¢ve learned afterward, the winds were up to 50-60 MPH. The winds whipped my little tent, but it held its ground. Congratulations to Henry Shires of Tarptent for a great product, because we beat a terrible Georgia storm¢¦one in which I have since learned that six people have perished. I am so sorry. Anyhow, I have never spent such a dramatic night. It began with my tent being buffeted mercilessly by winds. And oh, how loud the wind sounded up there on that ridge, through the trees! The rains followed quickly, and soon became intense. I began to note that water was somehow getting into my tent, but the weather outside had quickly become too severe to try to make any adjustments. There was no way I was leaving the perceived safety of my tent, even though likely that was all it was: perceived safety. Still, I couldn¢t afford to get my clothes wet in this sort of weather, because it was still cold, and wet clothes mean big trouble in cold weather. And believe it or not, we actually do not carry a change of clothes in our packs. It¢s usually ¢more clothes or less clothes,¢ but almost never is it ¢other clothes¢. I have one shirt, one pair of pants. I have one undershirt, one set of lightweight thermal underwear, and one set of midweight thermal underwear. I have one down vest and one down coat. These are the layers I have to choose from to keep myself warm. Besides these, my luxury items are TWO pair of underwear and TWO pair of socks, so I can wash a pair each day as I wear the other. Anyway, my point is that I had limited clothes to begin with when the storm hit. I¢d removed my shirt and pants, and I¢d put on both layers of underwear and crawled into my sleeping bag with Tessa so we could ride out the storm together. I¢d emptied my pack and my stuff was scattered around the perimeter of the tent where I could easily reach whatever I might need. My sleeping pad and bag, with Tessa and I safely ensconced inside, was in the center. We were ready, come what may.And come what may it was¢¦the rain was coming down horizontally, as far as I could see. The wind was such a loud roar. Lightening lit up the sky again and again in bright flashes, and I began to count out the difference in time between the flashes and the booms. I was definitely on high alert under the circumstances, but I made a conscious choice not to be afraid. I figured, ¢well if anything¢s going to happen then it¢s just going to happen and there¢s nothing I can do. May as well just sit back and enjoy the show and see how it turns out because, after all, what other choice do I have?¢So that¢s what I did. Unfortunately, there were a few trials to deal with. My tent was somehow taking in rain; a lot of it. Under the extreme conditions I couldn¢t fix it, I just had to deal with it. I moved my stuff to a higher side of the tent floor (I was on somewhat sloped ground), and the rain began to collect on the lower side of the tent floor. As long as I awoke every hour and a half or so and bailed about 4-6 cups of water out of the corner, things remained somewhat under control. The cycle of me sleeping, waking, bailing and sponging repeated itself a couple of times that night. Even so, in the meantime, all of my outer clothes had gotten wet in the storm. My sleeping bag was wet, too. All I had that was dry were the clothes I was wearing, but thankfully that was all I needed.After the drama of the night I just described to you came the coups d'etat: upon waking, I opened my tent only to discover that it was covered in a thin film of ice, and that the ground was dusted with snow. I actually laughed aloud at the unbelievability of it: I can think of no better word and yes I know, unbelievability isn't even a word. But it's perfect, because it expresses just how unbelievable this night was. I¢d experienced roaring winds, driving rains, alarmingly close lightening strikes, flooding in my tent, plummeting temperatures, and wet gear, but this wasn¢t enough of an initiation. I needed snow to make the scene complete. It was intense but Tessa and I rode it well and made the best of things. Pat tells me that in looking at a Google map of the storm and comparing that to my SPOT device, I was in the eye of the system in my little tent, and he was frightened for me. I was almost¢¦but not quite¢¦frightened, too. I am so sorry to hear that things didn¢t turn out so well for some Georgians. I feel lucky to have both lived through it, and lived through it.