Date: 2015-06-15
From: Bluemont, VA

To: Bluemont, VA
Miles today: 18.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Bluemont post #4 How to deal with cold rainI hinted at this post a week or so ago, so I shall post it. Some will find this amusing, others disgusting, others, well, that makes some sense. Read on at your own discretion. So about 12 days ago we had a stretch of cold and rain.   This went on for about 3-4 days.   The temps were cold enough in the morning that my hands were cold when walking.   The first day I got caught in a thunderstorm downpour, and boots and socks got soaked. Fortunately, that very night we stayed at the ¢3 Springs hostel¢, so I got my clothes washed and completely dry.   But the rain continued for the next 2-3 days.   It did not rain constantly, but often. By the 3rd day both pairs of my socks were wet, as well as my clothes were wet. (Wet clothes are no big deal if it¢s warm enough - They are nylon and can dry fast if it stops raining.)   Anyways, by the 3rd day the only dry stuff I had was my sleeping bag and top and bottom thermal underwear, and one pair of liner socks.   It is really imperative to keep that dry, or I would be forced to sleep in wet underwear in a wet sleeping bag, and that is pure misery.      Even though I knew it¢s not recommended, I wanted to cook and eat supper, and I just had my tent, no shelter   So I did fire up my Jetboil stove in my tent, and boiled the water I needed for supper. I added my usual Lipton noodles or Knorr¢s rice, and ate in the tent. Again, I almost never do that, but, since it was raining and I was hungry, I saw no alternative.   The danger is apparently asphyxiation from the stove, but my tent has a lot of ventilation. It was not a problem, as I am still here to tell the tale. My major concern was spilling my supper in the confined tent space, leaving me with both no supper and a wet mess, but I was careful, and that did not happen. The real problem happened during the night.   It was still raining and seemed likely to continue all night But I had to pee. I was not about to change into my cold, wet clothes and go stand outside in the rain to pee.   So I conveniently used my plastic cup that I use to fill my water bottle and to eat my oatmeal, and peed into that, then opened the tent flap and tossed it. In the morning, I boiled my water for oatmeal, used a bit of it to rinse the cup, and it was perfectly acceptable to me to use for my morning oatmeal.   Maybe all guys do this, I don¢t know. So my health/cleanliness/washing standards have suffered a bit in the rain, but it seemed expedient to me.   I have remained healthy or not sick during the hike thus far, excepting the start of the trip when I was sick before I started the hike.   My major health concern remains my weight.   At a seemingly accurate scale in this hostel today, I weigh 149 pounds, or about 15 pounds less than I started.   If the scale is accurate (and I was fooled once before), my major task in the coming days off is to eat like a pig and gain 5-10 pounds, even while eating some healthy food.   So I shall try. Oddly, I don¢t seem that hungry most of the time.   What a problem - Forcing oneself to eat more!   I bet more people wished they had that problem.