Date: 2007-04-11
From: Campsite MP 470

To: Wise Shelter 292.6
Miles today: 22.6
Weather: overcast clouds

To say I had a challenging day is an understatement. Everything was going fine until I got to Buzzard Rock and then it went downhill from there. I had a brief visit with "Eleven" at Lost Mountain Shelter and should have followed his lead and put on my rain clothes. I didn't think it was raining enough to warrant the precautions he was taking. If he knew what lie ahead he didn't say anything. In fact, a bit later I unzipped the leggings off my pants and had my rain jacket hanging from the back of my pack as I came out of the woods and started across the bald at Buzzard Rock. It wasn't long before I was being blown sideways by what seemed to be a 100 mph wind. I was also pelted by a light very cold rain. The thermometer my wife bought me said the temperature had dropped to forty. My pack cover blew of my pack but landed in a tree and I was able to recover it. I was so happy to get off the bald and back into the trees. I was comfortable in the trees and although the trail was snow covered and soggy I continued on, thinking I had been through the worst of it. As I approached Thomas Knob shelter I got more of the hurricane treatment I had received at Buzzard Rock except now it was raining quite hard. I started to lose my cool, that is to say I started to lose my body heat and began to feel like it was going to get worse before it would get better. I found "Eleven" inside the Thomas Knob shelter. He had his tent set up on the lower part of the shelter and said there was someone else upstairs. I said I was going to push on, as I needed to get to Wise shelter in order to make my scheduled pick up the next day at Dickey Gap. "Eleven" gave me a sad grin, he said he and the other shelter occupant had just remarked that they hoped no one was out in this crap. "Are you OK?" he asked. " Are you warm enough?" I said I was, lying a bit and I headed out for the five mile trek to Wise Shelter. I guess you could say I wasn't too wise, leaving a perfectly sound shelter out of the wind and rain for a slog through a rock strewn hell, in a driving rain with the temperature dropping below forty. I started off ok but by the time I was a mile from Wise I was trying to run, I was trying to do anything to generate some body heat. Most of all I was trying to get to the next shelter and past this most difficult of terrains. The trail went up and down at every turn, which was often and always there were the sharp faced boulders with hiking surfaces turned at stressful and challenging angles. My bare legs were red from the cold and my knee replacement was noticeably achy and contrary. When I got to the shelter at 7:30 I found it had seven section hikers in it. The shelter is supposed to hold eight and I asked them to accomodate me as I was nearing hypothermia. They were very gracious and moved over at once and made a spot for me. My problem now was that there were two women in the mix and the only dry place to change was under the overhang of the shelter. I put on my fleece top with the hood and cooked dinner in the remaining light and put on my headlamp. I put out my sleeping mat and bag in the shelter and thought of the pitiful time I would have crawling in between snug campers with my shivering and wet body. The rain stopped and I looked around outside. I was standing in a puddle under the overhang of the shelter as I cooked and ate and I was looking for a place to put up my tent. It didn't take me long to find a great spot which was both high and dry. I put up my tarp in a few minutes and went back into the shelter for my mat and bag. The shelter occupants assured me I could squeeze in but I still couldn't see how I was going to get out of my wet things without making a hell of a mess. If the warm meal and fleece hoody hadn't succeeded in making me feel a bit warmer I would have crawled in with them. As it was, I knew I was getting warmer pretty quick and I had to get out of my wet things and into my sleeping bag as quick as I could. I crawled into the dry small space beneath my tarp and got into my sleeping bag. I was starting to shiver again but I knew I would get warm. Long story short... I spent an hour or so rubbing my body with my arms and doing calesthenics inside my sleeping bag, which I would have had a hard time doing in the shelter with everyone else comfy and cosy, and then I fell asleep. The next morning I took my time and packed for the 16 mile jaunt to Dickey Gap. It was cool but it was sunny.