Date: 2013-04-04
From: Wine Spring Rd Stealth Camp 

To: Burningtown Gap, Aquone Cabins & Hostel
Miles today: 6.4

I slept really well last night. Even when the rain starting falling around midnight, even when a big gust of wind would hit my tent and would be startled awake by the sound of broken glass. I slept soundly. At my normal 7, I open my eyes and marvelled at the designs of the large rain droplets, impossibly large, decorating the surface of my tarp. How did those large droplets hang on so well? I reached my hand out of my bag and touched the wall of the tent. Ice.I sat up and saw piles of ice shards lining the bottom edge of my tarp. The foot of my sleeping bag was wet from ice that had blown in under the tarp and melted on my ground sheet. Shit. It still didn't feel that cold, so I wasn't too worried. I unzipped my tent and looked out, everything was covered in a uniform layer of ice. This was going to be an interesting day. I went about my business and was surprised to see that I could follow the white crushed ice steps that I had made. Naively Ihad left my water reservoir hanging out over night. the bag wasn't frozen, but the tube was. Looks like I would be using my handy water bottles again (I think I'll have them dipped in bronze and display them on my mantle when I'm done). We also discovered that our food bags were iced over and frozen in the tree. Though we had just met, I crawled on Dreamer's shoulders to cut the bags down. They had icicles hanging from them. I discovered that my 'waterproof' rain-mitts were anything but. My gloves and hands were soaked through. But we managed to get everthing packed up without too much incident.The temperature was hovering right around freezing, so the wind turned the freezing rain into ice almost upon contact. My 'temperature gauge' was frozen stiff and shiny from the ice. Rain hit my jacket and iced over. The straps on my pack were solid ice, so any adjustments were impossible. The pockets on my hipbelt had a frozen, and the zippers were frozen shut under a layer of ice. Icicles formed on the bill of the hood of my rain jacket, and I literally had icicles hanging in front of my eyes. This was insane. We watched as the ice layers got thicker and thicker on the trees, leaves and such. The lighting made all the branches light up as if they were covered in fiber optics. Leaves were frozen at odd angles depending on the direction of the wind. Through the whole ordeal, the only cold part on me was my hands. I changed into a second pair of 'waterproof' gloves, but they too failed. I realized that I had tested my gear in cold, snowy weather, but not in rainy weather. It was failing me, but there was little I could do about it other than ball my hands up in the palms of my gloves.Approaching Burningtown Gap, I saw a sign thumb tacked to a tree advertising a hostel nearby. I considered calling the number for a brief second, but my cold hands pushed me on. I came out into an opening and saw a group of tents and a wet person standing in the midst of them. It was Dreamer, we had seperated an hour before. I was happy to see her. She had also seen the sign and had sense enough to call for a shuttle. I had planned to push to the next shelter, but thank goodness she convinced me to join her. Limbs and trees were cracking and falling under the weight of an inch of ice. It was getting dangerous.A few minutes later a car came flying up the road, and an excited English gent urged us to HURRY UP! My fingers weren't functioning and my clasps were frozen closed, so I couldn't get my pack off. Steve practically tore it off my back and flung it into the trunk of his car. He had had to clear trees and branches off the dirt road to reach us, and he was in no mood (and rightfully so) to dilly-dally. He brought us to his and his wife's, Maggie, hostel, Aquone, and Dreamer and I could hardly believe our good fortune. The place was BEAUTIFUL. It reminded me more of a high-end ski lodge than any 'hostel' I've ever stayed in. It was comfortable and immaculate. Very rarely would I give such a plug for a hostel, but I would highly, highly recommend staying there.After hot showers and hot chocolate I felt like a new woman. I watched the rain and the wind and was so grateful to be where I was.   I also had the pleasure of meeting Little SAS, Tortous, Bismark & Hopper, all fellow hikers and hostel patrons.