Date: 2006-08-01
From: Frye Notch Lean-To

To: Bald Pate Lean-To
Miles today: 3.5

Everything outside is wet. I bring my pack into the shelter as others are filing out and consider not hiking today. I really don't want to go over Bald Pate in the rain. It's exposed rock above treeline which means that it will be slick. Finally, once everyone else has gone, I pack up and get going myself. So far the hike is not that bad. It is wet, but the rocks are grippy and there are trees to hold on to if I need to. Then I get to almost treeline. There are ladders to help you get up over the rocks. Now at treeline, I can feel the force of the wind. It is so strong that it could knock you down if you are not careful. Above treeline, the trail uses rock cairns to mark the path as the white blazes are painted on rocks and can be hard to see if weather is bad. Well, visibilty is poor today, so I am moving from cairn to cairn hoping to make it over both peaks before the weather trns nasty. I meet a lovely nobo couple from Louisiana, but they aren't very informati! ve about the trail ahead other than to tell me there is a sign on the peak. I get to the peak and realize I am only at the first peak and it is starting to thunder. I am rushing and am starting to get clumsy. I tell myself to slow down, be careful, methodical, persistant. Too late. The rain comes. It's a biting cold rain that feels like sleet. No where to go to get shelter, to stop and get out my rain gear. I push on hoping to find some trees soon. The nobo's had told me the rocks were grippy. They might have been before the rain poured a river a water over then. For those of you who have ever climbed Stone Mountain near Atlanta, remember the super steep section near the top? Now imagine going down that in the rain. I was so scared. Many times I sat in that river of water and slid down those rocks. Eventually, I made it to the col between the two peaks and I begin looking for a sanctuary in the trees. I eventually find one. A perfect place to hang my hammo! ck and get out of my soaking wet clothes. Of course the rain stops and the sun begins to peak out as soon as the hammock is hung. I don't care. I am not going anywhere for a while. Stripped of my hiking clothes, into my raingear, crawl into the hamock and read for a while have snack and take a nerve calming nap. Eventually, I think the rocks might be dry enough to handle, so I pack up and head down the trail. The trail is a river bed. Water follows the path of least resistance and that happens to be the trail. I'm wet anyway so no matter that my boots are continously getting soaked. The gurgling of the water is kind of like a free music concert as I hike. Now. Where is that shelter? This has been the longest 3.5 miles of my life!At last, at the shelter, and the Beast is there. He had past me when I was packing up my hammock in the col. Turns out he has stopped early for the night because he too does not want to travel with that large group of sobos. (While they seem like nice people, I don't want to compete with them for work for stays in the huts. I'm happy to let them pass me. The Beast does not want to lose his autonomy and be subject to the decisions of the group.) It's just us for a while, then two more sobos show up and four nobos. Six in the shelter and two tenting. It's a cold windy, rainy night. Every one is friendly and we all stay warm and dry through the night.