Date: 2009-10-07
From: Little Wilson Stream Camp

To: Wilson Valley Lean-To
Miles today: 3.6
Weather: moderate rain

Jungli was off in the morning to get a head start. The rain started coming down first as a drizzle and then it opened up into a full-out downpour. At the river ford of Little Wilson Stream, I wanted to avoid going through the frigid water and I didn t want to take my pack off. Instead, I saw a few meters downstream that a huge tree had fallen and that I could potentially walk my way across. It turned out to be a dangerous proposition and I was maybe 1/3 of the way across and knew that it wasn t right. The log was roughly 5 feet above raging water and one slight slip (again, it was raining and the tree was covered in green slipper moss), and I was falling into the water. But, I was stuck between both sides. I couldn t turn myself around and go back ¢ there just wasn t enough space! Instead, I crouched down, made sure that my center of gravity was lower and slowly, literally a few inches at a time, moved my body backwards until I arrived at a tree to the side, which I grabbed on to immediately. In the end, I decided to take off my shoes and go ahead with the river ford. The water was, indeed, frigid and I spent some minutes on the other side making sure that my feet would not go numb. Moving quickly, I caught up to Jungli at the Big Wilson Stream, but I was already frozen from head to toe. The rain kept coming harder and harder with temperatures hovering at around 35 degrees. At Big Wilson Stream, there was a rope that you had to hold on to as it was a big ford and many treacherous rocks in the water. I didn t even wait for Jungli; I had to get out of the cold and I just crossed with my shoes on, made it to the other side, waved back to the other side, and then bolted up to the Wilson Valley Lean-To. Approaching the shelter, Chef and Beechucker were just getting up and they were planning on staying in the shelter again for the night because the cold and the rains were just too much. I immediately climbed into my sleeping bag and shivered away, trying to get my body warm. The cold and wetness just went directly into your bones...so cold. Jungli followed moments later, had a snack, and then decided to push on alone, which turned out to be the wrong move. There were two extreme fords before the next shelter, one of which swept her away and she became wedged up against a rock as the raging water ran over her. I didn t hear any of this until the next day when I made it to the next shelter. Anyway, the rest of the group arrived: 10 x 10, Big Camera, Buttchinz, Leprechaun, and Timber, and even Stromboli, who was passing through with his huge leaps of a giant. In the end, Chef and Beechucker decided to push on to free up some space for the newbies in the shelter. They, too, had to cross the  Into the Wild  fords between the shelters ¢ and they did it in complete darkness. That night, the temperatures dropped again. I had purchased some postcards from Maine and never had the chance (or the dedication) to write some, but I certainly had the time now. So, at hiker midnight, while everyone else fell asleep, I went through and wrote some 8 postcards to friends and family, letting them know exactly where I was and which day it was. My goal was to see if I could give them to the guy who would bring us our food drop.