Date: 2012-05-14
From: Calf Mountain Shelter - Shelter

To: Pinefield Hut
Miles today: 26.2
Weather: moderate rain

Day 50 - Monday, May 14thHiking Days 37 / Nero Days 9 /  Zero Days 4Start Location: Calf Mountain Shelter - ShelterMile Marker: 863.3Ending Location: Pinefield HutMile Marker: 889.5Time: 9h 14min plus store stopMiles: 26.2Weather: 60 most of the day.  Rain started at 10:00pm last night and as of 8:45pm it is still raining.  Cool breeze.  Never did start raining until 10:00pm.  So all those hikers who held up because it was supposed to rain missed a great hiking day.  The rain persisted all night without a break.  I slept like a baby.  Funny thing is that of the five of us in the shelter, it was the young girl that ended up being the snorer.  Alarm went off at 6. Turned it off.  Dundee's alarm went off.  Ignored it.  At 6:30, Rook finally made the move to get up.  Everyone was awake, with the rain falling, no one wanted to be the first up.  It's hard to get going when the next step is out in the rain.  I was the first to head out. 7:18.  Not a bad start with such a rainy day anticipated.  The rain has not let up since it began last night.  My goal is to go 26.2 miles today, a full marathon, but the constant rain will make it much more difficult.  No one else really seemed like they were going to go that far.   It wasn't long until Dundee passed me.  Hiked with him a bit but he is just to fast.  I told him I was going to stop at the next spring for water.  He chuckled and indicated that wasn't for another 12-13 miles. I never turned to my new mileage page.  Oh well.  The only issue is that the only water I have had since coming into the shelter is the 0.7 liter bottle I had last night.  Hit the next shelter.  Got my water finally.  There was a guy taking a survey in the shelter for class credit.  It was regarding hikers and their moods or something like that. His questions were clearly not well thought out.  He had no idea of the hiking mindset.  I started asking him some question about it and it became clear this was just a blow off project for class credit.  He's just wasting time out here. Next stop was the store at loft mountain campsite.  Bought bologna, candy, drink and a sandwich, $11.  $2.20 for a pack of peanut m&m's.  Ripoff but I planned for this.  Used the dryers while I ate.  It will be nice to have dry cloths even if just fit a short period of time.  Dundee showed up.  He decided to go the distance.  He too grabbed some food including two pints of ice cream and an ice cream bar.  That sounded tasty so I went back and ate an ice cream bar.  It's odd that we are cold and soaked to the core and ice cream is soooo good.  I gave him some quarters and he started drying some things.  I had found the thermostats for the laundry room and cranked them up.  It was starting to get warm just as we left but it was still worth the stop. Of course I turned them back down when I left.  Still about 6 miles left to the shelter.  Headed back out to the rain.  Arrived at the shelter in pretty good time.  5:30.  It was rather full but most of the people were going to rent out. That would leave room there for Dundee and myself.  About an hour after we arrived, Stinger made it in as-well.  I'm sure this made Dundee happy because he wanted to talk to Stinger about the PCT and CDT more and thought he was going to stop at the loft mountain campsite.  As it turned out, today was a good hiking day. Even with the constant rain all day, we did the miles.  Rain is supposed to continue through tomorrow.  Another long day to Big Meadows planned.  Well see tomorrow.