Date: 2018-03-21
From: Muskrat Creek shelter

To: Betty Creek Campsites
Miles today: 16.2
Weather: snow

As we all slowly woke in the shelter, we began brushing off the frost that had accumulated over all our equipment and sleeping bags. These shelters only have three walls so primarily you are at least exposed a little bit to the weather and 100% to the temperature. Getting going was slow. I ran to the privy and as I arrived, Rob was exiting in good spirits unlike most. He said his Hello's and noted that his morning bathroom use perked him right up. It was freezing and he uses water to cleanse his behind! He had poured his near frozen water on his butt at 7am in the woods. What a tough guy!We struggled to get our frozen bear bag out of the tree and then I raced to pack up and get moving just to stay warm. I was lucky not much of my stuff had gotten wet recently but some people had to sort out their day with wet clothes. Temps were going to be staying around 32 all day and the winds were to pick up by the evening. It was dangerous and certainly life or death for some!I pushed a hard four miles to the first shelter where I stopped and rested for only a minute or so before getting cold again. Most of us had prepared for cold temps but certainly didn't welcome them and weren't prepared enough. Snow began falling all day and didn't stop until night time. Only an inch had fallen over night but by the end of the day, roughly two or three inches had fallen with drifts of four or five inches.Again I continued to push to stay warm another 8 miles to the next shelter. On my way I saw many thru hikers headed south bound in hopes of reaching a dirt road gap a little ways back that they hoped would lead them out and into the safety of town. Temps were going to be dropping to the 20's and wind gusts were expected around 50mph or so.The forecast and north bounders headed south worried me as I continued to hike. I knew that Rob and another hiker named Samesies were aiming for the same campsite I was so that brought me comfort. Weirdly enough, Rob's accent reminded me a lot of Bear Grylls from Man vs Wild and that brought me a lot of comfort thinking I was with a tough, knowledgeable man which he is! Good spirits and laugh also help a lot in miserable conditions. He liked when I told him that too!We pushed to Carter Gap Shelter where a group of hikers were sheltered from the snow. Three of them had been soaked from the rain and sleet last night but were in a dangerous spot. They needed to get out before the dangerous conditions tonight. They ended up calling the United States Forest Service in hopes of having them unlock a gate at a forest road so that they could get a ride out of the woods. They still had 4 miles until then but it was getting late. The forest service notified them it would be unlocked and that they would be able to provide a shuttle out of the woods for them. Crazy! This didn't make any of us feel better about continuing on but we did anyway. We were smart though so don't worry about us too much.By this time the group was prepping to walk to the forest road Rob, Samesies and I started hiking together. There was definitely something eerie about being some of the only hikers remaining in the area of trail we were at. Many people had fled to town quick! We hiked the remaining 4 miles quickly and arrived at the lower elevation campsite in hopes of avoiding some of the winds and possibly being a bit warmer. We set up our tents in an alcove of rhododendrons and made a quick meal around 3 or 4pm. It was so cold that just having a non-frozen water source and the ability to have some hot tea really made a difference. From there the three of us all hunkered down in our tents. We layed there for 16 or more hours until daybreak trying our best to drown out the massive wind gusts with our iPods. Luckily we all stayed warm, somewhat dry and safe. Definitely a scary and eye opening experience for us all.