Date: 2015-06-28
From: High Point state park headquarters 

To: Camp site 1353.3
Miles today: 17.2
Weather: light rain

We had a good night's sleep in the motel and out of the rain. We woke this morning and looked outside and it was still raining. We were in no hurry to get up. We took our time and went down to breakfast.    Six couples of bike riders were at breakfast. We chatted with them a bit. They were at the hotel to avoid the rain also. We had a very pleasant conversation with them. They were in no hurry to leave the hotel either. They were as tired of the rain as we were. Fozzie and Trics joined us for breakfast. It was nice to relax and learn about then. None of us were in any hurry to get back to the trail. We decided to head out around 10:30 even though it was still raining. We got a ride back to the state park where we got off the day before.   We said our goodbyes to Fozzie and Trics and then we were on our way.    The first few hours of hiking alternated between a steady rain to a heavy mist. We are both getting really tired of the rain and always being wet. I know we need the rain and I kept singing that hymn "This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it".   We tried to keep a positive attitude but after Count fell twice on the rocks and Lavender once, we were both getting a bit depressed.      The trail was so muddy and flooded in many sections that it made it difficult to make any good time hiking. We stopped by the Jim Murray shelter for lunch which was just what we needed.   Jim Murray hiked the trail back in 1989 and now he has property right next to the trail. He has a shelter on his land. We got to meet and talk with Jim for quite some time and it was interesting to hear about his thru hike and his advice for making it to Maine.    We left the shelter and continued hiking.   The rain had finally stopped. The trail was still flooded in many areas but at least it wasn't raining. We had a long section of trail around a swamp that was easy walking. We made really good time through this section. We didn't want to stop at all as the mosquitos were bad. Next, we went across many open fields. If it wouldn't havebeen for the looming mountains, we would have thought we were on a ramble across a British public path. A baby porcupine wad along the edge of the trail. It seemed scared of us being close to him. He didn't want to move. We took a few pictures and then we moved on to let him alone in peace.   It reminded us of the baby hedgehogs in England.   We had a long climb after leaving the swampy area. A long climb which included not one, but two rock scrambles. Seems we can't get enough of climbing rocks. We stopped by a stream to filter some water then continued on for another few miles before stopping for the night.    We no sooner got our tent set up when, I bet you can't guess what started.. RAIN! I'm listening to rain hit our tent as I write this tonight. We are not sure how much more of this we can take. Our bodies are beat up from hiking over 1300 miles and this incessant rain is so demoralizing.   I have never thought about quitting but it is getting really hard to keep hiking in this weather. However, tomorrow is a new day and hopefully a better one!