Date: 2017-04-23
From: Spring Mountain shelter

To: Hemlock Hollow Inn + Hostel
Miles today: 5.0
Weather: light rain

From Fatboy:It began storming last night before sunset. We had lightning strikes all around us with impressive thunder that made us jump inside our tent. It rained ALL night and we were still mostly dry! Our beautiful, flat tent site became a shallow pond and water and mud splashed up inside the vestibules on each side of the tent. My side of the tent was a puddle and my sleeping bag was wet. I was chilly but not to the point of shivering. Let's call it: wet-hiker-brisk morning cold. I ventured to the privy and managed to not fall on the slippery path, but only because I used my trekking poles for the walk. I even managed to get our food bag moved into the vestibule so we could have something to eat even if it never stopped raining. Getting back into the tent after one of these excursions requires a level of athletic flexibility that I don't have but I did my best to keep what was wet as contained as possible. We decided to wait out the rain and I went back to sleep. Why fight nature? We must have both been very tired because we didn't seem to have any trouble napping the morning away. When we both had slept until we couldn't sleep any more Ginger served me coffee in bed. Two mornings in a row of coffee in bed. I'm a very lucky man.We kept waiting for the rain to stop but it never did. It lessened enough eventually that we made the decision to move on in the early afternoon. We decided to go to a hostel that was only a mile away from a trail crossing so we would only have about 6 miles to hike and still be able to be under roof tonight. The terrain of the hike was reasonable and the rain was relatively light so we didn't have the need for a lot of rest stops or clothing layer changes. We arrived at the hostel around 1730 and it was a big relief to know we wouldn't have to tent in the rain again. The hostel didn't have any vacancies but they did arrange for us to stay on the balcony that was under roof next to the hostel office overlooking a creek. I hung our wet tent footprint and rain fly up to dry and Ginger went in search of food. Bananas and apples, cookies (for Fatboy), coffee, pizza, and corn dogs later we were starting to feel a little better. While we were eating we saw Happy Feet enter the hostel store. It's amazing how we seem to keep catching up with our friends and spending nights at the same places. Now it was time for a shower for Fatboy. While I was taming the hiker funk, Ginger made friends with a lady who was staying in one of the cabins. When I stepped out of the men's shower room Ginger told me we had bunks in a cabin with her new friend and her husband. Score again with Ginger magic! We packed everything up and moved to a warm, dry, cabin courtesy of our new friends. Life is good.From Ginger:I was all over the place today. This is where it's not only valuable to have a hiking (and life!) partner to motivate you, but also to help rein in my disaster scenarios, focusing on only the next right thing to do. This morning, after we had coffee and sat in a rising tide (OK, puddle) of water in and around the tent, I was a little paralyzed. Fear would have kept me right there in place, not wanting things to get worse. In retrospect, they would have gotten way worse if we didn't start moving.I'm so glad Nathan remembered that we'd be crossing a road near a hostel listed in AWOL's guide. All we'd have to do is detour a mile off the trail once we got to that road. Five miles on the trail and another one to a dry place. Brilliant. The hostel owner could only offer us tenting under their pavilion or on the office's back porch. They were crazy booked after last night's deluge. With the remaining space available, we'd be exposed, but at least have head cover. Sold. God bless Mary's curiosity about my wet shoes in the shower area! I'd gone there to put on all of my dry clothes -- literally -- before we climbed into our wet sleeping bag with the dry liners and emergency foil blanket, and she struck up a conversation while I was adding layers. I don't know anything about Ginger magic. I do know that when I accept the circumstances I'm in -- no matter what they are or how daunting they may be -- there is always a blessing in the acceptance. Sometimes the blessing is a lesson; today it was a literally a rescue. Innumerable thanks to Mary and her husband, Pete, also known as Chicken and Rooster.From Fatboy:More Trail Wisdom ...- Hike your own hike. Don't allow yourself to get drawn into conversations about mileage or when you started or expect to finish the trail. It's an insidious thought poison that will make you compare what you're doing with whatever someone else SAYS they do. Persistent questions can be answered with nebulous answers. People don't generally care what you say because they're only waiting to tell you what they are doing. Be polite but remember it's ok to not say anything too.- Pace is important. For a lot of our early hike we were hiking too fast. The difference in the way your feet and legs feel at the end of the day if you aren't pushing yourself is amazing. The extra distance isn't worth the pain.- Stop to photograph or view anything you're interested in. This may be the only time you'll ever be here or see this. The beauty of the trail is why we're doing this.