Date: 2019-05-04
From: FS 293

To: Laurel Fork Falls
Miles today: 12.5
Weather: scattered clouds

I was mad at myself yesterday. I had been so afraid of the rain that paid the hostel to shuttle me so I could slack pack back to them and spend another rain free night there. But of course that comes at a price. Another night at the hostel plus the cost of two shuttles. I could have easily hiked what I did yesterday and set myself up in a tent long before the rains came. So today, though the weather report was the same, rains in the afternoon, I promised myself a hike and I would set up camp early enough to avoid any heavy rains.... Everything was going according to plan. I made my goal and hadn't gotten wet yet. Now time to find a place to camp. The sky was getting heavy with rain and I knew it wasn't far off. I crossed the road and passed the sign that said hostel nearby. I was determined to save myself the few shillings based on my overspending yesterday. Sigh. Wrong choice. For the next 1.5 miles I look for any descent spot to camp. Nothing, nothing, nothing. The sky was getting darker and darker. Finally I saw the next shelter was coming up in less than a mile. Still dry. Maybe I could hurry enough? Still no place to tent. How come when you're looking for a spot you come up empty and when you're not they seem everywhere! Frustrating. Finally my time just ran out. I was descending a series of steep stone steps as the heavens opened, and I mean opened! While I'm familiar with the term white out in snow conditions I had never seen anything like it with rain. For a short period it was raining so hard you could barely see. I was too slow into my rain gear and getting the dog into hers so in simply moments we were wet. It was as though we had stepped into a lake and stepped back out. Feet soaked, everything a mess. Now what? It was still a half mile to the shelter and I was still desperately looking for a campsite. Anything would do... And it did. Another 100 yards further I spied a nasty little spot. It was perhaps half the width of my tent and only barely long enough with a couple of embedded bowling ball sized rocks in the middle but it would have to do. It was the best I had seen for the last 1.5 miles and the wet path forward looked a little treacherous so I took it. Still raining, though past its initial fury, I set up camp. We were both pretty miserable. The moment I got the tent up, Leila flew inside, and naturally shook herself instantly creating an 8oz puddle in the middle of our sleeping place. She gave me a look that said "How could you do this to me? Help me? I was miserable as well and knew that somehow we were going to have to make this work. I had a towel to wipe up the water and kept adjusting the tent until my tent floor no longer picked up rain from outside. It was a careful balancing act to get everything away from the walls, keep the condensation from dripping on us and hang the edges of the tent on this awkward site so as to keep the rain out. I ate an energy bar for dinner. Then we hunkered down between our bowling balls and surprisingly created a little warm nest to last out the night. Rain was expected to clear about noon tomorrow but I doubted I would want to stay in this place a moment longer than I had to