Date: 2021-03-25
From: DickÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs Creek Gap and Hostel Around the Bend

To: Beech Gap
Miles today: 21.1
Weather: overcast clouds

AT day 521.1 miles to Beech GapOne of the topics of discussion at the hostel last night was the severe weather blowing in on Thursday. Flash floods and severe thunderstorms were forecast for all day Thursday and ending around 5am Friday morning. Most of the hikers were going into Hiawasse for a weather zero. I decided to hike out and hope for the best. I was motivated by the old AT thru hiker adage ¢no rain no Maine¢. I have a pretty good rain system so I wasn¢t too worried about getting wet. I figured that If the weather got really bad I could take shelter in my tent or one of the 3 shelters. My goal was to make it 20 miles to Beech Gap. I checked the weather channel radar one last time at 7am and it looked like the worst of the weather was northwest of me. The hourly forecast was still foreboding but it could always change for the better. I hiked back to the trail head with just enough rain to put up my umbrella. This morning reminded me of 2019 when I started at this trailhead in the rain. The temperature was as in the 30s then and some of the rain was sleet  I started hiking just before 8am. After 30 minutes the light rain actually stopped. I didn¢t want to jinx myself by taking the umbrella down too soon. I caught up with another older hiker that left the hostel before I did. We were both feeling pretty good about our decision to hike today. The rain held off until I got on the windward side of the mountain and then strong gusts would blow rain on me from far away. The gusty winds would cool you off after heating up climbing a steep grade in rain gear. My rain gear consists of a Enlightened Equipment rain jacket with the pit zips open unless the rain is blowing sideways. Over that I have a Zpacks rain poncho that covers my pack. The poncho has large arm openings which helps keep me from overheating. I wear my hiking shorts with a rain kilt (skirt) to keep my shorts dry. I don¢t want to get my hiking pants wet. I top it off with a hiking umbrella that I attach to my pack with a Gossamer Gear umbrella clamp. I passed by the first shelter and all of the tent sites were taken. I didn¢t bother checking the shelter because the weather was nice. Just around 12:30 I heard the first thunder and it started to rain. I was close to Muscrat shelter and I wanted a dry place to get water and mix up my lunch concoction. As I approached the shelter area I saw tent city first. No chance getting a tent site here even if I wanted to. The shelter was packed with hikers. I told the shelter dwellers that I was only stopping for water so they wouldn¢t think that I was going to try to cram myself in with them. Within one minute the thunderstorm was over our heads and it was pouring rain.  A nice young hiker gave me enough of his water to get me through the day. I had no choice but to hike out in the pouring rain. I was climbing up the mountain and thunder was booming but it didn¢t seem to close. Just before the top the thunder was overhead. I figured my only choice was to run up the rest of the climb so I could descend to a safer place. This is when I saw a flash just ahead of me followed by a boom. I ran as fast as I could to get the heck out of there.  This happened multiple time up on the ridge  Unfortunately instead of descending after I got to the top I had to follow a ridge with only a slight loss of elevation. Thunder was still booming nearby and overhead. I continued to run where I could and hike my fastest in sketchy rocky areas. I kept shouting ¢Lightning, Go On Git¢. (From a Jimmy Fallon bit). Just when I would think that the storm passed thunder would boom again. I would climb up to another ridge and be terrified again. The windward side winds were now cold and I had to zip up my rain jacket to keep my body warm. I was still dry underneath my layers. I got to Deep Gap and saw 6 hikers. They all had been through the same near death experiences as I had. The applauded me as I came out of the woods. They were all waiting for shuttles into Franklin to get out of the weather. I was very tempted to go along with them but it was only 2:30 and it seemed like the thunderstorm had passed so I bid them ¢Happy Trails¢ and hiked on. Standing Indian shelter was only 1 mile away and I was hoping that it would be vacant or tent sites would be available. Well the tent sites were pools of water and a group of guys out for a long weekend hike filled up the shelter. They had parked their keep at the gap and only hiked 1 mile. If not for them I would have had the shelter to myself. A song that popped up in my head was ¢I feel the earth move under my feet ¢ because the dirt was so saturated that no matter how carefully you stepped you could feel the dirt/mud slide. The worst places are big step downs where there aren¢t any roots or rocks to use for steps. I had a nice butt slide because the trail gave way. So I hiked out again to my goal campsite at Beech Gap about another 4.5 miles. The thunder had moved on and only made an occasional appearance. The rain stopped when I was about 30 minutes from camp. I picked up the pace in the hopes that I could get my tent set up and get water before it started again. I was in luck. There were two tents already set up so I went in search of a campsite that wouldn¢t have pooling water. I picked a site that had leaves on the ground to help prevent heavy rain from splashing up into my tent. I went in search of the stream to get water. I followed some pink ribbons that I thought might be marking the trail to water. I found a drainage followed it until I found a good flow. After getting water I started to head back to camp but didn¢t see any of the ribbons. Luckily I had my Guthook GPS app and was able to get turned around in the right direction. I got back to camp minutes before the rain started up. A thunderstorm started at 6pm and it¢s still booming as I write this at 8:30. The foot of my tent is in a low spot and a little water is pooling beneath it. It drains pretty fast after the torrential downpours stop. It¢s 11pm and I woke up to quiet skies and no rain. I don¢t know how long it will last but it was good for getting out of the tent and checking the guy lines. I checked out my feet and I have a nasty looking blister on my left pinky toe. ILightning and periodic torrential downpours continued well past midnight. I got up during a break and tied my Ursak food bag off to a tree.