Day 29 - Mar 21

I feel like I am becoming a broken record but oh my goodness did it ever absolutely pour last night! I am impressed by how much rain is able to fall from the sky. 

Thankfully, Walker and I slept great, but we were slow getting out of bed in the morning. It really is a mental issue putting on a completely wet pair of clothes. It's really not even an issue, it's just annoying and in the moment I'd rather stay in my warm and dry sleeping bag. 

We got up and got moving and had our morning routine done by 845. The rain had stopped by this point but the forest was still dripping wet, plus with a thick fog we were still basically in the rain cloud. 

We 1015 we had walked a few miles and decided to take a quick food break and look at the map. Our goal for the day was 27 miles, or at least, this was the farthest we figured we could possibly go in the day if everything went our way. 

Our morning and early afternoon were fairly standard. We talked about whatever came to us. We discussed our plans for what would happen due to the coronavirus and we talked about the philosophical dilemma presented in John Stienbeck's novel East of Eden, whether one should live a happy life and effect only a small group of people, or strive for greatness, benefiting many but be miserable. 

Some time In the afternoon we arrived at laurel falls. With the amount of rain we had received over the past day the falls were absolutely rushing. The section of the trail leading up to the falls was very scenic, as the river raged throughout the gorge beneath us. 

After passing the falls, we ate lunch. I had some chicken, tuna, peanut butter crackers, and some cashews. Pretty common lunch out here... does the trick though. 

The afternoon was spent ascending and descending pond mountain which was surprisingly challenging. What's neat is that this is the final stand alone peak that we need to climb before Virginia. 

We saw the sun today for 15 minutes and blue sky for about an hour. I'm not saying this to sound disappointed or unappreciative. I am genuinely relieved and excited to have seen good weather for that long. It felt great. 

We got to camp by 630 tonight I believe. Since we slept in this morning and were slow to getting started, we got to camp a bit later. We ended up hiking nearly 23 miles today. We hiked from hardcore cascades to a campsite right after wilbur dam road. 

Tomorrow we are planning on hiking to a spring about 18 miles from here where there is supposedly camping. I think the day will be dry but tomorrow evening will rain again. 

Should be fun. 

Goodnight,

Tyler M.