Day 39 - Mar 31

The stream we camped next to last night gave a very relaxing sound to sleep next to. We woke up at 645 and were walking by 730. Since we had 22 miles to walk for the day, we figured we should start at a reasonable time in order to get into Pearisburg early enough that we could relax for a few hours. 

The morning was in the high 30's / low 40's and mostly cloudy. To start the day we gained 1500 feet of elevation in 2 miles. From there however, the day looked relatively flew, with a few descents and ascents. 

A few hours into the day however, when we were ascending a mountain, we noticed a peculiar sight. The rain, which had only recently started, was beginning to fall slower, appearing to be more of a wet snow than rain. It took us a minute to understand what was going on, or to even comprehend that it could be snowing. 2 days ago it was 85 degrees, now, it was snowing and boy did it ever snow. 

By the time we stopped for lunch, the temps had plummeted and massive snowflakes had started to fall. In my arrogance, I had decided to not put my sweatshirt on to hike when the snow started to fall. I figured, that I would be warm enough with a t-shirt on with a rain jacket over it. I was wrong, turns out, when a wet rain jacket touches slightly cold skin, I get cold. By the time we had reached the shelter for lunch, I was absolutely freezing. I jogged the last .3 miles to the shelter just to generate some extra warmth. Even after taking my wet jacket off and putting on wamer layers, my hands were still freezing. It just absolutely blew my mind how cold it was. On top of that, the snow was starting to accumulate! 

After leaving the shelter and regaining some warmth, we continued our climb up to our final peak of the day. The snow storm was absolutely ridiculous up here. There was at least an inch of snow! It was 85 two days ago!!! 

With conditions worsening, we were very glad to get off the mountain by 4 and make it into town before 430. We got to our hotel room immediately changed into dry, warm clothes. Then, we ordered way to much food from the mexican place across the street. Thank goodness for burritos. Without burritos I would not be able to hike the appalachian trail... that's for sure. 

Goodnight,

Tyler M.