Trying to dry our clothes on the trail
Holy Monday’s! For two weeks straight now, we’ve had huge thunderstorms on Monday night and both nights we’ve had to stay in our tents. Last night was especially trying because we’d just hiked our biggest day yet, 27 miles, and then had to set up the tent on a windy night knowing that a storm was brewing. Both nights, the storms were huge and because our tent had never been tested, we were nervous about its effectiveness.
The first storm came in around 10pm and was brought in with winds that sounded like a freight train. The lightning was one of the most spectacular shows I’ve seen as we lay huddled in our tent hoping nothing would go wrong. Last night, the wind was relentless. It pounded our tent shaking the walls from side to side and keeping us awake much of the night.
Last Tuesday brought in dry weather but cold winds that kept us chilly all day. Today was one of the most challenging days of hiking I’ve ever experienced. The rain had stopped as we packed up our wet tent. However, shortly after we started our hike, the rains came, lightly at first, but steadily progressing as the day went on. It moved to snow and sleet throughout the day and as we spent much of the day around 6000 ft elevation, we stayed cold and wet all day. I continued hiking in my shorts and longsleeve shirt knowing that my only remaining clothes would be needed when the hike was over. Thankfully, we moved quickly, almost at a slow jog down the mountain. We’re now getting ready for a night in the shelter, cold, but dry.