Posted by 25.2 miles
Today was all business and uneventful until right at the end of the end of the day.
The entirety of the day spent down in the trees following a green corridor with few views. A thick fog hung low in the trees making for an eerie scene you’d expect to see in a horror movie.
It was back to drinking from springs feeding cattle troughs.
Right at the end of the end of the day thunderstorms moved over head. I was not quite at the campsite I needed to get to abd pressed on hopeful rain may hold off until I made it. How wrong I was.
At first a trickle of rain started to fall which I wasn’t too worried about. My shirt was damp from sweet through the day that the light drops didn’t bother me too much and I was prepared to get wet.
Soon the storm cell moved right overhead and out of nowhere it started to absolutely bucket down. Dropping my pack I pulled on my rain jacket and umbrella. No time to pull on rain pants my shorts were soaked.
Head down I ploughed ahead top half dry under the umbrella. The rain was so intense within minutes the trail turned into a small creek completely covered with running water. So much for new shoes, they’ve now been christened and were completely saturated, as was my bottom half. It wasn’t cold, just wet, and with only a mile or so to go I kept going knowing my bottom half would remain completely wet.
Reaching camp, the only suitable site for miles around, and with let up in the rain there was no choice other than to set the tent up in the rain, knowing that some moisture was likely to get in during the process. Using my umbrella to cover my pack I raced to get it set up.
Once the tent was up it was tricky to then jump inside without bringing in my wet clothes and shoes. I stripped and dove inside scrambling to unpack and find my warm base layers, inflate my sleeping mat and jump inside my quilt.
I did my best to hang wet layers out of the main tent inside the vestibule, mainly to have any water drain off rather than actually dry them. It would impossible to sufficiently vent the tent overnight in such heavy rain and I knew full well that condensation would a major problem likely to be coating the inside tent walk and my quilt. Was not looking forward to pulling on wet clothes first thing in the morning.
With rain continuing to piss down I had no option other than to cook dinner in my tent store food inside overnight as well. I was hoping that such heavy rain helps disguise the scent of food. Again, just in case, bear spray would remain handy.
Rain continued through the night lulling me into a deep sleep as it patted down on the tent.
Mick Beckers 