A very rough day. Didn't plan it that way, but it was. Left Wayah shelter at a good time, 8:34. Weather was pretty good. Cloudy and cold. I hiked with no coat as I stay warm while hiking.
At NOC. This river is suppose to be the best white water in the south.
My initial goal was Nantahala Outdoor Center, NOC, NC. That was 16 miles. I didn't want to rent a room though. As I hiked I figured I would not stop at 5 hours for water so I could get there sooner. I ran out of water at 6 hours. I got there at 6 1/2 hours. When I checked the next camp area it was Sassafras shelter and was 6.9 miles away. The main problem was that it was an uphill climb. WHAT WAS I THINKING?? I figured I could do it in 3 hours. I would check in 2 hours and see how fast I was going. At 2 hours I had gone 3.7 miles. By then I had decided if I could just get there by 1930 I would be okay. At about 1830 it started to snow lightly. I had snowed very lightly a couple times during the day. I just kept hiking. I got to the sheltered at 1930. 25 minutes before dark. It was crowded as I expected. When I asked, no one knew of a level spot. I walked down a steep path next to the stream and found a perfect spot far away from the group. I was able to get water there. I hurried and got water, and then set up my tent as it continued to snow lightly. I finished just as it got dark. I had to put on my head lamp to brush off my pack to put it in the tent. I managed to brush out the snow that had gotten into the tent. I sat in my tent and boiled some water just outside the door under my door. Went well. I ate two Cup of Noodles. I was hunger and tired. As it snowed during then night I would tap the tent to slide the snow down. It packed down the ends of the tent, which caught in some heat, but also caused condensation in the tent, which froze on the ceiling of the tent. Not sure what will happen in the morning. It will probably still be frozen when I pack it. I kept waking up every so often and would listen to see if it was still snowing. At 0200 it was time to use the bathroom and it had stopped snowing. I did a check inside the tent and all was very dry. Great, it had done it's job. I got on my rain gear and ventured outside. I bushed back all of the snow, tighten up the tent tie downs which I didn't do when setting up because of it snowing. All in all it went very well.
My legs and feet did well. My blister on the back of my right heel didn't hurt much. I hope that means it is healing well. I expected it to bother me for a couple more days. The 3 middle toes on the left foot are hurting when going down hill. I think the middle one is digging into the long toe. Maybe tape it up.
Tough day. Glad to hear the tent performed well. It could have turned out to be a miserable night.
ReplyDeleteYep, great tent so far. It seems so light though. 6 months will tell.
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