Day 4. Met my spirit animal, sortof.

Woke up wondering why it was still dark and my face and bag were dripping wet, but warm drippy, and odd. My emergency blanket had unfolded in the night over my head and with all of my breath condensation it was raining, um…my own breath fluids? Eww.

My tent did the best it could, but with a relentless downpour and my rain fly draining directly onto my ground cover, I was in a pool. You can only be so waterproof and tents aren’t made to sit in a pond. Anyoldsoakingwethoo, everything was a freezing-ass nasty wet mess. I even made a video I can’t upload till later, but it captures the moment. I did my best to shake off water, but it was still raining and when I checked the forecast, it was supposed to get colder and worse. Really??!! Didn’t I just have this conversation about snow?

Another long walk to have a buddy meet me at a trailhead. No big deal. I HAD to get things dry, I had no idea how to do that without shelter. But dammit, I made a cup of hot coffee first.

It was a magical and stunning walk back. Everything was glistening and the sound of rain in the forest was a cadence I set my pace to, or with really.

Oh yeah, my spirit animal! Well, it was actually a person and her trail name was “Mouse”, she was a beautiful white haired, super fit woman who was bouncing around a bit like I was; like all hikers I had met were. We compared stories and our love of the woods, the hike, the peace…but neither had the desire to through hike or prove anything. We talked about a lifetime of understanding in under ten minutes. She was me in 20 years. If anyone knows Mouse or runs into her, tell her Terra (just Terra, no trail name yet) said Hi, and I will see her again someday.

Back another downgrade and my toenails, which had previously been pulled from the nail beds on day were now in shoes full of water from the saturated brush and ground cover, were swelling and the skin beneath them filling full of water. Soooo weird. And the sopping shoes slowly rubbed blisters that I did not

Misty, rainy morning.

Yeah, that is damp. O.o

Clouds on the top of a mountain. And a rock.

I forgot why I took a picture of a tree. This is a tree.

feel yet, but oh boy….it was coming.

On my way down also I passed a family of five, out for a stroll near the trailhead, but in my attempt to be social (oops) I said, “Wow. You guys look fresh!” Only meaning compared to them I was a muddy, soaking mess. The Mom looked horrified and mumbled, “We’re just day hikers…”. Like I was going to have them for lunch!! Gawd being socially awkward has its excellent moments. Ha!

I decided to bounce ahead to Hyatt Lake, dry out, assess foot damage and go from there. I had a good chunk of miles behind me, and I wanted to step up my game.

P.s. ***tmi alert*** This whole first 4 days just happened to be, uh, my moon time. Can I have a restart!!?