AT Adventures: Day 27, 7-11-07

Awesome day. Cold day. Misty day. It was cloudy all day, so we didn’t get to see colors until 10, which meant that we didn’t get up till then, found out the time, and then tried to get moving quickly. My test for getting up was always looking for colors. If it was gray, it’s too early. Colors = time to get up. So we got up late and then cooked along pretty well. There was a large mountain (aptly named Big Bald) that we had to get over. It was raining in the cloud that we were in, and it was windy. We had long since placed our rain jackets on, and kept trudging forward. Got to the top of Big Bald, looked around and realized we couldn’t see anything, and kept right on moving. It was cold, and if we stood around for any length of time, we’d get chilled. The wind was worse than I had thought we would run into. I could feel it tugging at my pack and pack cover, toying with the idea of perhaps giving a concentrated shove, but lacking the concentration and determination to do so. It was an odd feeling day. Because of the cloud we were in, the sun was quite hidden from us, we couldn’t even see a brighter spot in the cloud to get an idea of where we were. We knew we were moving through space as we hiked, but the time of the day itself…that had ceased to move completely. Someone hit pause on the passage of time, and we moved up and over our mountain marveling at the grim sort of blustery day we encountered. As we began to descend off of Big Bald, we began to encounter clusters of bushes scattered along the knee high grass. It felt as if, at any time, Orcs would come streaming out towards us, and we would run to meet them with our trek poles changed to swords. Eventually we hit a shelter, and decided to take a break there for a moment. It was cold, and we ate something. Mcgyver wandered in, and So-Close about 15 minutes later. She was cold. Her rain jacket had been a casualty of an earlier weight-cutting binge early on in her trip, and she hadn’t really needed it until now. Consecutive days of rain are pretty grim. One day isn’t a big deal, if the next is sunny and dries you out. Two days of wet and in spite of any rain protection, you’re going to be soaked. This is where cotton will hurt you a lot. It never dries out. It gets wet, and it never, ever dries out. If you ever go for a serious multi-day trip, make sure you have wicking clothing. That’s a lesson C and I learned on one of our very first trips, and we hold to that rule. We also learned of the 40 mile challenge today. There’s a town (Hampton, TN) 40 miles from the first town in VA (Damascus). The challenge: cover that 40 miles in a day. Now that the thought has been presented, it seems like it may have to be done…