The Train, The Train, The Train Is Coming

The Day 39

Monday May 1, 2017

Miles: 343.0 - 351.1

Weather: Warm to humid to rain and cold

Back to basecamp

It was a pleasantly warm night and morning. First night we didn't need to be zipped right in our mummy bags. As we were getting ready to throw on our packs and start the day's hike we could hear that Diesel engine. Instead of grabbing our packs and poles we snatched our iPhones and headed to the rail bed. We finally got to see our choo choo.

As usual, it was uphill right from the get go. Steep incline combined with straight up on our left and straight down on our right. Then we will round a corner and the up will be our right and the down on the left.

Shortcake is a strong hiker requiring few stops. I am the one who yells forward to her, "I need water or I need to rest". So after a couple hours I requested a hydration stop at a stream. The rest was quick and we continued onwards.

Next stop was at a shelter for a snack and another drink. That was fairly quick also. A few other hikers darted in. We discussed the weather and we all agreed it didn't look too bad. Boy were we wrong.

Soon after we got back on the trail it started to sprinkle which felt good because it was so humid. We continued without darning out rain gear. With each step the rain came down harder and the wind blew more fierce. Then to as insult to injury as we continued to climb on a semi exposed trail rumblings occurred overhead and it wasn't our trail.

We marched on and finally there was a break in the rain just as we walked into a tenting area that happened to be near a road. We threw up the tent in between rain drops and crawled in to wait out the rain.

I let Batman know we stopped shy of our destination and requested a weather update. Not liking what he sent back I asked him if he could find the road we were near and extract us. We were already starting to get too cold from being wet. I am sure once we put dry clothes on we could have toughed it out. But who wants to do that when you can be dry and warm. This was at 1:20pm and he had us by 3pm. So, we are back at basecamp tonight. 

Happy Hiking.