August 4

I was up before 6am today. As I got out of my tent I waved goodbye to Commander-in-Cheif. She was out early! Everyone one else was still asleep. So I did a little laundry and packed up my tent. When I got back to the shelter everyone except Beth was awake, so I got her up too. Beth is slow, but I packed up her backpack, so we could finally leave at 8:15. Everyone else, even the tenters who woke up after her were long gone.

But once we were out, Beth was the fast one. I was in a daze and dragging. It was still quite dark and I needed the sun to really wake me up. Oh did I mention it was wet, dark and rainy?

It was intersting being in such a daze. I was totally unemotional. Not annoyed at the rain or happy that I was on the trail - nothing. I finally woke up at the top of the first hill we had to climb. It was muddy all the way up - oh did I mention it was wet? Not horribly cats and dogs wet, but constantly dripping light rian. And the trail was filled with mud wallows. Some had rocks so you could hop across. With others you had to be more imaginative.

On the way down that hill the trail turned into a small creek - did I mention it was wet? The trail maintainers had water bars in places that diverted the water off the trail, but about 10 yards down, the creek was right back. The ground is just saturated. But the light rain is actually pleasent. It is humid and about 75 degrees. The rain cools us down nicely - but isn't so hard as to be uncomfortable.

We did want to stop and the rain finally let up so we stopped at an old beaver pond for lunch #1. The gingerbread cookies were especially good. Two other women hiking decided our resting spot was nice so joined us. And it was quite lovely looking over the pond. A little linemint for my knee and we were off to conquer Consultation Hill.

Yesterday's hike was highlighted by fungii. Today it was moss. Huge carpets covered the rocks. With the occasional tiny mushroom poking out. The moss obviously loved the wet humid summer - I did mention it was wet right?

As we hiked up the hill we occasionally saw our shadows. WOW the sun was tyring to come out. Every time it tried I would smile. I'm not quite sure why. The light rain was actually much cooler and more pleasent to hike in. I must have liked the light. As we got closer to the shelter we could even see blue sky. It was quite a pleasent surprise.

Oh dear I forgot to write about lunch. What would a hike be without food? Lunch #2 was at 12:15 by a small stream. Lunch #3 was in the shelter at 2:30, but only Beth partook. I wasn't hungry. But I was by 4:15 so started making muffins for dinner. After that was done, it was just a few minutes to make stuffing.

We shared the camp with a Boy Scout troup and Wanderer who was a strange man that carried way too heavy of a pack. After dinner the thru-hikers started showing up. I'm sure the shelter will be full tonight but I won't know until morning. The thunder started booming but the rain hadn't started. Beth and I rushed to brush our teeth and clean up before bed. Now I am safely ensconced in my tent as the first drops start. I think I'll read until it gets dark.