Miles Hiked 68.9
Elevation 1,642 feet
Miles Hiked Today 11.2
Today, I was up and on my way by 6:15, which is when the sun comes up. I’m on my way to the Foran Gap Shelter. I made a decision about how far I want to go on a daily basis. When planning this hike, there were days that I intended to do as much as 18 miles and average at least 15 miles per day. However, because of the condition of the trail I have decided to just go shelter to shelter, which is roughly 11 mi per day. The problem with that change in plans is I’m running out of food and water is scarce. The longer I’m on the trail the more water and foo6 I need. It’s going to be a problem if it already has not become one.
The trail today was different than in the past couple of days. The rocks while always there in the past days were not that bad. Today they were bad, as bad as they were at the beginning of the hike.
As already indicated, it was slow going. In fact, I was wondering whether I’d be able to make the next shelter before dark. Around 4:00 p.m., I wasn’t too far from the shelter and I was definitely going to make it before dark. I stopped for water about a mile from the shelter. As I was packing up my backpack after getting the water, I heard somebody whistling at me. I turned around and there was a hunter with a shotgun slung over his shoulder. I guess the whistling was his way of letting me know he was there. I greeted him and told him to come on. We had a brief discussion and I found out he was hunting deer. He had just started so he was hunting at night. I was surprised to hear that. I thought night hunting was not allowed. We parted ways and I headed for the shelter.
Now the weather tonight was not going to be good. The wind was blowing about 20 miles per hour and the temperature was dropping fast. Supposedly, all shelters have a tarp to cover the opening. The shelters are three sided and one side is open to any wind that might be blowing. When I walked up to the shelter I started looking for a tarp. Oh shelters are supposed to have a tarp to cover the front opening. There was none. The wind was blowing directly into the shelter and that would definitely add to the discomfort of a night that was already supposed to go into the low 20°.
I had to do something so I pulled out my tarp. It took a while but I was able to put it up across the front opening of the shelter. Thank God I brought that tarp with me.
I made dinner just before going to bed. Then I put on all my clothes. That included long underwear, long undershirt, my regular shirt, my regular pants, wool socks and even my down jacket. I even took my water filter, my phone and my power block into my sleeping bag so the filter wouldn’t freeze and the batteries on my phone and power block will not lose power.
I was ready for the cold. I hope I can sleep tonight.
