Day 36

Monday April 6, 2009
Day 36

Weather:
Rain in the morning. Afternoon – evening snow storm.

Today’s Hike:
Hogback Ridge Shelter to Bald Mtn. Shelter - 10.6 miles

The forecast for Monday & Tuesday called for rain, so when the rain began to sputter against the fly of the tent at 3am it wasn't too much of a surprise. The rain stopped by the morning, providing a chance to get packed up without getting soaked. The temperature dropped overnight, and the sky looked like rain, just as predicted. So I dressed appropriately, and started the northward journey to Maine at 9:25am.

About an hour after taking off, we crossed under a highway leading to nowhere. When we reached the other side I could hear the rain hitting the unleaved tree branches above, and quickly realized that the usual wet rain was now freezing rain. “Crap, it's gonna snow”, I thought aload. As we continued northward and upward the freezing rain transitioned into a snowstorm. We were at least 5.5 miles (2.5 hours) from the next shelter. We had no choice but to make it there. If we were to stay where we were we chanced getting snowed into our tent. Bad situation. If we continued to the shelter we would have more protection from the weather, and would be that much closer to making it to Erwin, TN. So onward and upward we went. The wind and snow fell harder and we pressed harder. After about an hour of hiking we came to a bald. Crap. Hugh winds, snow, and an open mountaintop. It's going to be a bad version of hiking over Max Patch. And I was right, except here the wind was worse. Occasionally I could look forward and would catch glimpses of Muster hanging onto post markers so that she wouldn't fall over. Most of the time I was faced down and turned against the wind so that the snow wouldn't cut into by eyes, and I to was trying not to let the wind knock me over. It was awful. I wanted off the bald. After trekking in open for about 30 minutes we made it back into the forest and a little relief set in. At least underneath the bare trees there was some protection from the wind. However, this brought a new challenge. The entire ground was covered in snow, except for the trail which was completely untouched, muddy, and slick. I was able to avoid the first few slippery spots by watching Muster slip and slide (but never falling). I missed a spot however and went crashing down on my left side. Crap, now I'm covered in snow and mud. Luckily we arrived at the shelter shortly there after. Luckier yet that this is
the nicest shelter we've seen since Walnut shelter 65 miles back.

We've tied a tent fly across the front of the bottom platform to help block the wind and drifting snow, and we've tied the tent itself width wise cutting the bottom platform in half and boxing ourselves in. I also ate a hot bowl of soup and poured boiling water into my Nalgene bottle and stuck it in my sleeping bag to help keep warm. Hope that the storm passes overnight. Regardless, it's 17 miles to Erwin where there's a Holiday Inn Express and a hot tub. I plan on being there tomorrow night.