Day 48 (ODT 16)

Day 48 (ODT 16): 19 miles

The first picture was 30 seconds before it started pouring and hailing. I could see it coming like I could see rain sporadically falling around me all day.

I didn’t sleep great since I found that my tent started to leak directly on my head and it rained all night. It must’ve done the same near my feet cause there were big puddles there. This tent has served me well for almost 7,000 miles, but this will probably be its last journey. It needs multiple repairs and might only be used lightly after that. I just bought a new one today that I’ll start using after the ODT. It’s an expense I didn’t really plan on but probably should have.

I walked 3.5 miles in the morning down to Denio Junction, crossing the border into Nevada. It was a gas station and restaurant. I had breakfast and lunch there while mentally recovering from the rough day of hiking prior and rough night. A guy working there asked a lot of questions about long distance hiking and I think I might know it before he does but he’s gonna be a thru hiker. He just had the perfect laid back attitude.

I walked back to the trail and hiked on for a bit. It was easy hiking, but the weather was annoying. It would be sunny then a wave of clouds would roll in and start raining for a bit and then repeat. Around 5 the sky turned fully dark and it started to hail sideways with the wind. This was extremely frustrating. After I found some flat ground, I set up camp. It lightened up to rain then but the wind was probably still blowing at 40+ mph so setting up my tent was aggravating.

Of course, after I set up my tent, it calmed down. But I still ended the day early cause I don’t trust these skies. And if I kept going I would only get higher in elevation approaching “Windy Pass.” So I figured it’ll probably be worse up there.

It feels weird stopping this early but I just laid back and watched some episodes of Seinfeld I downloaded on my phone. And it’s supposed to rain through the night and into the morning so I’ll probably start late too. Or maybe not if the inside of my tent is a lake anyways with these leaks.