Day 99 (PNT 4)

Day 99 (PNT 4): 24 miles

I woke up around midnight to a bright flash. I was alarmed for a few seconds wondering what was going on. Is someone taking a picture of my tent? But then the loud kaboom answered my question. It started storming and didn’t stop for a while. The lightning and thunder was constant and there were really high winds. It kept me up past 4 am. It was quite the light show. It wasn’t ideal, but I’d much rather have that happen at night rather than when I’m high up on a ridge.

I slept in and got moving around 8. The first 10 or so miles weren’t bad. They were on a dirt road. It was raining which I didn’t love, but it wasn’t terrible. After those first 10 miles, the road turned into overgrown trail and walking through cold and wet plants constantly was much worse than getting rained on. The rain didn’t stop either. I was just whimpering walking through 7 miles of overgrown brush that was soaking wet.

In the afternoon, it opened back up to a dirt road for a bit before going back on a trail. I debated stopping really early around 3:30 because the most recent report from another hiker said that it was still filled with a ton of snow. I wasn’t sure how camping would be with that up on the ridge I was headed to. But I decided I’d go and deal with it. The snow turned out to be almost all melted and not a problem.

After climbing up to the ridge, it was a beautiful hike overlooking the massive green pine valleys below. I was happy to be up high instead of down there.

I still ended the day early around 6:30 cause the topos look like they’re gonna get a little funky ahead and I didn’t want to do a real late night. I’m camping up near 7,000 feet which is a little different. Mainly, there’s no bugs! But also it’s a little chilly. It’s been hot lately until the storm cooled it down today so I’m happy to have a colder night up here.

I though I heard a bear today but didn’t see anything. Soaking wet shoes and shorts all day was not fun. I think I’m gonna get my rain pants sent to me (I normally don’t carry any)

Song of the day: sabotage-beastie boys