This was the first day with our full packs on. I weighed my pack a few days earlier. It weighed in at 25 lbs which wasn’t bad at all. This morning it took me longer than expected to get everything packed. Seemed like things multiplied. I weighed my pack again and it shot up to 40 lbs. Yikes. This is too heavy. It supposed to be no more than 30 lbs. I thought I’d get on the trail and just figure things out. This turned out to be a very bad idea.
The starting point for the day was Dicks Creek in Hiawassee, GA. Just before we got to our starting point we passed GW on the side of the road hitch hiking. My dad said it would be cool to pick him up take him back into Hiawassee which is where a lot of people hitch into to resupply or take a zero day. As we pulled in there were a few other guys also looking for a ride into town. A son and father duo called “the Bens”. We offered them a ride too. We took some pics and then headed back up onto the AT.
The day started off cold but not too bad. The sky started “spitting” rain drops on us. As we climbed several mountains with high elevations the rain became sleet. The fog was so thick we could barely see 15 feet in front of us. I stood on a ledge overlooking a solid white vast of fog. I thought albeit this is a nice view.
Our goal was to make it 17 miles. My pack was really heavy. So I thought why not go back to the cabin and offload some things I really didn’t need. But it was getting dark and the rain / sleet starting to come down more and more. So we stopped in at a shelter at mile 15. It was completely full. And most of the good tent sites were taken too. We decided to call my pops for another pick up. Larry found a road close by my Dad could get us at. My Dad confirmed he’d get us. We pressed on. The weather continued to get worse.
We arrived around 730 or so at our extraction point and it was pitch black and fog made it impossible to see. My dad was supposed to be there already. He wasn’t though. He’s never late. We stumbled around in the rainy darkness to make sure we were at the right place. I was trying to text and call but he didn’t have reception.
Plan B: We knew there was another shelter up ahead so we drudged on. We almost walked right by the shelter sign it was so dark. I texted my dad to let him know we were staying at the shelter. As we approached the shelter there were no lights on so I thought it was empty— we were in luck. Nope. The closer we got we saw back packs hanging from the ceiling and bodies in sleeping bags on the shelter wooden platforms. One guy was even sleeping on the ground in mud as the wind blew rain into the shelter. We asked if they had room. No.
We were forced back out into the rain and sleet to setup our tents. We had only pulled my tent out and looked at how to set it up in my basement the day before. We thought it looked pretty straight fwd. I suggested to Larry we help each other setup our tents so it would be faster and less rain would get inside our tents. Larry said he didn’t need help.
The wind was blowing 50-60 MPH. The rain and sleet mixture continue to come down. My trekking pole tent proved to be impossible to setup in those conditions. Every time I got one corner pinned down and went to pin another, the first one blew up in the wind. I asked Larry how his was coming along and turned around. He had his setup and was inside already. I asked him if he could give me a hand. He got out and took one look at the tent and said “grab your stuff and hop in my tent”. So I did.
My dad finally got reception and called. It was good to hear from him. He was worried about us. I was worried about him being lost in the woods in the fog and ice. I told him we were ok. He told us the service road we were trying to meet at was closed. That’s why he could get to us. I was wet and cold. Not good when it’s below freezing. After shivering for hours I finally fell asleep. The wind was blowing so hard I thought for sure the tent was going to blow over. But it didn’t… thank goodness. What a way to start our first night in the woods I thought.
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