Sep 2

Sep 2 Friday Fave: Pisgah National Forest

Roo Giordano

gear, roulette

RAIN!

Trail: Butter Gap to Art Loeb to Cat Gap, start and end at the Fish Hatchery.

Distance: 8 miles

Conditions: wet, rainy, sloppy,

Date Hiked: 8/10/16

Rain off & on, so this hike required me to bust out my rain gear a couple of times, including my lightweight rain jacket and my pack cover.

Feet should be seen and not felt.

Wore my new Saucony Peregrine 6 trail runners as I continue the internal debate on whether to thru-hike in boots or in trail runner shoes. The good news…I did not feel my feet the whole time.

Except when I had to cross the stream that was twice as full as normal. Got wet. No gore-tex. That’s the downside of wearing trail runners v. boots.

Big Rookie Mistake Alert!

I forgot to bring my map. So when I realized I felt great and was making good time and could easily add a couple of miles, I didn’t have my map to refer to to make a better informed choice.

So I decided to have lunch, instead.

I found a relatively sheltered place under a hemlock tree to sit and have my cheese and apples.

Luckily it wasn't pouring when I decided to take a break. But it did leave me contemplating the pros and cons of hiking with an umbrella, something I never would have found remotely acceptable in the past.

But what if it's raining?

And you're hungry?

And you don't want your sandwich to get wet?

An umbrella might just save the day.

For the pros and cons of putting an ultralight umbrella on your gear list, read this contemplative post I wrote about that very subject. There are for sure pros. And there are cons.

But the whole idea isn't as lame as you might think!