AT 2024, Day 5: Wet. And Green.
How is Virginia so, so green? Oh, I know. It’s because it’s so WET!
Day 5, Saturday, 5.4 .2024
Start: M. 542.9, Stealth site in the rhodies
End: M. 558.9, Stealth site at Possum Creek
Miles Hiked: 16.0
Total Miles: 56.5
Elevation Gain: 3,134 feet
Mostly wet all day today.
Wet when I visited the Settler’s Museum and the old Schoolhouse.
Settler’s Museum.
Closed this morning. Normally they offer snacks to hikers passing through.
Wet as I visited not one, but two gas station convenience stores in Atkins hoping for a Krispy Kreme display (nope!).
Wet as I traipsed through pastoral meadows past cows and under creepy buzzing power lines.
Wet when I arrived at the random privy in the woods and met Luna, Stag, Oz and Worldwide.
Just a privy alone in the woods for no reason.
Wet when I ran into Shepherd again and realized that the crew at the privy, as well as Frozone, were part of his “flock.”
Wet when I set up my tent in the rain, knowing that if I pushed on to the shelter it would already be full of the hikers I’d met at the privy.
And, most disconcertingly, wet inside my brand new fancy fucking Durston dyneema tent because it was both leaking (OMFG!) and coated with condensation so that every drop of rain on the outside shook loose droplets on the inside, splashing me in the face throughout the night.
Not great, y’all.
But at least the Whip-poor-will that started up at dusk right over my head eventually moved on, letting me snatch bits of sleep in between periodic dousings throughout the night.
Seemed like a good day to remind myself that this is what I signed up for. And even though it sounds miserable, I still love it all.
All except paying an arm and a leg for a tent that might be a dud.
