Day 27: A wet day on trail

August 11: The rain eventually stopped during the night and the flood was over. By morning, much to my astonishment, the large puddle that had formed under my tarp had vanished! Where did the water go?!

The ground was still damp and much of my gear was wet so I got a late start to the day's hike trying to dry out. But still, I managed to get on the trail and walking by 7:00am.

The rain had stopped during the night, but there was patchy fog and off and on sprinkles throughout the morning.

The forecast for the day called for rain throughout the day and although the rain had stopped, it looked like it could start up again at any time--which it did. Throughout the morning, it would sprinkle on and off.

The trail continued to follow gravel roads for most of the day. There was a small section late in the morning where it turned onto a paved road which depressed me, but the pavement only lasted for maybe half a mile before returning to gravel. Whew! And late in the day, the trail followed an actual trail. Well, technically, it used to be an old gravel road but was no longer maintained as such and giant piles of dirt and rocks were piled up to keep out traffic.

But basically, it was a continuation of the previous two days of road walk that added another 23.4 miles of road walk. It was quick and easy, but nothing to write home about either.

Late in the morning, I passed under a railroad bridge which protected the ground underneath from the light rain so I stopped there for a short lunch break.

I took a lunch break under the bridge which protected me from the sprinkles.

Around noon, the sprinkles stopped and I could finally start drying out, but that changed in the late afternoon when ugly clouds with thunder came blowing in. It was, I sensed, a foreboding of much heavier rain than the sprinkles I dealt with throughout the morning.

I picked up my pace hoping to reach the creek where I planned to stop for the night before the rain struck, but I didn't make it. About a mile from my destination, the rain poured down in thick sheets. Argh! I arrived at my campsite completely and utterly soaked to the bone.

I set up my tarp in the deluge, not really in any particular rush since I was already soaked to the bone then dived under it. I unfolded my groundsheet and laid it out then pulled out my dry camp clothes before changing out of the thoroughly wet hiking clothes. I set the wet clothes aside--they weren't going to be fun to put back on in the morning!--and slipped into my sleeping bag where it felt so warm and cozy again.

I'm happy to report that the tarp kept the rain away and there were no water intrusion issues for me to deal with. I did, however, set my tarp a little too low so I couldn't sit up fully underneath it--but that was a much better problem to have than water intrusion issues!

The rain stopped a couple of hours later at which point I got out to raise the roof level of my tarp, fill my bottles with water from the nearby creek and cooked dinner.

And that was that! If there was one word to describe the day, it was just wet. I wet in the morning, wet in the afternoon and wet in the evening. Wet, wet wet!

It was wet enough that all of the pine cones closed up.

I have no idea what this decaying structure used to be!

I thought this was a weird distance to list. Why not just say the next 4 miles?

I passed by some homes along the way, and I think this box was meant for delivery drivers to leave packages inside where they would be protected from the elements.

*sigh*