Date: 6/16/20
Miles: 12.8
Total Miles: 94.2
It started slowly. First a few drops, then a pause. It’s also the way yesterday had ended, as a localized storm system brushed past the trail and its edges caught up with us like the wake from a distant boat. The tarps hanging over each of our heads were mostly a precaution, but one that was quickly proving a wise one with every passing drop.
Small clusters of drops gave way to more steady ones, replaced finally by a steady rain and a gusty, swirling wind. As each passing hour of the night and early morning brought worse conditions, it was clear what kind of day this might be when it was time to cast aside the cocoon of down warmth and step onto the trail.
Two days earlier, in the arctic freezer that it was, we debated whether it would be worse if the temperature was perhaps 10 degrees warmer but raining as well. We all agreed that it would be, not knowing of course that we’d only have to wait 48 hours to prove the theory true.
It wasn’t until we’d broken free of the confines of the forest and up onto a broad expanse of tabletop sagebrush that it became clear how foolish the weather had chosen to be. Walking on an almost due west heading, the south wind that pelted us relentlessly from the left was as if someone had turned a cold shower on side ways. The only mental relief was in knowing that our first resupply stop in town was a mere 13 miles away, but even that comes as cold comfort when grinding your teeth through two and a half hours of driving cold rain will soon be followed by another two and a half hours. Sometimes all you can do is suffer.
No one would say that hiking in these conditions is fun, or even necessarily safe for more than a certain length of time. And that was our challenge today—to decrease the time spent as much as possible in conditions that all but beckoned for hypothermia while also keeping a level head about how to best manage the misery. Forcing yourself to eat, or stop to add a layer for warmth, even as the damp cold starts to effect the movement of your joints can be a hard thing to do when every instinct you have is to abandon all thought and run for home. Experience doesn’t make this easier to do—it only makes it clear what’s important to do.
Miles after the dirt road we were on had turned into a veritable mudslide, we rounded a bend to get a first glimpse of Interstate 15 below and our destination for the day where Beardoh’s mom would be waiting to bring us into town. The end of the insanity in sight, we could release the focus we’d held for hours ever so slightly and start to give in to the reality that would soon be ours: a hot shower, and a warm bed.
Sounds like a difficult start to the hike but as your niece, Cadence, says, you are all “tough cookies”. Enjoy your rest day. Hope the weather improves!
Mom
If Cadence says it, it must be true. Thanks Mom!
❤️
Sideways, bitter cold rain….yuck! Another “brutal” day on the CDT. Wishing you warmer drier days ahead. Until then, rest up and warm up.
I’m just catching up with you! The pics are stunning and it sounds like a perilous beginning.
I hope you are warm and dry by now, cold and rain really sucks. Love and warm hugs.
Thanks Cathleen! Certainly enjoying the warmth of the indoors today—it’s 41 degrees down in the town we’re staying in and has been pouring all day. There’s even a winter storm warning in effect for the mountains, so great timing for a rest day.
This blog is better than my subscription to backpacker magazine. Now that I am all caught up I will be looking forward to your daily entries. Despite the weather it looks like you’re having a great time. The scenery certainly hasn’t disappointed. Can’t wait to see some more photos.
How the heck do you have time to write so much?
All in a day’s work, Proton! The real answer is I don’t, but I just stay up for awhile writing in my hammock after we’ve all turned in for the night
Rest day couldn’t have been planned at a better time!
No kidding! We ended up taking a second day off to wait the aftermath of a winter storm that was forecasted to drop up to a foot of snow in the mountains yesterday.
I’ll add to the Q&A here. Where do you think ones love of hiking comes from? I grew up in a city and our family never hiked (or did much of anything outdoorsy). Up until last year, I didn’t even do much as an adult. Now it’s pretty much an obsession. The one benefit of this pandemic is that it’s really freed up our previously busy calendar, so we’ve been on a day hike every weekend since early spring. I spend way too much time figuring out during the week which hike we’ll do next and pretty much have planned our summer vacations around it. I’d stop short of saying the wife and boys are as psyched about this as much as I am, but for the most part they don’t complain. I wonder what effect this will have on the boys (seeing it wasn’t a part of my childhood). Will they back-lash and never hike on their own or will they be doing the Continental Divide Trail in 20 years? Who knows???
Such a great question, Jesse. I think there are so many paths to a love for and an appreciation of the outdoors. My own story is kind of uninteresting, having always been exposed to it by a dad who seemed to find something that put him at peace out there. But I’ve met a ton of hikers over the years who came to it far later in life after having never given the outdoors as much as an afterthought. My Mom is a great example—she never expressed much interest until she joined me, at age 54, for a week during my Appalachian Trail thru-hike. She went home changed, and off she went to feed the obsession. 13 years later, we finished the Adirondack 46ers together. I’m sure it’s harder for kids like your boys to get into it given all the distractions they have in their lives than we did as kids, but I think that only makes it that much more worth doing with them. Where are you planning to head off to with them this summer?
It’s funny you mention the Adirondack 46ers. After doing Panther Mtn last week, I was looking into the Catskills 3500 (http://catskill-3500-club.org/peaks.php). The good thing about those is we can drive to those from our house. As for vacation, we’re going to the Finger Lakes next week (hitting up a couple of the state parks out that way). Hoping to either go to Acadia N.P. in Maine or Congaree/Shenandoah later in the summer.
I love all of those plans, Jesse. Acadia is spectacular if you haven’t been, but it’s hard to beat having the Catskills 3500 basically right out your front door.