Miles: 316.9 | A slow, rainy morning leads to an unexpected solo start, leaving me unsettled and worried as I hike on alone. The rain fades, the sun comes out briefly at lunch, and the miles stack up as Maverick and I walk together through the afternoon, pushing past our planned distance in search of a more protected campsite. The day ends quietly with a cold night, an unfinished dinner, and the familiar frustration of feeling chilled by my sleeping pad.
We woke up to rain. I stirred around 7:30am and got up around 8 when I realized the rain wasn’t stopping. Maverick got up around the same time. Unusually, Josh was still in his hammock. Tang was, like normal, not even out of bed yet. I went over to Josh’s hammock thinking maybe he was just waiting out the rain.
I said quietly, “Josh, are you awake?” He didn’t respond. He wasn’t snoring. His eyes were closed. He usually snores. ‘Is he fake sleeping?’ I thought…
I went back to my tent and packed up everything inside. I went back to Josh’s hammock, maybe he just didn’t hear me. “Josh, you awake?” No response. I told Tang I was packing up and heading out. He said he was going to wait out the rain. We had planned to do 16 miles that day. Maverick went up to the shelter to eat his breakfast out of the rain and get water. I headed out of camp.
I walked alone for a few hours, not stopping once. At 8 miles I came upon the next shelter. The rain had slowly stopped over the few hours I was hiking. I sat down at the picnic table at the shelter and took out my wet tent to let it air out a bit.
The sun came out while I ate my lunch. Mile was at the shelter. He had also been having gear problems and apparently a lot of foot pain. Near the end of my lunch, Maverick rolled up to the shelter. Josh and Tang never showed up to lunch.
I thought, maybe they both waited out the rain and I’ll see them at camp. But deep inside I felt like I’d just left my best friends yet. I felt a little bit guilty and also nervous. I hoped they would show up to camp that night and I got back to walking.
We walked together for the afternoon. Chit chatting and keeping good pace. We got to the 16 mile mark. We knew the weather would be cold this night. We saw a shelter up the hill on the map and figured there might be a more protected site there. We pushed a few more miles to the shelter.
We set up our tents at the bottom of a small hill and made dinner. I had a hard time finishing my dinner. We went to bed early to stay warm. My sleeping pad made me cold again.