A good day to hike ?

We decided to set back out on trail today...40% chance of thunderstorms ...lovely.
We left Nurse Betty's and she drove us the 40 miles to the trailhead. There was a light mist and the mountains were covered with fog, it broke briefly and we got a glimpse of Mt. Moosilauke. Impressive, you get roughly around a 3000ft elevation gain in 3 miles.
It's 2pm. We said our goodbyes to Nurse Betty :( and set off. We cross a few swollen streams and Nick finds some nice camping spots. This is typical, when we get a late start back on trail, Nick likes to just set up camp and then get an early start the next day. In hindsight that might have been the best idea. But I decided we should push on at least to the shelter, it is only .7 miles in but the sign said 1.5 ?? Hmm? We have been off trail a long time and we have 48miles in 5 days to get to the wedding(that is another story! )
We begin our ascent,  I quickly shed my rain gear. It isn't raining and I am burning up! We leave our pack covers on( good idea).
The climb (literally) is beautiful.  We are climbing just feet away from the waterfall the entire time. It begins to drizzle. I stop to take as many pictures as possible.  Thank goodness for these rebar handholds.
The rain picks up. I get a few shots of Nick climbing the wooden steps attached to the rockface. The rain is now actually rain. We should be getting close? Cue the thunder. No time for raingear, besides there is nowhere to stop. No more pictures for me. Just climbing, climbing behind Nick trying to lift Bailey from the spots she is trying to burrow in. I use alot of babytalk to advance her up the trail, but she hates thunder, maybe as much as Nick. The thunder continues and the rain is almost painful. We haven't walked in rain like this since Hurricane Irene last year in Maine. Soaked would not even begin to describe us.We pass a couple of northbounders who say the shelter is another 1/4 mile or so. Ugh. We continue on....it isn't pretty.
We finally reach the shelter and decide to dry out a bit inside, get our raingear on and then set up camp. THAT isn't happening. The shelter has a few dayhikers in it, complete with Subway and tarps hanging. Nick greets them, no response. We are aliens, wet aliens with a wet alien furry animal. And we are not getting into their shelter. Nice!
This sparks a few comments from Nick as we search for the best muddy hole, I mean tent pad, to pitch. We set up camp, change into dry clothes and embrace the warmth and wet dog smell that is home. :)
It is 430 now and time for dinner. Should be in bed by 6pm. I love it out here. It is good to be back. I can't wait to see what tomorrow holds! ;)
P.s. ... I admit to Nick that I got my mileage wrong, it really was 1.5 to the shelter...his response, " yeah, I know!". We both have a little chuckle...oops.

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.6