| Trip Report: |
I awoke to a thunderstorm which started in the middle of the night and my tent leaked so bad that I had an inch of water in my tent and felt as though the tent was floating because there was so much water standing in the area. Of course it was no big surprise after being somewhat disappointed that the old cheese factory site did not have any kind of shelter or building just a nice grassy campsite. I quickly packed up my gear and decided to skip breakfast because it was only two miles to the tray mountain shelter and I figured if I could make it there I could try to dry out my gear and get warmed up. It was a lot harder hiking in the rain because the clouds make it dark and the fog was beginning to roll in pretty hard. This section of the trail has a lot of rocks and climbs nearly 800 feet then descends 200 feet to the shelter which does not seem like a lot but the rain has made it very slick and somewhere along the way I slipped and twisted my knee so by the time I got to the shelter it was all I could do to hobble in and hang my stuff out to dry. I did not try to start a fire because it was raining too hard but I laid out my sleeping bag which was just damp and my emergency blanket then after changing into a dry set of clothes I curled up put a heat pad on my knee with it elevated and snuggled up to get warm because the rain and wind were cold. I guess I fell asleep because I woke up about 8pm and decided to fix dinner because I had not eaten most of the day then about 10pm is when another couple wandered into the shelter. They sat up a double hammock to sleep in with a tarp so I still had the whole shelter to my self. While they were trying to cook on the shelf along the outer wall of the shelter a mouse decided to run up and down looking for scraps which was kind of funny to watch. Later the girl told me her and her boyfriend still did not have trail names and if they did not get one soon her mom threatened to name them beard and blister so I gave them the names of Mickey and Mini Mouse. I was just being funny at first but they decided they liked it. Now it was midnight and time to get some sleep so I could try to hike to the next shelter tomorrow and hope for a break in the rain. However around 3 am I awoke the storm had broke and the clouds parted somewhat to show the super moon between some trees. At first I was not sure if it was the moon, a UFO, or a search and rescue helicopter out looking for someone on the trail. |
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