Georgia to Maine...via Connecticut...
Yesterday, it rained all day. Literally. A steady drip from the wee hours of the morning until after dark. Hiking in the rain is physically hard, it's true. The rocks, leaves and roots you step on are slick as glass, and there's nothing you can do to keep any part of you truly dry. But the harder part about hiking in the rain is the mental fatigue. I know that sounds silly....mental fatigue?...from rain?...but trust me. When all you see for hours is grey mist, and you are so cold and wet you start to forget what warm and dry are, and your $XXX dollar waterproof hiking shoes are full of muddy water, and the only sound that breaks up the plop of the raindrops on your rainjacket hood is the squeak of not-so-waterproof fabric against your chaffed skin...you start to get depressed. Don't get me wrong. Walking in bad weather is a key part of this experience. I've hiked in rain, thunder, snow, sleet, and high winds. At first it made me feel really hardcore. Then it made me feel a little anxious. After a few days of doing it, it just made me feel like I was making really bad decisions. Needless to say, this go around, Amicus and I had a pact, of sorts, that we would not start hiking in foul weather. If foul weather finds us while we're out, then we will brave it like the intrepid explorers we are. But if the foul weather beats us to the Trail, Mother Nature can have it for the day. Yesterday, the Trail definitely belonged to Mother Nature. We spent the say scouting routes and exploring the area, and amazingly, after a very dreary day, Mother Nature showed us her good side. Today was gorgeous. 65 degrees and barely a cloud in the sky. It was a great day to be out.
Beautiful Trail in Spring
We hiked a little over 11 miles today. And within the first two of those miles, we were very glad we didn't try to tackle this section of Trail in the rain. Today was the hardest day of hiking we've had yet. There wasn't a single piece of level Trail. It was all either up or down. Mostly over rocks and roots. On a gorgeous day like today, it was as challenge. Yesterday, it would've made for a pretty treacherous obstacle coarse. Our pace was pretty slow, but we made it over the rough terrain. There were lots of nice views and we took plenty of breaks to enjoy them. Everything is starting to turn bright green. I love it. It's beautiful. Everything is coming alive again. Not including us, though. 11+ miles of rocks and roots makes us hikers pretty tired. But it's a good tired. We will sleep well tonight.
Nano and Amicus at the River
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