A Day of Hiking is Better than a Day at Work

Day 14- 12.4 miles today Gooch Mountain Shelter to Woods  Hole Shelter, 2963 Feet Up 2103 Feet down, Total 102 AT miles

Do I Have to Get Out of Bed?

After a nice warm comfy sleep in Gooch Mountain Shelter, I awoke before sunrise and the cold rain was still pattering on the roof. I did not want to climb out of my warm sleep setup, fix a cold soak breakfast and cold coffee/protein shake, then put on my wet shoes and clothes and start to hike. The next shelter was 12.4 miles away and this time of year you have to start at dawn or earlier because sunset is at 5:30 pm.

With a 1.5 mph pace I would need about 9 hours to hike today before it got dark. So I got out of my warm sleep setup and started packing up. It was probably in the lower 40’s temperature and it was forecast to rain all day.

What Shall I Wear on my Hike Today?

I learned earlier in my hiking career that cold and wet can kill you. So for this trip I had double bagged in compactor trash bags my sleeping bag, a complete set of sleep clothes, socks, down booties, puffy, and a hat. I refused to take any of that out until I was in a dry shelter. I didn’t care how wet or cold I was during my hike as long as I could get into my warm sleep setup once in a dry shelter.

I struggled with what to have for rain gear on my thru hike. I tried an umbrella but I am too tall so I kept hitting the roof of the green tunnel. A rain coat and pants are fruitless because you will get wet on the inside from sweat anyway. For my first thru hike attempt I decided on a Frogg Toggs Jacket only. I was planning to only really use this as wind breaker in the Whites.

For this trip I decided to try a Frogg Toggs poncho. So I donned the poncho. At first I couldn’t figure out how to get it over my Osprey Exos pack. Through a few tries I figured out that I had to put the poncho on my pack first then climb underneath. So off I went. I loved the poncho.

The poncho did not cover my arms. I did find more trail magic at the Gooch Mountain Shelter where someone had left a rain coat. That coat would cover my arms but I decided to not wear it today.

A Day of Hiking is Better than a Day at Work?

Today’s hike was cold, wet, and typical climbs up from gaps along a ridge then back down to a gap. The views look like they would be spectacular but the area is covered in clouds. The climb down Ramrock Mountain had multiple wet steps that required my concentration but the rest of today’s hike was routine.

Woody gap was the first paved road I came to on this hike but I did not intend to leave the trail yet so I hiked on. Coming out of Woody gap is a good climb up to Big Cedar Ledges and Preachers Rock which were supposedly great views but not today.

I passed my estimated 100 mile mark unceremoniously about when I entered the Blood Mountain Wilderness. In Spring you must have a bear canister in the Blood Mountain Wilderness but the bears his time of year are no problem. It’s bear hunting season so the bears are terrified of any human scent this time of year.

Time for some Math

Woods Hole Shelter was 0.4 miles from the AT. That’s a 0.8 mile penalty. Blood Mountain Shelter was directly on the AT 1.2 miles from the Woods Hole Junction Trail so that would be only 0.4 miles additional hiking. Time for some AT math calculus.

Looking at Farout, a Trail runner who maintains the Blood Mountain Shelter said there is a resident wood rat at that shelter. I am cool with mice but a battling a rat all night did not sound like fun.  An additional 2.4 miles would take me to the Mountain Crossings hostel which sounded really good after a full day of hiking. 

That would be 1.2 miles plus 2.4 miles or 3.6 miles total minus the 0.8 mile Woods Hole Shelter penalty for 2.8 AT miles hiking. The hostel would be a warm, dry bed. I called the hostel and Bill said he was leaving at 5 pm. More math and I decided at best it would 7-8 pm before I could get to the hostel. I would also have to climb up and then down Blood Mountain, in the dark. So I decided to stick with the original plan for Woods Hole Shelter.

My need for AT math calculus would become even more important later in my hike.

I left the AT for the 0.4 mile penalty hike to Woods Hole Shelter which was a decent shelter occupied by one other hiker Wondr. Wondr was out for a few days and planning a thru hike attempt in the Spring. The Shelter had a bear box which made we question why a bear canister is required.  It was close to hiker midnight so I did my unpacking and set up then went to sleep as the cold rain continued over night.

A day of hiking, even in the cold windy rain, with no views was still better than a day doing anything else.