Blogging at The laundromat

I’m at the laundromat in nothing but a rain skirt and puffy jacket. After one week of hiking, three days of it in the rain, every item of clothing with me was either muddy, sweaty, filthy, and stinky. So I’m taking a zero day to dry out, clean up, and warm up. I decided to lighten my pack so, for the gear list junkies, here’s a list of all my clothes currently:

Socks – 2 pairs Darn Tough

Underwear and bra –  1 each

Shorts – 2 pairs (1 for hiking, 1 for sleeping)

T-shirts – 2 (1 for hiking, 1 for sleeping)

Base layer long sleeved shirt: Patagonia

Adidas running tights

Puffy jacket – Northface thermoball hoodie

Puffy pants (just in case it’s really cold at night, especially if the  running tights are too muddy to wear to bed. Tomorrow night is supposed to be around freezing. I only used them a few times in 2016, but when it was in the teens they saved my butt – literally.)

Marmot rain jacket

Mountain Laurel Designs rain skirt

Mountain Hardware fleece beanie

Home made climashield puffy booties

Mittens – climashield

I’ve reached the low point. Literally. The bear cage at the Bear Mountain Zoo is the lowest elevation. OK, I didn’t stoop quite that low. With Boomer I had to take the blue-blazed bypass around the zoo. So I’ve done the highest point, Clingmans Dome, and the lowest point.

Deluge Two days ago it rained about two inches. Luckily I reached the Tekephone Pioneers shelter in early afternoon, only about two hours after the pouring began in earnest. The shelter can hold six, but was perfect for the three of us humans, plus one dog, hibernating there for the afternoon, evening, and night. For the first time ever I didn’t hang my food. Guilty. The three of us made an executive decision to put our food bags together in the front of the lean-to an, if a bear came in that downpour, he or she could have it. Even Boomer was cold and had to wear his jacket that night.

Another milestone. Goodbye New York. Hello Connecticut.