Peanut put it perfectly, today was ass. We woke up in the rain, everyone’s tents were soaked. The skies cleared a little and we mustered up enough motivation to make the 0.2 mile hike the rest of the way to Boots Off hostel.
It started raining and it was a torrential downpour. We stopped for a bit to see if the rain would let up but it poured just as hard all morning.
The group decided that the best thing to do would be hike the 21 miles to the next hostel, Rabbit Hole. After 15 minutes everyone was soaked. After another 3 miles there was hail, lightening, and thunder. Rick Flair and El Dorado had set out earlier on their own but the rest of us decided to turn back. We were already cold, our tents were soaked, and it just wasn’t worth it to keep going.
We turned around, hiked 2 miles back and called Rabbit Hole for a pick-up. We’d hiked the same 3 miles twice, made nearly no progress, got soaked and generally wasted the day. The weather is supposed to improve so I’m hoping tomorrow goes better.
Day 43 Mileage: 3.4 mi [Stream Campsite -> ~Watauga Lake Shelter]
Total Mileage: 439.5 mi