Day Two: 476.9 Campsite to Lost Mountain Shelter Northbound on the Appalachian Trail

The river thundered below us all night long, drowning out any other sounds in the forest. We woke before dawn, tired of being in our sleeping bags for nearly 12 hours. It wasn't overly cold, but we made our coffees from the openings of our tents, trying to hold onto as much warmth and dryness as possible. And then the rain began. Unfortunately, this meant we had to pack our tents wet. Rain or no rain, the show would go on.

The rhododendron-lined trail followed the river, and we could see the devastated Virginia Creeper Trail on the other side. Every bridge was washed away, and huge sections of trail were missing, too. What a sad sight to see.  Because of the rain, every trickling stream was much larger, giving us many opportunities to get our feet wet if we weren’t careful.  

Soon the trail began to climb, and it was steep. So steep!  We had to stop and remove layers because our rain gear was trapping in so much heat.  And then the rain went from light rain to RAIN. I checked my watch and couldn’t believe that we hadn’t even gone two miles! This was going to be a long day. 

We decided to head to Saunders Shelter for a pack break and to have a snack out of the rain. 

At this point, we finally all had our trail names.  Chelsea was now Rosy, due to her pink pack and endless pink gear. Kara was named Animal during our last AT trip and the name has stuck.  Why Animal?  Well, let's just say she has her own unique way of packing and carrying her gear and she reminds us of Animal from The Muppets.  Amy was named Free Bird, because she came to this adventure without a watch or any other form of GPS tracking-unheard of!  Misty was named Seal because she wore big, black rain-proof glove covers which made her look like she had seal flippers.  And me?  I was named Pioneer Woman early last year after I showed up to a running/hiking weekend with fresh eggs and homemade truffles for everyone.

It was nice to sit for a bit, and to have a little relief from the rain and difficult terrain, but it was time to get back on trail.

I think we sat there a little too long because by the time we left I was very cold. I said, “Let’s hike out of here fast to warm up!” And I took off. When I turned around, no one was behind me. I figured someone needed a last-minute pack adjustment and they’d be along shortly. But then they weren’t. I called to them but got no reply. Where were they?  I kept yelling for them and thought I heard a reply once, but it was coming from somewhere beyond the shelter. Did they get ahead of me? Did they go another way? Should I go down the trail and try to find them? I yelled one more time and finally heard them. They had followed a blue blaze, but the one that led to the water source, not the one that led back to the AT. Once reunited, we took the correct blue blaze trail back to the AT and headed north. 

My hands were so cold inside my soaking wet gloves. I kept balling my hands up trying to get warm, but eventually, I ended up taking off the gloves and pulling my bare hands up inside my shirt sleeves. The steep climb we were hiking combined with a break in the rain allowed my hands to warm up enough to hold my trekking poles again. From seemingly nowhere, Kara pulled a bag of Valentine's conversation heart candies from her pack and shared them.  Instant mood lifter!

What goes up must come down and soon we were down along the raging river again with the VCT on the opposite bank.  There were so many little stream crossings and we were thankful for every little bridge we came to.

The big river was so loud and very fast moving, and all of the rain we were getting was certainly not helping anything.  I had a bad feeling that we were going to come to a stream that we couldn’t cross due to all the flooding, but there ahead of us was a glorious well-built bridge high above the deafening water below. 

We had been diverted off the trail on several re-routes due to downed trees and landslides caused by Helene. It was strange how the forest could look totally normal one moment and then we’d turn a corner and there would be chaos. This terrain combined with the rain caused the miles to pass very slowly.  Again, we were so very thankful for all of the trail clearing that had been done.  Even getting the proper equipment into those remote areas to cut and move the massive trees must've been a challenge.

After several hours of hiking in the rain and mud, slipping and sliding through the forest, we were ready to call it a day.  The Lost Mountain Shelter sign came into view right when we needed it.

Amy and Kara had a bit of an issue with their rain pants not actually being resistant to rain, and they were thoroughly soaked.  Because of this, they decided to set up a tent to share inside the shelter to get fully out of the relentless rain.

Meanwhile, Chelsea, Misty and I set up our tents among the trees behind the shelter, making sure that we were safe from any potential blowdowns overnight.  When I tell you it was wet, it was wet. Anything not in our waterproof liners (I used a trash compactor bag) was wet.  Our shoes were wet.  Our packs were wet.  Our tents were wet.  One bonus of having a two-person tent is that there is a little room to spread out on nights like this.  I designated one corner as the "wet corner" and laid out everything that needed to dry on a chamois towel.  I had little hopes that my sopping wet gloves and shoes would dry, but there was nothing to be done about that. 

 Upon setting up camp, Kara discovered that her sleeping bag was also wet.  This was not good.  She had gotten chilled during the last part of our hike and now she was having a hard time getting warm with all of her wet gear.  While she layered up on clothing and tried to get warm in the tent, Amy hung clothing and gear everywhere she could inside the shelter.

There would certainly be no campfire tonight, as the forest was thoroughly saturated, and we all made our dinners from the openings of our tents.  Thankfully, inside my tent, I was warm and dry and outside, the rain was starting to die down.  

Thinking about what the next day would hold, I knew that much colder temperatures were on the way.  I was quite concerned that we did not have enough dry gear to get through another night safely.  I discussed this with Chelsea and Misty, and we decided we should try to get off trail in the morning.  Thankfully, the newest iPhones have satellite messaging capabilities even when there is no cell service.  The girls were able to get a message out to the hostel and somewhat arrange a ride out in the morning.  We'd just have to hike one more mile in the morning, and then we'd be picked up and taken to the hostel to dy out, warm up, and regroup.  I headed over to the shelter to give Kara and Amy the news that we'd be evacuating in the morning, and there were literal tears of joy.  I think that having a plan in place was a huge morale boost and helped everyone get through the night.

But...there's always a but, isn't there?  You know what they say about the best laid plans...  We had no idea what Sunday had in store for us.  Stay tuned for Day Three!

Total miles: 9.66

Total elevation gain: 3038 feet