It rained throughout the night and was a good evening to splurge on a real indoor bed.
When I woke, there were light snow flurries and moderate rain. We got a much later start than we would’ve liked due to the need to resupply.
We went back to the same restaurant for breakfast and then down to the store in town for our resupply, neither of which opened until 9 AM. For breakfast I had a beef patty with eggs Benedict on top.
We did not finally hit the trail until 11ish. We were both in full rain gear and both using our sun umbrellas for the rain.
Today’s trail was mostly slight ups and downs, so hiking was easy in elevation aspect; However, we did cross a lot of western facing slopes which receive the full force of the wind and the rain.
Often times the trail was more of a stream than a trail.
We had dropped back down below, the tree line, and into more Manzanita and scrub oak, which offered no real weather protection.
From the start of our hike we received sleet and snow. Winds were sustained 30 to 40 miles an hour sometimes gusting up to approximately 60. Needless to say, today I did not take a lot of pictures which is unfortunate, because without all the snow and clouds views would’ve been spectacular. I was able to get a few one from the storm Canyon Lookout.
We had planned to camp at around the 10 mile mark at a forest service picnic site, but it was a day use only site and the no overnight camping signs were a little too obvious to ignore. The picnic area sat right on the side of the road and we would easily have been seen. The rain had stopped about 2 miles before and we were both feeling pretty good so we continued on to find a suitable place to camp.
Up on the ridge is a nature Memorial, that was interesting to look at.
We ended up at a total of 13.7 miles finding a small clear patch off the side of the trail.
It was a challenging day with rain, snow, wind, and at this point of the hike my longest distance.
Ryan remains a great hiking partner. I’m blessed to have run into him so early. Having had a late breakfast and no good breaks in the weather or shelter. We hiked right through lunch. We were treated to some amazing views of the valley below, and is atypical for this time of year we easily found water.
It was a tough, but very satisfying day which tested us for the future and helped us refine how we will use some of our gear.
I should mention God is with us for sure, three minutes after pitching our tents and climbing inside it started to rain with a mix of snow, so no tent pictures tonight.
I made a double dinner, which I ate in my sleeping bag, wrote this, and I’m now going to sleep. With howling winds and snow outside.
Today’s miles 13.7 total trail miles 54.7.
