No Rain, No Pain, No Maine

The last few days have been very rainy, but as the saying goes...no rain, no Maine...so I guess I'll take the bad with the good.

After Hot Springs, we made our way to Erwin, TN. Where we stayed at Uncle Johnny's, restocked, and ate some delicious food. The last several miles before Erwin were spent dreaming of and talking about all different kinds of food.  #hikerlife  Seriously, hiker hunger sucks! Well....except when your in town and have access to a lot of hot, delicious food that you don't have to carry on your back!

Shortly after Hot Springs, we crossed the 300 mile mark!!

It started raining the day we left Erwin and it's still raining... It doesn't look like sunny weather is really in the forecast for awhile yet either.  Although, thankfully we get brief snippets of the sun throughout the days.  Here is what hiking in pouring rain is like.... when it first starts raining, I pull out my rain gear with dread. Hating the fact that what is now dry will no longer be.  Then after awhile I am completely drenched and can no longer get any wetter. It is at this moment that I give up caring about trying to go around the puddles and just start splashing/stomping my way through them. Because my socks and shoes are already sopping wet and squishy, so I might as well enjoy it! Plus isn't it every kid's dream to jump through puddles?!  Then, usually a few miles later, I get tired of puddle jumping and tired of being wet & cold. I start dreaming of what it must be like to be dry, dreaming of the time when I can change into my warm dry clothes in the bottom of my pack and climb into my sleeping bag.  I also start hoping that the shelter has an open spot so that I don't have to try and set up my hammock in the pouring rain. If there is an open spot at the shelter once I arrive, it has now topped food....and for a thru-hiker, food is a BIG deal!:)

They now our breed too well...

Uncle Johnny's was right next to a river. So we had to go swimming:)

One of the days it rained, we stopped for lunch at a shelter after doing 9-10 miles and half of us decided to stop for the day. So I spent the rest of the day relaxing in my sleeping bag, eating food, and reading a book! :) It was delightful! Plus, whenever it started to rain harder, I was 10x happier just knowing that I didn't have to hike in it! 

Nameless, The Who, and Mademoiselle

The next day, in order to still make it to Roan Mountain, we hiked 25 miles.  Thankfully it was really nice in the morning and I was able to knock out 12 miles before the rain came.  The sad part though, was that on mile 1 my shoelace broke!  So I tried my best to tie it so that it would at least keep my shoe from falling completely off and then just walked in a loose shoe all day.  I mean there wasn't much else to do...it did give me more motivation to get into town!! The most annoying part of it was the fact that I had the song "Footloose" stuck in my head all.day.long. 

My feet after 25 miles in wet socks & shoes

Once we reached Roan Mountain (mile 398), we spent the night in a hostel and then grabbed a shuttle up to Damascus, VA for Trail Days (a hiker festival). Which is where I am now.  It's been nice to get a couple zero days in and be able to see my first tramily (who has been behind me since Gatlinburg). Plus I was able to get my shoe fixed for free (no longer am I cutting footloose)! AND my body has been getting fully replenished with some good food!!

We plan on shuttling back down to Roan Mountain tomorrow (Sunday) morning and hiking onward! Which means that I will hopefully be crossing the 400 mile mark tomorrow!!!😀  Until next time...