The forecast said rain, so I was happy to wake to clear skies. I got hiking at 7 to take advantage of the weather and climb up Barren mountain before it gets warm. It was a super humid day and I was sweating like crazy going up, but at the top I got some nice views which make it seem all worth while.
There were still a lot of other hikers around, I wasn’t sure if maybe we would spread out some, but our plans seem similar. I stopped and talked to people. Enjoyed the views. Took a lot of snack breaks.
I was surprised that with my leisurely pace I hadn’t seen Beast. I tried sending her a text from the top of one of the mountains saying I was going to go past the first came we talked about, but it didn’t go through.
Shorty after that the rain started, not a crazy downpour, but hard enough to put on my poncho. Since my message hadn’t gone through I got water and waited for Beast by the pond campsite. I set up my tarp so I had a dry spot and could sit on my poncho and put on some layers, it was warm weather for moving, but cold to sit when wet. Roughly 45 minutes later she appeared, I was honestly getting worried that she might have gotten hurt. She decided to head for the next lean to because she could hide there from the rain. I debated going on to the next pond, but decided to stay at the lean to as well, mostly because I was hungry and it had already been a decent day. If there’s a beautiful sunrise I’ll regret not pushing on, but the trail down looks steep in parts and will be much easier if there’s no rain.
Just after writing that I got out of my hammock to filter water for breakfast and I could see beautiful sunset colors through the trees even though it’s raining… I regret not pushing on. I should know better, oh well, lesson learned.