Day 49: 'Twas a wet, wet day....

April 25: It sprinkled briefly and lightly during the night, but a real rain settled in just as I started the day's hiking. It was usually a light rain that would oscillate between very hard and nothing at all, but definitely enough to soak everything and make you feel terrible!

 I didn't stop to rest or snack due to the persistent wetness and decided to call it a day early and stop at 2:00 when I reached the Doc Knob Shelter. I even believed that there was a good chance I'd have the shelter completely to myself since all of the other hikers I passed during the day said they planned to stop at Woods Hole Hostel a few miles short of the shelter, and anyone coming from behind me would have had to cover about 24 miles to reach this point which seemed unlikely given the miserable weather.

But just to prove me wrong, all four of the Four Horsemen showed up, as did Little Red and Chuckles! After two days of camping alone, I was happy to have friends around again. =) It also proved to be a fairly crowded shelter since we all wanted to stay in the shelter, but we made everyone fit.

Having stopped so early in the day, I took the time do draw an elaborate full-page maze in the shelter register with my turtle stamp in one corner and a hamburger, ice cream cones and Cokes in the opposite corner with a note to "help the Tortuga find the trail magic!" I hoped it would be a popular event in the shelter for days to come. =)

One interesting note during the day, I passed a southbound thru-hiker with the name of Loch Ness (who'd never been to the Lock Ness, as it turns out) who started at Katahdin last August! I was surprised to meet anyone who had started hiking more than eight months before! Although I suspected he might have taken at least a month or two off during some of the worst winter storms.

But that was the day in a nutshell: Lots of rain. The rain tapered off in the late afternoon and Superman and Heavyweight jumped into action to build a campfire which we enjoyed for the rest of the night.

My guidebook promised views near this tower. I was skeptical given the weather, but I checked it out anyhow...

I suppose technically, this could be considered a view. But I've seen better!

Most of the photos I took, I made sure not to include the umbrella in the picture. Occasionally, though, I deliberately included the umbrella to remind me later that it was, in fact, raining when I took this photo. =)

Ghost woods.

Can you help the Tortuga find the trail magic?! =)

Heavyweight and Little Red enjoy the campfire from a wonderful little bench at the shelter.