This morning it was raining, so just stayed in my tent until it stopped, around 0800. Got up, packed up, ate breakfast and was gone before most people were stirring. As I was leaving, the guide thanked me for serving my country. I thanked him for serving God.
Started the day in t-shirt and shorts. Was pretty warm. Temperature dropped fast, though. After lunch, a light rain started up, which soon turned into sleet. In deference to the chill I put on a long sleeve shirt and carried on. The sleet quickly became snow, and the temperature continued to drop. I wasn't very worried, except that I'd lost my gloves somewhere, probably Kentucky. Then I walked out of the woods onto a bald, and into a blizzard. This was crazy. I was getting blown sideways, sleet was hitting me in the eyes, my hair and beard froze, and I was still in shorts without a hat. I stumbled down the trail until I found a large rock to shelter me from the wind, where I dropped my pack to get additional clothing. My pack zippers were frozen. I finally got my hat, attached legs to my shorts, and wore my jacket long enough to raise my core temp. Every piece of exposed skin before that had ice covering it. I was only exposed on the bald for maybe ten minutes. Craziness.
There were more freezing stories and incredibly strong wind gust experiences, but I need sleep. I'm currently on the second floor of Thomas Knob shelter, where I am freezing, and the roof sounds like it is going to fly off any minute. I hope I can sleep. A little over eighteen miles today.
No snow.
Lot of snow. Notice the ice in the beard.
Wow. That is crazy how quickly that changed for you. Hang in there. Sparkle on!
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