AT Section 2 Day 2

Lost Mtn Shelter to Thomas Knob Shelter 13 miles Fortunately, today was definitely not what I expected. It was absolutely beautiful when I woke up so I decided to best the threat of thunderstorms and was out hiking by 9. At 10 I started climbing and the rain came. By 11 I was miserably wet and freezing. I found a small muddy cave to hide in.

It was thunderstorming, freezing, and the wind gusting and supposed to continue throughout the night. From the book's description, the next shelter was not suitable for bad weather. So I resigned to sleep in the hardly suitable shelter I'd found. Water was trickling down and spraying from everywhere, but I went ahead and took a nap. When I woke at 1, the rain had passes and the skies were clearing up. I packed up my gear and continued the climb. I was soon at the summit of Whitetop Mtn with a beautiful, sunny view. Parts of the trail were snowy and others rivers.

The weather managed to remain perfect despite the predictions.

Once I got to the shelter here on top of Mt Rogers, it started thunderstorming. I can literally feel the building move when the wind gusts. But I'm dry and we have a crowd of 8 keeping this place warm. My SteriPen is about to be thrown off of this mountain. Good thing I don't mind iodine too much.