...and then I had to pee. Ugh. Looked around the tent for options. Water bottle. Plastic baggie. The possibility of the perfect angle/arch/trajectory if I unzipped the tent door a little...? I decided to just sit tight until the rain let up. Kind of hard to concentrate on anything else when there's water everywhere and you have to pee. Luckily it did let up by about 2:30 and I snuck out and returned. Then it started to pour again! Good timing. Popped the earplugs back in and didn't wake up till 7 or so when the only drips were from the trees. Everything was damp, but nothing was soaked. At least one person who had tented that night was flooded.
I dried off my tent as best I could and stuffed it in its stuff sack then in my backpack, then I took off earlier than the boys who were taking their sweet time getting everything together. Beautiful crisp morning and a very good mood. There were a bunch of funky mushrooms all over the place from all the rain - ones that I doubt John/Pawel/Patrick would even eat for a dollar.
About a mile or so past the shelter there was a few stairs down to a small bridge over a steam then stairs back up to a road (see photo). The wood looked old, worn and wet, so I took extra precaution before stepping down. The only time I'd fallen so far was on a wet log coming down from Clingman's Dome, so I knew to be wary of wet wood.
First step down, both legs slipped out and flew out to my left. I came down hard on my right thigh, thumped down a few steps, then lurched forward and "surfed" down the rest of the steps on my stomach towards the stream. I didn't know which way my poles went, but they weren't helping me stop heading head first into the water. My right arm was pinned under my body. My backpack was still on my back. When I finally came to a stop, my head was hanging over the bridge, looking down at the water (only a foot or so below). Am I ok? I'm ok... I'm ok?! ((new year's day ref: "is it bad??!!?!" - shout out to Karly and Ray))
I couldn't believe that I didn't do any serous damage! After a minute of self-assessment, I started walking again. There was gonna be a huge bruise on the outside of my right thigh for sure, one on my right forearm, and my watch band broke all to pieces. But I was ok! I'd just survived what could've been a game-ending fall... I felt great.
And then there was trail magic! Someone had tied a bunch of spherical coke bottles on string over the trail. It looked like Christmas ornaments. I enjoyed my coke with a few other kids who had tented at the shelter. We all took off as a big group and slowly spread out again.
It started to rain more. On and off all afternoon. Made it up to the Thomas Knob shelter for a snack before the rain got harder. Xan and Neutron hadn't caught up yet, so I'd wait for them. Full shelter for the lunch break as everyone wanted to stay dry. There were ponies off on a not-too-far-away hill. The clouds would roll in and out, so we could see them then we couldn't. It was kinda mystical.
When the boys arrived, they were ready to keep going. They'd already stopped to eat. So off we went, and about 10 minutes in, there was a group of ponies right off the trail. A guy named Puma went up close to them and tried to pet the baby. It was pretty cool. I got a few good shots. Thank goodness it had stopped raining for a bit.
Onwards through the beautiful Grayson Highlands. The sky was dramatic, and the rain was only light. The boys raced off ahead and I found myself perma-smiling as I climbed the rocks alone and took in the gorgeous views. I came up one hill and my poncho went flying up over my head. I definitely plan to go back to my rain jacket. (mom - if that could be in the next package...? Love you!) I came over another ridge and three ponies raced by at full speed. Two kept going and one paused. Then he raced back at full speed right back from where he came. All this less than 40 yards away. It was beautiful. Life is good.
About 15 minutes later, Xan and Neutron were taking a snack break. We all hiked together the rest of the way to Wise Shelter. And there was room for all of us! We put up a closeline and hung the tents to dry. Made dinner, settled in, and chatted it up with Dewlap, Rainer, Roadrunner, and Achilles the Red (ATR).
We're at mile 496.6. Tomorrow we reach mile 500!! Crazy!
Note: the deepest part of a puddle is not always the middle.
(17.3)
-- Posted from the trail...
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