Cold & Wet: The Normal Forecast for the Smokies

Motivated would not be the words I would use to describe me this morning. I knew the rain was coming, but I was so cozy in my tent. I ate a quick snack and mustered up some energy to pack up. A few people had already left, but most of the people at the shelter still were taking a trail zero. As hard as they tried to convince me to stay, I put in some music and pushed on.

All morning I felt like I was walking through a cloud. While it wasn’t raining, the humidity just soaked you. During the last hour of the hike, it started to downpour.

Finally the back of the shelter came into view. I figured a small handful of people would be hunkered down in the shelter, but boy was I wrong. As I rounded the corner, there were already at least 20 people in that building. Over the next hour, that number probably grew to at least 30.

I tried to dry off by the fire but it only worked so well. I did my best and then put on my puffy before going to sit on the top level of the shelter by Chloe. We just sat there for at least a couple hours. Most of the time I was just listening to the conversations happening around me. There were so many new faces I hadn’t seen before either. I was so cold and wet that I didn’t move. I was hungry because I hadn’t eaten since my snack before I left this morning. I didn’t know where I was going to sleep. It was pouring so I didn’t want to set up my tent, but the shelter was also full. I was praying for a break in the rain so I could set up my tent, but if not I was going to have to sleep on the floor in the shelter.

Finally at 5:00 I made myself get up to go to the bathroom and get water so I could make dinner. I threw stuffing, mashed potatoes, and some of the dehydrated veggies Dad brought me in a pot. It hit the spot and helped warm me up at the same time.

Not too long after I ate the rain quit. I knew I didn’t have too much time before it would start again, so I ran up the hill to see if I could find where Ringer and Coleson had put their tents and see if there was space. I found them up by some horse thing and put my tent up super quick. The ground was so wet and I was just hoping my stakes would stay.

I went back down to the shelter to grab my pack and get some water so I could head to my tent for the night. My tent is warm and dry except I can slowly start feeling condensation building up inside my tent so we’ll see how that goes.