IN THESE WOODS: DAY 151: CLOUDS, FREEZING, RAIN, WORST

miles: 24

Today was miserable.

Absolutely miserable.

This morning we were thrilled when we woke up to find it wasn't raining. We rushed to pack up our things and get moving, eager to take advantage of a dry spell, wanting to get as much hiking in as possible before the rain started. We knew it was supposed to rain today.

Actually, we knew it was supposed to rain A LOT today.

So we donned our packs, buckled up, and as soon as we set foot on the trail we felt the drops, sprinkling at first, then pouring.

Today is the day (the first day) we hiked in 100% rain the entire day. To add to the misery of hiking through rain, it was very, very cold outside AND we were trapped in a cloud so we were not able to see a single thing. This was upsetting, because we could tell it was normally a beautiful section of trail: we were officially in Mt. Rainier National Park! Bummer.
We did not see Mt. Rainier once. We couldn't see anything!

So we trudged. Trudged along in the ponchos Ben and I brought with us from Cascade Locks, which served their purpose well. We love our ponchos! Our raincoats are no longer waterproof, so they are actually life saving, to be honest. I will never be poncho-less again.

Pros of a poncho:
- They are 100% waterproof
- They have really awesome gnome hoods that are deep and actually cover your head
- They go OVER your backpack too, which is AWESOME
- They cover the area where the backpack meets your back, which is vulnerable to water when you simply wear a raincoat/pack cover combo
- They keep your backpack STRAPS dry
- They keep your HIP BELT dry
- They keep your backpack dry, so you can bring it in your tent at night
- They are long enough to keep your butt/pelvis/upper legs dry
- WHY NOT WEAR ONE? THEY ARE AMAZING.

I should also give props to my rain pants: they have served me well and continue to keep me completely dry. I love them. I don't love the sound they make when I walk 26 miles in them (I feel like I'm about to go insane when I wear them for too long) but I love them. They break the wind, they keep me warm, and they keep me dry.

Anyways, we were miserable all day. I didn't take very many photos (my real camera was stashed away in a double dry bag) and we were starving. The thing about being cold in the rain is - YOU CAN'T STOP TO EAT otherwise you will get hypothermia. So you must resort to eating while walking... which is impossible and limits the sorts of food you can eat. I tried to make sure and have my snack hip belt pocket stocked with plenty of candy bars, protein bars, gummies, and candy as possible but at some point, this food does nothing for you. I was burning calories so fast and simply unable to replenish them AND I was sick of the foods in my snack pack. At some point I decided I'd rather starve than eat the food I had prepared for myself.

At some point during a particularly heavy section of rain, I couldn't take the hunger anymore, so Ben and I decided to stop and take shelter under a small stand of trees. We got out some snacks and attempted eating them as quickly as possible. All Ben wanted was to make some warm food, Top Ramen perhaps... but this idea was abandoned as soon as we stopped. We immediately became freezing. Fingers stiff and unusable. This is when it gets scary. I jumped up and down to keep warm, while Ben took to hiking up and down a hill nearby WHILE eating to keep his body temperature up (which defeats the purpose of eating because basically he's expending even MORE energy when he shouldn't be... if walking 24-28 miles today isn't ENOUGH energy lost already...) and I tried not to lose it.

I didn't want to be there. At this point I questioned my ability to stay on the trail. If Washington was going to be like this the rest of the time, I wasn't sure I could handle it.

I so desperately wanted to go home.

Eventually Dr. Slosh and Smiles caught up to us and took a necessary "snack break" with us, but we all were quickly developing hypothermia and actually contemplated stopping and setting up our tents at this point. We deliberated and weighed the pros and cons of staying vs. hiking further and decided it was best to keep hiking. We knew we had to.

And we managed to do a 24 mile day, making our way to Chinook Pass by 6:00pm where there is a highway, parking lot, picnic tables and restrooms. We didn't even feel like taking advantage of these luxuries, so we pushed on towards our goal: Sheep Lake, 2 miles from Chinook Pass. I knew that if I stopped, I would freeze to death so we pushed on.

We literally did 24 miles without stopping, without taking our packs off, without sitting down. Well... we had a few minutes of snacking while doing various cardio-exercises, but that doesn't count as a break.