Welcome to My AT Adventure

• Miles:  9.9
• Steps: 40,622
• Kcal:  2062
• Avg BG:  116

The day began with heavy rain – it was difficult to leave Gooder Grove Hostel for the trail.  We were dropped off about 8:45 that morning in steady rain.

Embrace the Suck

This a term in the thru-hiking community used when you are having a bad day.  The concept is that on a thru-hike of 4.5 – 6 months, there will be days when you are unhappy, aka bad days.  Successful thru-hikers learn to “embrace the suck.”  Unsuccessful thru-hikers leave the trail when they can’t handle these bad days.  My perspective is that in any 4.5 – 6 month period of time in anyone’s life, there will be bad days.  You might be angry/frustrated with a spouse, partner, child, coworker, friend, or any number of people, but you don’t quit life because of these bad days – why would you quit the trail?

On the trail, there are easily identifiable reasons that require you to “embrace the suck:”  bad weather (cold, rainy, too hot/humid); aches, pains, and fatigue; trail conditions; boredom; and long, hard days. 

Back to today!

Today was the day that I needed to “embrace the suck” due to the rain.  The rain was coming at us sideways due to the wind.  Within approximately 1.5 hours, both Serpent and I were wet in spite of our rain gear.  For me, I realized that I needed the hip belt to be over my rain coat, not under.  With the hip belt under the rain coat, the hip belt got wet from my pack and wicked through getting my shirt wet.  Also, it allowed rain to get under my rain skirt and so my pants got drenched.  Add to this, we were climbing consistently for 2 miles (1200 vertical feet of elevation gain). The air temperature, rain temperature, and wind created perfect conditions for developing hypothermia. We didn’t, but it was a challenge staying warm.

We reached the summit of Wayah Bald and had no view. Just past the summit about a half mile was a shelter where we stopped for lunch. During our break, the rain stopped.

As we got started hiking again after lunch, we hiked fast to stay warm. The sun came out and we started to dry out. By the time we reached our shelter at 4:30, all of our equipment and clothing were dry – the wonders of modern, quick dry equipment/clothing!