Singing in the rain.

8pm @ "campsite"
mi 910.1

Night hiked by myself for several hours today! Pretty pleased with myself. Night hiking was one of my big fears. Solo styles night hikes anyway. Bionic showed me the technique the other night. Glad to make use of it again so soon!

Made it to Delaware Watergap yesterday. 2x days ahead of schedule. I was flying down the trail! This is the AT I imagined. Feeling strong & confident. Hiking without pain. Falling in love with the forest. Not competing with anyone.
The last item is a big deal. There really are not any more thru hikes out here. The few SOBOs are so far into their own thing, there is no comparing, racing, or judgments to be made. Everyone is enjoying their hikes.

Stayed at The Church of the Mountain last night. Tried to stay at the Deer Lodge, but they were closed for the season. The proprietor (who answered her phone from LA!) advised me to try the church.

Found the church next door. AWOL said I'd need to call to be let in....but I found the door open...and inside was Bionic wrapped up on the couch!

After she left me to night hike all sorts of adventure found her! She set up her hammock poorly, and woke up soaking wet. So at 4am needed to start hiking to avoid hypothermia.
She tried to adjust the height of her prosthetic leg to help with the rock scrambles....but lost the screw! Ducktape worked only so well and she wound up biting it at some point, face down into the mud. But she made it to the Mohican ACM Outdoor Center non the less, and the maintenance guy helped her. He drove her around all day running errands. Drying her down gear at a laundromat. Hardware store to get a new screw (and spares!). Eventually she got her way to Delaware Watergap, and to the Church of the Mountain where I found her.

Crazy adventure right?
(a little over confidence goes a long way huh?)

Right now the rain is coming down in buckets. I set up my tent before it started. So I am snug as a bug in a rug at the moment. Bionic is still out there night hiking in the storm. She is out of the world.

Anyway. Think I might listen to some tunes & turn in. If no bears eat me, I am headed into wind Gap PA tomorrow to finish my trip.

Hard to believe this journey is actually coming to a close.

So glad to have my tyvek groundcloth again. Was silly to send it home. It works really well. I avoided a big hole in my bathtub floor the other day as the tyvek took most of the pressure.

I LOVE being inside a tent when it is raining. Just hold up one more night little tarptent. Just this last raining night.