Long Trail: Day 14

10 miles (168 Total)

Batelle Shelter to Appalachian Gap

It rained 3 inches last night. I wish I was exaggerating. Or at the very least joking. But sadly I am not.

The rain pummeled the small shelter all night long, for nearly 12 hours straight. I’ve never witnessed so much heavy rain while hiking before.

In the morning, the once small stream by the shelter was now a raging river. The trail was overflowing with excess water, turning it into a river itself.

It was slow going. As soon as we submitted to the fact that our shoes would be completely soaked, the pace increased. There was so much water on the trail that it was just a large puddle in spots. The already bad mud was now even worse.

We arrived at around 2:30 to Appalachian Gap, after a gnarly decent down from Mount Ellen that utilized rebar fastened into rocks as sort of a ladder to help you maneuver down the steep incline. The wet rocks didn’t help. It was slow going to try and minimize slipping and falling.

We are in Waitsfield now, at the Inn in town. It’s a nice place, although expensive. But there was no other place cheaper in town, and we really needed to get out of the woods for the night, get more food, do laundry, take showers, and generally just dry everything out.

It looks like tomorrow will be rainy as well, but then it should clear up a bit. It’s a shame. Up on Mount Abraham it is open alpine zone. It would have offered some great views but we were just stuck in a windy and misty cloud.

Hopefully a good nights rest tonight. Back into the wetness tomorrow.

Is this trail over yet?