No Rain, No Pain, No Maine!!!

As we headed out of Atkins clean and well fed we had more beautiful fields of bright green grass that moved like the ocean waves in the wind. We had great views with mountains in the background. We had some great creek crossings and came across some trail magic of pb&j sandwiches and dr. Peppers. We tented that night at a nice campsite where we had a fire and even enjoyed the sunset. Little did we know but that was the last time we were going to see that glowing ball in the sky. That night it started to rain and kept going trough the night.
The next morning the rain broke and we packed up wet camp and made it 19 miles to the next shelter. It was suppose to be an easy day according to the guide book but it was everything but. It was a foggy ridge line with pointless ups and downs all day. The last ten miles were some of the longest miles we have done yet. We all decided to tent because there was a couple of older hikers that looked like they needed a dry nights sleep in the shelter. So we pitched our wet tents and got to dry them out for about an hour before the rain started back. Again it rained all night long and unfortunately we had a good amount of water get between our tent and our ground cover so a lot of our clothes got soaked. We made the best of it and woke up to a dumping sky but pushed on and hike 14 miles by 11:30 where we made it to the next shelter cold and wet and decided we had hiked enough and it was our turn for a dry nights rest. So we called it early and enjoyed the cover of the Jenkins Shelter. We also ran into DayPack and Funnybone who were also taking cover in the shelter and decided to have a zero there. We unpacked, dried off and enjoyed the afternoon in the shelter. The morning finally came after a long 18 hours of being cooped up in the shelter we took our chances and headed out. We had good luck all day and just had some light misting. We didn't even have to put on rain gear. We took advantage of the weather and pushed it 24.4 miles to the Wapiti Shelter. Although the weather cooperated the trail was a running creek and our feet were soaked so we called it at the shelter. It turned out that this was the shelter that the two hikers got axed murdered in many years ago. We decided to take our chances and monopolized the whole shelter. It was Sleeping Beauty, Fatty, Spanky, Paddy Cakes and myself in the shelter. That night we all decided that we were going to wake up at 5:00 am and hike 18 miles into Pearisburg, VA and make it to the all you can eat Chinese buffet for lunch.
Well, we all got up and were on the trail by 5:45 using headlamps to see because the sun wasn't up yet. We had about 45 min of no rain and then it started. The most extreme downpour we have seen yet. We had on full rain gear and still had trouble staying dry. As for our feet there was no chance. The middle of the trail was an ankle deep muddy river that was unavoidable. We slipped tripped and fell our way down the trail. Paddy Cakes, Fatty and Spanky all fell but Sleeping Beauty took the gold by falling four times. The trail was defeating, long, cold, wet and muddy. The day felt never ending but still we all made it to town just in time to eat multiple plates of delicious Chinese food. The trail tried to defeat us but the moaning of our stomaches and the promise of a bed and shower pushed us down off the mountain into Pearisburg. We are heading back out tomorrow and the weather looks about the same as the last few days so we are going to try and stay as dry as possible and keep a positive attitude. Wish us the best!
Puddin'