It started raining hard about 5:00AM in the morning, we on the very top of Tray Mountain and the wind was howling. It rained for about an hour straight, then slowed to a drizzle and stopped. We were dry in our tents but packing up was difficult because everything was wet and muddy. Anything you set on the ground immediately became muddy. Our tents were wet and difficult to take down without getting them even more muddy than they already were.

We had a slow start, the trail was tough, although we were only doing about seven and a half miles, we had 4000 feet of elevation change during that seven and a half miles. The mountains were socked in with heavy fog that completely obliterated the views. The trail was steep, slick, and muddy. We didn’t talk, it required a lot of concentration not to slip and fall. We took it slow and were fortunate to only have a couple close calls, but neither I or Deets fell a single time that day. We saw some others who weren’t so lucky.

My legs were weary from the long hike the previous day. My feet were rock bruised, swollen, and sore. I was glad to see the shelter at Deep Gap looming ahead in the fog. We looked forward to taking off our packs and sitting down.