April 19: After a windy night, we got up to the beginning of a deluge. We quickly took down our tents, put them away wet, and ran into the shelter to eat some breakfast on this:
At first, it seemed like things were better once we got off that windy ridge, but then things deteriorated and we were essentially walking ankle deep in a rushing river that the trail had become. The last me to the next shelter was pretty miserable.
We entered the next shelter and happily, saw Schweassel and Shrek! They moved right over and made room, gave us space to dry by the fire, and shared hot drinks. The shelter quickly filled up with sodden hikers- Subaru and Hawkeye, Papa Smurf, Slick, Coon, SeaBiscuit, Catlady. In was a wet, windy, crowded party! Around 3, the rain stopped and several of the shelter people left to get on a few more miles. We had JUST started warming up by this point, so we decided to stay the night. 5 miles after pur big day is rather disappointing, but you can't fight the weather!