Fast forward to 6:00am the next morning. Emily and I awoke to mega loud booms and super bright flashes directly above our tent. Oy, another thunderstorm. Nothing we could do but wait it out. Thankfully, Charlotte and Parker slept through the whole thing... we are lucky that neither of them is scared of thunderstorms and we know that we are lucky.
After the storm passed and the rain let up a bit, we packed up and went back to the shelter, where all of the hikers were up and at 'em. We made breakfast of coffee and oatmeal, then waited for the rain to stop. We waited and waited some more. Surprisingly this didn't bother me in the least. Sometimes it's nice to have a REASON to stay put.
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| The look of "not looking so good out there is it?" |
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| Happy as a clam |
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| Sharing oatmeal |
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| That's the same Marmot jacket I used to woo Emily with 10 years ago in Arizona |
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| Sleepy eyes already? |
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Goofing off in the shelter after all the hikers left
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As 10:00am approached, the rain began to let up, so we packed up and headed out! Within 10 minutes we came to a surprising view... of a tree completely obliterated by lightning.
Onward. We had 10 miles to walk for the day, so the goal was 5 miles or more before breaking for lunch. Around 11:30 Parker fell asleep so we walked until she woke up, which was about 12:30 and ~5.5 miles.
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While P was sleeping we got a pic of this guy, to show her later. "Bumblebee wooly"
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During lunch, we heard some thunder in the distance, so we had a short one and kept moving. With about a mile to go, we got DUMPED ON. Thank god we were getting off the trail this afternoon.
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| Happy for our waterproof Olympus camera, to get these kinds of shots |
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| FYI don't use the flash in a rainstorm |
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| And DONE! |
well, i think it is irresponsible to take your child on a dangerous trip.
ReplyDeletei'm soooooo tired of the rude comments. aren't you?
Hey Jenny — Not sure what you're getting at...but we don't get too many rude comments. More likely folks are incredulous that we'd tackle something like this at all, let alone with a toddler and a dog. It's always fun to prove it's possible! Glad to document these experiences, too, because we'll be able to show Parker all she's done even if she'll never remember rainy afternoons on the Long Trail. Thanks for reading, and happy hiking!
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