May 8 Mile 326

Today went from exasperating to exhilarating. Learned a good lesson this morning. The weather last night was beautiful. So
I decided to not put my rain cover over my tent (it's called a "fly"- more on gear in a later blog) . My tent has a kind of sky dome netting above my head so I can have fresh air come in and also see out . It's great on starry nights to look straight up into the brilliant sky and know no bugs can get you. During the night I woke up and noticed- "hey where did all te stars go. oh oh, I guess it's getting cloudy. Might it rain soon? Perhaps I should put on my fly. Nah. I'll just go back to sleep."
Around 6 AM you can guess what happened- pouring rain in my tent on my head and my sleeping bag- and you really don't want your bag wet. I went flailing around trying to fasten the fly in the rain when Cisco came to the rescue and we got the fly fastened and the tent covered. Great way to wake-up, huh. So now we are up. Put on the rain gear and make breakfast in what now has become a drizzle. Packed up and hiked off. Today's goal is a 5500 foot mtn called Big Bald. The 13 mile hike today was terrific. After about two hours, all the rain cleared out and it was an incredibly sunny and clear day. Changed out of our rain gear and into summer wear- about 58degrees- perfect weather for hiking, actually. Though it may sound a bit cool. Before we started the AT, in the comfort of home, I would go out on cool or cold mornings and wonder how I would do without a warm house to run back into. While I do not want to be out here with temps in the 30s, or cold rain, or heaven forbid, snow- temps in the low 40s and up are ok, as long as you can put on your gear to stay dry and warm.
Hiked through one of the most beautiful meadows I have ever seen with yellow wildflowers. The colors of green grasses and yellow flowers and blue skies was stunning. We were near Street Gap at 4100 feet. This is a place to return to. Then the wind picked up and just blew cold at us. We headed for Big Bald at 5500 feet, but first got off the trail a bit to get out of the wind. We crossed a ridge and found ourselves across a gravel road from ski resort condos. Must seem strange to these people to see a couple of grizzled hikers cooking lunch across their road. No trail magic here though. Then straight up to Big Bald-on the top we had an absolutely incredible view worth the hike up. If you ever go to see this Bald, there is actually a gravel road up- so you can save yourself the hike up. The wind was ferocious on top of the Bald, but the views were splendid. The Bald is just as it says- no trees at all and the view is 360 degrees at 5500 feet. If I didn't have my pack on I think I would have been blown off the mountain. Hiked fr there to Little Bald, a mtn that should be sued for false advertising- it's not a bald and it's not little. Cisco found a great camping spot-Whistling Gap-perfectly named as the wind is just howling through here now. Sent our tents up to take the wind, ate a hot dinner, built a fire, with horizontal flames ( due to the strong wind ) and then went to bed. Long but good day.