Day #8 (71)-For this reason I know that I am alive. Miles hiked: 27.8

Today began just like so many days on the Appalachian Trail, the journey that has shaped so much of who I am. Rain was drumming on my tarp, everything was damp and cold, and I had miles to go before I sleep. Nonetheless, I emerged from my somewhat dry cocoon and started the day with a creek ford.

Calling out to all the grizzlies so they know some two-leggeds are on the way, we climbed up switchback pass into some beautiful rock formations. What a treat, and also such a reminder of places like Grayson Highlands as we watched the fog be whipped over the ridge by the wind and rain.

I wouldn’t call today comfortable or easy, but it was certainly the conditions that I have learned to thrive in. There is nothing artificial about being wet and cold with aching feet, and I LOVE it, being alive that is.

We found a ranger cabin with a porch for lunch and enjoyed a lull in the rain, but still found ourselves soaked in the “car wash” of wet leaves on overgrown trail.

The sun came out just in time for sunset over the mountains and we bedded down with a friend I met my first night in East Glacier, Denali! 

Goodnight from a mostly warm, mostly dry sleeping bag.