The Long Trail : Day 8 : Part 1 : 9/28/20 . It was a mind over matter kind of a day. I hate going from perfectly dry to soaking down to your underwear wet when backpacking. Today was going to be one of those days. Dread filled my mind as I packed my bag extra carefully to keep everything inside dry. . It was slow at first, mostly spitting light rain. I was damp but not dripping wet. Even still my mood was sorely lacking. Trying my best to reason with myself, I remembered that I couldn’t change that it was raining but that I could change my outlook on my circumstances. I started trying to convince myself of the beauty around me and the positive outcomes of my situation. . I felt disgusting since my last shower was over a week ago so this rain was a gift. A free shower and laundry combo! I continued by thinking the classic it could be worse. At least it wasn’t blowing snow and I didn’t have diarrhea. Fair enough. The rain also made the air nice and cool. I was really trying but none of my mental tricks could fix my sour mood. . Plan B: I needed a minute out of the rain. This isn’t always an option but today it was. The elaborate shelter system on the LT provides primitive shelter and today I was going to take full advantage of it! Soon we made it. This particular shelter was dingy but it was a roof over my head in an otherwise unrelenting rain. . Watching the rain while eating lunch proved to be far better than standing in it! I had a Veranda blend Starbucks via and a piece of dark chocolate to round out my lunch. Within minutes I felt like a new person. I was laughing, joking, and ready to skip down the trail. The rain even let up slightly and we cruised along. The moral of this story is that happiness is clearly found in coffee and chocolate. That seems accurate, right?!?

The Long Trail : Day 8 : Part 2 : 9/28/20 . Remember how my famous last words were “the rain let up”? Well, it returned with a vengeance. It was no longer light, steady rain and I was no longer damp. I was full on soaking wet. Water dripping down my neck and back, pouring into my shoes kind of wet. Dry was now a figment of my imagination and my attitude was on the struggle bus, again. . I was determined not to let it get the better of me for a second time in one day. We stopped at the next shelter to take stock of the situation. It was 3pm and our options were stay put or keep walking in the downpour. The toughest terrain of the day was upcoming and it would have been easy to cut our losses and camp early. . When you’re already soaked to your underwear getting wetter isn’t really a concern. We chose to press on, knowing more miles meant we would be closer to the next town if needed and if we were walking we at least had the potential of drying some before the day’s end. . We set off hoping for the best and were pleasantly surprised when half an hour or so later the rain abruptly stopped. My own shadow startled me. My shadow could only mean one thing, the sun was out! We powered through the tough terrain of the Horrid Cliffs enjoying the sunshine we’d never been happier to see. By the time we made it to camp and the next shelter we were damp but not dripping wet. . The tough days are usually the ones I remember fondly and am most proud of. I fought past mental and physical challenges and still managed to put in the most daily miles on the trail so far. I was ready to enjoy the moment, to be proud of what had been accomplished. Tomorrow would come soon enough and it would have its own unique challenges. The first of which would be putting on cold, wet, stinking clothes.