25 July 2017, 20:00
Location: Summit Park - N40.79136° W109.74796°
Elevation: 9824'
Ascent: 2404' (Total: 3542')
Descent: 1593' (Total: 1927')
Day Distance: 17 miles (Total: 22.48 miles)
What a day. About 01:30 a storm started blowing in with high winds. By 03:45 it was raining, and it has continued to rain all day.
By the time I struck camp and hit the trail, my feet and pants below the knees were completely soaked. Since it continued to rain all day, my feet stayed wet the entire day. This was my first outing using trail runners and the wet feet were a new thing for me, but with the wool socks my feet never got cold. I kept worrying about blisters but that did not happen today.
I have never been able to find the right rain gear. I sweat and any rain gear just holds that sweat in. No matter how much the manufacturer claims about breathability, I still get as wet on the inside as the outside. I have tried ponchos and rain jackets all with the same result.
The previous afternoon I had heard chain saws, so I figured that trail maintenance was being done. Sure enough, throughout the day I kept seeing fresh cuts where the trail had been cleared. In one short section there had been a blow down, and there were over thirty trees downed trees that had been cut to clear the trail. This section of the trail crosses multiple dirt roads and you need to be careful at the crossings because the trail often jogs on the road for a few dozen yards before re-entering the forest. The re-entry point is not always clearly marked and seldom does the trail cross straight across the road. In fact, I finally encountered the trail crew about four miles from Summit Park. They told me that there was a hiker they encountered the day before that had become lost, or lost the trail, when he had missed one of the crossing and had hiked the dirt road for a while. There chains saws brought him back to the trail.
My destination for the day was Summit Park. Summit Park has what is officially classified as an intermittent stream. But last year during the drought I had hiked in to check the stream, and verify the stream had water. This year it had about the same amount of water flowing. However Summit Park was one big soft boggy meadow this year, while the previous year it had been mostly dry. Summit Park was/is the first chance to refill water after leaving East Park.
In summary, it had rained all day, all the way from East Park, to Summit Park. Some 17 miles of trail with 2400' of ascent, 1600' of descent, taking 10 hours, including lunch, refueling breaks and an extended chat with the trail crew.
I had my first break in the rain as I was scouting and deciding on a camp site. I was able to setup camp, filter water, prepare and eat dinner, call home, and climb into my tent before it again started to rain.
