July 6: Hard rain fallin'

6 am. I am sitting back in the Pancake House, looking out at the pouring rain pounding the blacktop of the parking lot. We had a relaxing evening last night, reading and stretching at the tent. Before zipping it up for the night, we picked up a few things at the mini-market to supplement the next leg of our trip -- about 100 miles to White Pass [WebCam]. It wasn't much later that the rain started drizzling down over our walls. And since, it has never let up.

This is a new dilemma for us. Already, my sleeping bag is wet. It hasn't lost its loft completely, but it is very wet. The tent, which works well in squalls and windstorms does not hold up under a full night of rain. A roll against the shaky, soaked wall sends droplets dripping all over. Unzipping the door, even, is too much aggravation for the precariously suspended saturation on our ceiling.

So, we're wet. Our stuff is wet. I suppose we will eat breakfast first, hope for a break in the weather, then make a mad rush to get packed up and start walking again.

***

We have been marveling at our luck lately. Reading the registers, it seems that most people have come across some pretty nasty weather up here. Hypothermia, days without sun, snow storms -- Freebird, who started southbound just two days ahead of us, says that the weather had been miserable up at the border for months right up until the day he set out. And for us, it's been consistently clear, warm and scenic. We've come across half of the state so far with such luck . . .

We've heard a lot of stories of other peoples' hardships this season. I think it is fair to say that Eliza and I have had to suffer less than our share up till now. If it holds, this will be only our second day of rain -- the first coming on Day 6 or so, right after our brief stop at Warner Springs, CA. We heard yesterday from Preacher Jim, who is hiking with Billygoat and Jackalope, that Dave and Michelle, a British couple who have been pushing through the Sierras at the front of the daredevil pack still down in central CA, both got frostbite while up in the high mountains. They reported below freezing temps from 5pm through the night and on to 11am. They were route finding and map and compass navigating for 200 miles. Goddamn! Our hike is a walk in the park next to those kind of extremes. Scrubs, Smack, and Tomato (who we hiked with in Southern CA for a while) had to wait out a snow storm after a daylong rain in the northern Cascades in a trailhead parking lot restroom. In Scrubs' words, waiting out the night on the filthy concrete floor next to a belching toilet was better than dying of hypothermia. Last night we read Strawberry's entry here at the Summit Lodge register and she has had enough of the miserable weather. She will be dropping off the trail at Cascade Locks. I guess I shouldn't complain about a wet morning here and there. I can only imagine how difficult this business would have been if the deserts of SoCal had been as arid, scorching, and generally inhospitable as they usually are.

***

After a huge breakfast now. It's time to go back out there. There have been brief lulls in the morning rain, but nothing substantial. We'll be hoping for a ray of light throughout the day . . .

until then, two little feet will take us across the mountain.