April 18
End: Rice Field Shelter
Miles: 0.0
Total: 2499.0
I woke up and it was still raining. A couple of section hikers heading south left, happy to brave the rain for the few miles before Pearisburg. Spider and I, the only ones heading north, slept in and hoped for a break in the rain.
That break never came. I was not happy about sitting in the shelter all day, but I was petrified of hiking twelve miles in the rain. I had been soaked before and did not want to experience that unfriendly mixture of coldness and wetness again.
Soon Tarzan and Fancy showed up out of the fog and rain. They had camped down near Pearisburg and had walked the few miles to the shelter in the rain.
I sat there for the rest of the day, not eating much and not really doing much of anything at all. Daypack showed up before dark and he and I walked the absurd half mile to the spring for water. The only good news was that the rain had stopped, just not in time for me to get to the next shelter before dark.
The aggravating rain soon started again and lasted until some time into the night, at which point I was fast asleep, waiting for a dry day to hike.