Day 76: A tree might kill me.

Mile 1054.5: Ensign Cowall Shelter.

Today was a day of extremes. Extreme wind and extreme rain to be exact. So extreme that I kept thinking, "Have I ever been as uncomfortable as I am right now in this moment?"

Have you ever walked along a heavily forested ridge, winds at 70 mph, wondering what sort or action to take if a tree starts to fall?

It's funny, we know what to do when we encounter bears, mountain lions, etc. but we have no idea how to deal with trees.

I assume the best course of action would be to get close to another tree, preferably a large one, and hope that the aforementioned falling tree will get caught in your newly imposed tree guardian.

Anyhow, earlier this year a thruhiker died in this same section, killed by a tree. So I thought it pretty unfortunate that we just so happened to be here in this forest of killer trees with straight up tornadic wind gusts.

Let it also be known that the trails were more like streams, wait no, torrential rivers, today. As I waded through the brown knee deep liquid, in an attempt to be in a better mental place, I imagined myself sitting in a recliner, in front of a fire place, reading a Robert Jordan novel and sipping on espresso.

This tactic didn't help. Comfort levels remained at an all time low.

But we made it to a shelter and are drying out, drinking hot chocolate (with dope powdered soy milk that our trail friends East and Toed sent to us), and chillin' hard.