Day 10, Dreadful Wind and Rain

Part 1, The Desert, Day 10

Dreadful Wind and Rain

Miles: 0

PCT Mile: 179

I woke up to the patter of light rain on my tent this morning but it was no big deal because my plan for today was to sit around and do nothing. I did have some important errands to run, but I would be having my first Zero day today, after having a Nero yesterday. A Zero is a day with zero miles on the trail. Most hikers take anywhere from 15 to 30 zeros during a through hike and some even take 50+ zeros. They are important for resting and recuperating. A Nero is "nearly zero" miles on trail, like how I hiked 5 miles yesterday and then hitched to Idyllwild. 

I had some good sleep at the campground and headed to town at 9am. I stopped at the Town Baker to duplicate my picture from yesterday, because this is the best breakfast ever:

At this time I ran into Relic, I man I'd met at Warner Springs. He's from Colorado and is old, hence the trail name "Relic." We talked for like 30 minutes, and I left to take care of hiker chores. I Wandered around  town first, since I knew a storm was imminent and this was my last chance to have a look around.

This town sure does love bears:

This last one is just Smokey Bear. He looks creepy. 

First I went to the Library and printed out the water report for the next few hundred miles. It has up to date info on the status of creeks, springs, etc. After that I went to the market and bought food for the next 100 miles. No matter how hard I try to diversify my trail food, its all disgusting.  

Finally, I went to the laundromat to clean my dirt-crusted clothes. They are very hiker friendly, and gave me free detergent, loaner clothes, and let me charge my phone. They also gave me a magazine to read. Why can't all laundromats be like this? 

As I was talking to other hikers while my clothes dried, the sudden downpour outside caught our attention. Nothing fills a hiker with more dread and anxiety than weather. As soon as the monsoon started, the wind came too, and it would not stop. This happened at 11:30am, and having completed my tasks, I quickly went back to the campground and jumped into my tent. I got into my sleeping bag and started to read, thinking that the storm would pass in a few hours. I was actually very pleased with how my tent was performing in the rain, and I read "Into Thin Air," during the next few hours. The book sucked. I looked outside and a thick fog had joined the downpour. I was very bored, as there isn't much to do in a tent during a storm, so I ran to the bathroom and took a shower. I will say that air drying in the freezing cold wind and rain would be the second worst part of my day. 

Around 5pm, I was starving and contemplating what to do. I couldn't really go to town because I'd get soaked, and I didn't want to cook ramen in my tent with my camp stove because who would want to do a depressing thing like that? Then I thought to myself, "why is there water inside my tent?" 

"HOLY SHIT MY TENT HAS FLOODED!!" 

There was half an inch of water in my tent. I knew right then that the ground outside had saturated and I jumped outside and pulled my tent a few feet away. below is where my tent had been:

I had failed to close my tent zipper all the way, and the way I was sitting had caused the opening to become submerged in the puddle forming around my tent. I was absolutely soaked and filthy, (just after doing laundry!!) and it was nearly dark and getting very cold, so I jumped into my tent and put everything that was wet into my sleeping bag and zipped myself inside. I was hoping my body heat would dry my stuff out, but after a few minutes, my tent flooded again and my sleeping bag was soaking through. With all my stuff wet and the low temps and wind, I was suddenly nervous about hypothermia. I grabbed everything I owned out of the tent and ran to the bathrooms and threw my shit in there, then did the same with my tent. I was officially retreating. I knew all the inns were full, but I walked a few wet miles up to one that looked like a trailer park and spent 15 minutes negotiating with a lady who barely spoke English. She must have known I was in a bad situation (The weather was insane and I was covered in mud and soaked) because she sold me a discounted room and for some reason brought me a bottle of red wine on the house. The room was surprisingly good.

I was amazed at the turn of events. I had been pretty stubborn for most of the day and I didn't realize how dangerous it is to be wet in those conditions with no recourse to dry clothes. The first thing I did was wash my tent, clothes, pack, etc. in the shower and hang them to dry.

Then I put on my wet rain gear and walked to town to get food. It was crazy outside!

I shudder to think how this would have ended had I been out in the wild. My first Zero day had been a wash, literally, but I did get off my feet for a day and am somewhat refreshed for the next 100 mile stretch, though after this last week, I'm quite nervous about weather situations. Nothing to do but roll with it and continue heading North. Tomorrow I (should) be back on the trail and back to trail blogging. After only 1 day off I'm very anxious to start hiking again. Thanks for the fun Idyllwild!