Begin MM 34.1 ---10:35 a.m.
End MM 39.5 ---4:00 p.m.
I awoke at 1:50 a.m. hearing thunder and seeing lightening all around! I quickly got up and made a bee line out of my tent to pee before the rain hit! Just got back into my tent when the rain started!
The next hour was wild! Wild to be in a thin nylon, on the ground, on the side of a mountain, while tremendous thunderstorms moved thru the area between 2:00 a.m.-3:00 a.m.! Waves of extremely loud booming thunder rolling across continually where we were camped! And the lightening was cracking loudly and just steadily blinking lighting up the whole sky, and my little tent! It seemed like way longer than an hour that this storm was over us! I finally covered up my head with my sleeping bag so at least I couldn't see the lightning , then I could only hear the thunder booming , seemingly right on top of my tent. I was saying a constant prayer of thanks to God for watching over us!
I was very concerned for Tundra and Titmouse, my novice backpacking friends. Their very first night on the trail experiencing the raw forces of nature! I was wondering if we would have been better off sleeping in the shelter now.
It calmed down to just a steady light rain soon after 3:00 a.m. and I guess I was tired because I went right back to sleep until morning. And what a beautiful morning it was. The woods were washed clean, and hopefully there would be plenty of water along the trail today.
It is great to have this nice Pashubbe Shelter to sit in, have our breakfast in while chatting with one another, and to get our gear packed back into our backpacks.
Tundra said she did not sleep good at all last night, and really doesn't sleep well when she is not at home. Not good.
A FoOT volunteer made a really pretty cedar box, hanging on the shelter wall, to hold the shelter register and keep it dry. A very nice touch!
Tundra and I packed up pretty quickly this morning ready to hit the trail. We hope to find a good spot in the sunshine later this morning to lay out our tents to dry out. Don't have any definite plans for today. Hike as far as we can. Distance today will probably be determined by Titmouse, since she has the shortest legs, and thus the shortest stride.
But first Titmouse has to get her backpack packed back up so we can hike. She's working on it.......
We did not get on the trail until 10:30 a.m., sort of late by thru-hiking standards, especially if the day is going to be warm.
As I said the trail is marked very well, even though sometimes the "blaze tree" has fallen onto the ground.
We walked the .2 mile to the Pashubbe Trailhead Campground, accessible by vehicle on F.R.6032, that Tom "Pyro" and I had drove to and checked out yesterday.
Just a short distance further is the Passhubbe Trailhead Registration Box. We paused there, but since there was no composition book inside, I just used a small piece of paper that I had to note that Tundra, Titmouse, and Flame passed this way on Monday morning. It is always good to sign to sign in at each Registration Box in case of an emergency, rescue personnel could pinpoint our approximate location.
With the rain last night the mushrooms are loving it!
We crossed several "dry" rocky streambeds in our first mile (remember it rained last night) in our search for more water to get through today. The very last rocky streambed we crossed had one small, almost stagnant, puddle of water, but we opted to continue to the wildlife pond just ahead that was listed as "a reliable water source" in our Ouachita Trail Guide #5 by Tim Ernst.
The trail is following the boundary line of the Kiamichi Wilderness Area and we can see the signs posted on random trees as we continue along slowly , searching for that pond! (Between the three of us we barely have a liter of water!)
As we begin to climb Wilton Mountain, I am very concerned about our water situation.
I feel really bad about our water situation! I hiked all 2,181 miles of the A.T. so I know better, but I still broke the cardinal rule of backpacking, "Never pass up a water source". Especially since we were already low on water. I should have at least filled my water bottles at that little puddle we passed, knowing if I found the "reliable" pond and it was a better source, I could always dump the stagnant water and replace it with "better" water. I am mentally beating myself up! The day is getting warmer, we are continually climbing switchback after switchback up Wilton Mountain.
As our situation grows more desperate, Tundra and Titmouse begin to notice up-turned leaves in the trail that are holding a precious few drops of water, remnants of last night's rain. So they begin to gently pick up these leaves and carefully pour the tiny amount of water into Tundra's water-filter bag! We even come upon a large rock in the middle of the trail that has a depression in the top holding a small amount of water. I immediately begin to use my bottle cap to scoop up a little of that water!
When we finally reach a ridgeline,
We did have a fun moment on the trail in spite of being dehydrated. We came upon a huge boulder that reminded me of McAfee Knob from the A.T.! Of course we could not resist climbing up on it for a photo op!
A nice lighthearted moment to get our mind off of needing water!
We climb uphill, more switchbacks and come to a rocky outcropping and stop once again for a short break, have a snack, and drink our last remaining sips of water. It has been warm again today and we are tired and ready to be done for today.
We finally start descending down, down, down to the Kiamichi River! Our steps quicken as we descend, Tundra is in the lead now, for our desperate search for a water source. I feel our situation is critical. At this moment I am not sure how much further it is to the river.
Suddenly Tundra calls out "bear!" She is out of my and Titmouse's sight on the next switchback. As we come around the bend in the trail we see Tundra and are looking all around for the bear! "Where? Where is the bear?" Tundra said she mostly saw its rear end as it ran down the mountain away from her, it all happening so fast she did not even have time to whip her phone out for a photo! I told them that is the way it should be. Wild animals SHOULD be afraid of any human contact!
Down, down, down we walk. Right after we level out on an old road trace we suddenly see a small ditch along side the trail, and IT HAS WATER IN IT!
Sure enough, a few minutes later we arrived at the beautiful Kiamichi River!
I was feeling pretty wiped from being so dehydrated all day. I drank another liter of water while trying to eat a little something. Tundra attempted to build us a fire again tonight but all the leaves and twigs are just too wet from last night's rain.
I then crawled into my tent to get away from the no-see-ums and mosquitos around 7:00 p.m. I just wanted to get horizontal for a few minutes, away from the bugs and I also had a slight headache and just felt a little "unsettled". By this time I had consumed 60 ounces of water since we arrived at our campsite, but it is difficult to make up for going all day with barely any water. I fell asleep almost immediately.
I woke up a little later, just before dark, to help Titmouse hang our food bags on my "bear rope" from a high tree limb. We "bear bagged" (hung our food) every night on this hike.
I went right back to sleep and slept soundly until 7:00 a.m. the next morning. A good night's sleep is so incredibly restorative to a body!
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