When your hike is "rained out" ...

After my wet hike in Rock Castle Gorge, I was a little bit nervous about hiking in the rain.  My Georgia hiking adventure was off to a good start, but when the Weather Channel says "Thunderstorms!  All Day Long!  Some Storms May Contain Strong Gusty Winds!"  I'm not sure I want to be out in the middle of the woods.  I don't mind getting wet, but I don't want to get struck by lightning or hit by falling trees.    

On Monday night I reluctantly cancelled my Tuesday shuttle and turned off my alarm.  When I woke up and checked my phone, the forecast had changed from scattered thunderstorms all day to showers in the morning with thunderstorms in the afternoon.  I had brought my running shoes with me and I decided to try and run up and down the steep road leading from the highway to my cabin.  I figured I might as well get some miles in for the Great Virtual Race across Tennessee, or GVRAT for short. (I briefly explained this in another post, which you can read here.)

It was drizzling when I started, and the road was very steep.  I had to walk on the steepest parts and be careful running down.  The rain picked up but I kept going, up and down, up and down.  When I started to hear thunder I packed it in, and logged 4 miles.

(It was even steeper than it looks in this photo.)

(It's fun making scribbles with Strava)

(At the infamous Barkley Marathons at Frozen Head State Park in Tennessee, the starting and finishing point is a yellow gate similar to this one--except yellow of course.  Those of us crazy enough to sign up to run and walk 1000 km every year from May to August have a tendency to take photos in front of gates, and post them to the GVRAT Facebook group page.)

The rest of the day was spent mostly hanging around the cabin.  I made vegetarian chili, read, played games on my phone, and checked the weather forecast over and over.  During a break in the storms I ventured up the road to check out the outfitter at Mountain Crossings.  I managed to spend a little bit of money there...

(New hiking outfit!)

With the weather looking ominous for Wednesday, I cancelled my shuttle for the second time.  Again, I went to bed without setting an alarm.  By the time I got up, the forecast had changed (of course).  Mostly cloudy in the morning and scattered thunderstorms in the afternoon.  Not wanting to waste the day, I decided to check out a 6.5-mile loop trail I had been eyeing that started and ended at Lake Winfield Scott Recreation area, part of which followed the AT for a couple of miles.  I stopped at the Jarrard Gap shelter to chat with some section hikers I had met a few days ago, packing up their camp and preparing to continue north.  I tried to hike quickly in order to beat the storms, and made such good time that I was able to do some geocaching afterward.

(Lake Winfield Scott)

(Look, I found another gate!)

(On the way back I stopped to visit the Byron Herbert Reece Farm, where there is an adventure lab and a couple of geocaches.  Byron Reece was a writer and poet who lived in northern Georgia. This is a replica of his studio. Note the creepy mannequin in the corner...)

The best news?  There was no more rain predicted for the rest of the week.  Sunny skies and moderate temperatures.  I was ready to get back on the trail.