This morning I woke up to cold temperatures, the threat of rain and a pivotal decision to be made.
My Diane had been in contact with the North Country Trail Association. They have a cabin about 14 miles from the campground I am staying at. They are willing to let me use the cabin for the night. Normally, I do not plan to walk more than 12 miles in a day.
The cabin, called the "School House", is located close to the trail and would give me a good starting point the following morning. It would leave me about 12 miles from the first of a chain of National Parks in the Manistee forest which would lead me eventually to the "Big Mac" bridge which has become more of an obsession as the quest continues.
The snag is the weather forecast. The ten day weather forecast starting today, Friday May 7th, has only two relatively nice days and the rest are to be wet with 4 days of potential thunderstorms including today. Adding to the problem, the temperatures are potentially dropping into the 20's at night. There is even snow and hail in the forecast.
I can handle cold and I can handle wet but when you put the two together with wind and a potential for snow you are setting the stage for hypothermia. This is bad enough with a team of hikers to look out for each other. One hiker alone in the woods could be risking death in such conditions.
My equipment is rated for comfort to lows of 25 degrees. This would allow for survival probably as low as 10 to 15 degrees. But how do you compensate for being wet with these type of temperatures. An insidious side of hypothermia is the sleepiness and disorientation that comes with it. Unless you stay extremely focused you may not even be aware that you are in trouble.
Experience has taught me that as long as you keep moving your body temperature will remain high enough to be comfortable and safe. When you stop to rest the cold sets in quickly as the wetness from your own sweat on the inside and the wetness from the rain on the outside double up with the breeze to quickly lower your core temperature.
My options are clear to me:
1) Pack and move on quickly before today's rain begins and get to the "school house" as quickly as possible. Allowing for necessary breaks that would take about six hours.
2) Stay put and at least have access to a heated shower building and restrooms. There are also restaurants within walking distance.
3) Walk away from the trail and go to a local motel and hole up for several days.
4) Call it quits and stay put until someone can bring me home.
I opted for the first choice. The cabin would be heated and my obsession of making it to "Big Mac" was still pushing me forward.
I put my clothing and my sleeping bag in a large plastic bag before putting it in my backpack. All of my equipment is water resistant, that is a long way from water proof in the type of weather I was facing.
It began to rain as soon as I finished packing. I took a deep breath and headed out of White Cloud and back to the trail. It is quite remote in this area and I knew I was on my own for several cold wet hours.
The weather forecast proved to be correct. Heavy rain, some thunder, moderate breeze and gray, gray, gray skies. I felt pretty good for the first ten miles.
The weather was so bad, the day was reduced to a test of my mettle. I could not see much as I had to carefully watch the trail so that I would not slip and fall injuring myself. The animals were hunkered down and the vistas were reduced by my impeded vision and the gray skies.
This was definitely not a tourist hike. The rain just kept on coming. Each time I stopped to rest I would become cold and even wetter. Rest times just kept becoming less often and shorter in duration. All I had learned to protect myself form exhaustion during the last 30 days was thrown out the window in order to maintain my body heat. Just keep moving.
Fear and doubt began to creep into my thinking as I kept plodding along. Around the twelve mile mark I just wanted it to be over. This twelve miles was already worse than the two record 17 mile days. I was cold to the bone and the cold brought an ache to my old bones that I could not simply ignore as I had been the rest of the journey.
The rain became a mist and I decided a change of clothes was necessary. The breeze was quickening and I was chilled and shivering. I stopped in a an opening in the woods and stripped naked. As I took off my clothes I would wring them out and hang them from branches of a small tree I was next too.
The wind, although chilling, began to dry my skin. While drying out I opened my pack and redressed with the clothes in the plastic bag. I then packed my wet clothes in the plastic bag. Now everything would be sopping wet shortly.
This activity did help. Dry clothes put on my now wind dried skin began to help me feel a bit warmer. Twelve miles down and a couple of more to go. With this break and being a little dryer, I was now more confident I would make it to the cabin and something to eat. Food was on my mind six hours and 12 miles after my small breakfast.
The rain intensified as soon as I restarted. Within fifteen minutes I was in worse shape than I was before I stopped. You simply can't stop in these type of situations. I was forced to gut it out. I eventually popped out on a little road which I thought would lead me to the "School House". The road was really a wide trail with an occasional trailer or cabin on the side. This was adding to my confusion.
I did not know what I was looking for exactly and when I approached 14 miles I started walking up to the cabins to check for any sign that I was in the right place or if indeed the cabin itself was what I was looking for.
Ironically, I found the address of a cabin on a foreclosure notice that was shoved in the door of one of the cabins I walked up to. At least I was on the right road but I could not tell from my map how far I still had to go. I also did not have a cell signal from this remote location.
Further down the road a car approached. I waved the driver over and at first it appeared he would not stop for me. He immediately pulled into a driveway and turned around about 100 feet in front of me. I felt like he was leaving me there with the potential to die.
After turning his car around he did wait. He was just getting his mail. It turned out that he was a ranger for the National Park system. He said that I had about an half mile to go and I would know it instantly when I saw it.
As bad as I felt, I must admit that a half mile seemed a far distance. I had already gone 14 wet miserable miles. At least now I knew the end was in sight. Heat, food, a warm shower, shelter and a cell signal all waited just down the road.
In the distance was the "School House". It was named that because it had been a one room school house. The Ranger was right. I would not have missed it.
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