Londonderry to Old Man’s Cave; Distance = 33 Miles; People Met = 13
The first day of this stretch was long and uneventful, save for being approached by two interested young people, Billy and Andrew. Billy sounded like he would like to do something of this nature at some point.
The second day was all my fault. We knew it was to be a day of rain, but when the morning started out with just occasional drizzle I declared: “If it’s like this all day we’ll be fine.” Two minutes later we were enveloped in drenching rain. I had a chance to reflect on the day’s journey towards the end, as this podcast reveals.
The rain never let up so we eventually left the outhouse to set the tent up. I figured we could get the tent fly up on the tent quick enough in the face of a steady rain to prevent too much moisture. Unfortunately, the ten seconds that took was the ten seconds of hardest rain all day long, as if the gods were waiting for just that moment to dump a bucket of water on us. We slept in a tent full of puddles that night.
Other Photos
The Hollenberg Clan: Janet, Jack, Sarah, Roth and Sandi
Sharon and Tammy at Ash Cave
Fortunately, they're not paid for constructing words
What, pray tell, does the Wet Branch Road look like?
How did we miss each other? We were at Ash Cave today (3/9/12) in the morning! We were hoping to cross paths!
How did we miss each other? We were at Ash Cave this morning (3/9/12)! We were to cross paths with you. We started at Cedar Falls and are camped past Tar Hollow State Forest fire tower.
How did we miss you? We were at Ash Cave this morning (3/9/12). We started at Cedar Falls and are camped south of the Tar Hollow State Park fire tower!
Bummer! On the evening on the 8th, after getting to Cedar Falls, we made a beeline for the family walk-in campground via the Horseman’s Trail. We waited in outhouses for the weather to let up and set up our tents, but it never happened. Instead, at the exact moment we put the tent up a brief deluge came and filled the tent with puddles before we could get the tent fly up. As a result we lounged around the next morning until close to noon to dry out before heading on. You must have passed through the area while we were at that campground.
We suspected we would cross around Logan via the notice Dick Bratton sent. I tried to send an email to you previously but it bounced. If I understood correctly you are Triple Crowners as well, correct? I completed it in 1985, and Cindy was the first woman to do the CDT in 1985.
I’ll just share this for now. On the one hand this is much less wilderness as you travel through the heartland (obviously), but places in Nevada and Utah are actually more remote than on the NSTs.
Congratulations on your triple crown and Cindy’s record setting accomplishment on the CDT as well. We would have been camping right next to you that night if we had listened to the rangers/park officers. We stopped at the park officers’ building next to the visitors center. We cooked dinner in their breakroom in their building for a dinner break out of the rain. While there, the officers informed us that hiking in the park is not allowed after dusk, so they were going to drive us “up the hill” to where you must have been camped. They thought there was no way we could make it out of the park by dark. We took this as a challenge and continued to just past Cedar Falls and out of park boundaries to camp. Oh so close, but yet so far. We just missed you! Yes, this trail is much different than the others, but that is why we hike!
I am so disappointed you missed each other!