Day 123. Getting Used to the Cold

Mile 1554 – VA Route 100 To Mile 1573 – Wapiti Shelter

Our shuttle driver had us back on the trail bright and early this morning. It was still cold, but we knew it would begin warming up later in the afternoon.

Looking back toward town on a cold, foggy morning

It turned out to be a really nice day for hiking as the sun appeared in the afternoon and the temperatures warmed up.

The last couple of days have been the first real test of our winter gear. We are finding a few things that we need to tweak, but so far it is working pretty well. One challenge is keeping our water from freezing while we are hiking. At night we can just toss everything that needs to stay warm in the foot box of our quilts. But, we didn’t have a good plan for days when the temperature stays below freezing. The best option we’ve found so far is to carry our water inside our coats when we are wearing them. It is a bit uncomfortable, but it works!