I ended up joining J in his tent just to have extra body heat, and I boiled some water to take in with me. Even with all that I woke up cold a few times throughout the night. The sleeping bag I have is rated to -9, and I have sleeping pants, under armour cold long sleeve shirt, chaos and wool socks. I know I only have one night left but I really wonder how I’d get through it being this chilled. At the beginning of my hike, I was so hot every day, and wasn't even using my sleeping bag properly at night, the long days on the trail have taken their toll.
Hurricane Teddy is supposed to hit tomorrow, it’s not supposed to hit here as hard as Nova Scotia but it could be rainy and windy. This got me thinking about the logistics of tomorrow and thinking maybe I should change my plans. I know I'll be finishing the trail tomorrow, and I had been planning on either hitching back to my car or spending the night and catching the Thursday morning delivery run to St. John’s. With the coming hurricane and how cold I have been I didn’t want to be stuck out there another night.Â
I asked J if they’d be willing to drive me to get my car after we hiked out of this trail today. That way I can have fresh socks, warmer clothes, a warmer sleeping bag, and even the chance of just doing the last two trails as a day hike. He of course agreed so we had a leisurely morning, coffee (thanks to J!), and a campfire! Yes, I'm drinking the coffee out of my pot. The joys of backcountry camping, especially thru hiking is multipurpose items!
I didn’t even bother to try putting on my burnt socks today. Knowing I was going to be at my car, with access to a selection of dry socks meant I could wear my sleeping socks to hike out. They feel absolutely delightful! My feet on the other hand are not so delightful;
We had about 8km to hike out which took us about 5 hours. J is a much slower hiker than me and we were moving at his pace. I found it a little hard to move this slow, and was often pausing to wait for him to catch up. I felt a little guilty because we could both tell he was moving slower. I didn't want to make him feel like he was slowing me down, I was really grateful for the company and didn't mind.
This trail really wasn’t as scenic as I expected, other than the arch it’s kind of bland. I think I'm a little spoiled after seeing the coast alongside me for so many days now, that hiking in the forest doesn't compare.
We got off trail and picked up by his dad around 2pm and headed back to my car. While sitting waiting for our ride, it started to rain lightly. This made me glad I was hoping off trail to get my car and reassured me it was the right thing to do. I like the idea of having more warm and dry clothes to choose from. We were also moving much slower today, I would have had a hard time getting in the mileage needed if I wasn't getting a ride.
Depending on what time I get my car, and back down here, I’ll either sleep on the trail or at trail head, either in my car or a different tent. Now that I’ll have access to a warmer sleeping bag, I think I’d be fine in the tent for another night. The one I have is rated to -9 so it’s not like I wasn’t prepared but the one I have in my car is for -17 and I use in the winter. I think being this chilled comes down to how many days I was on the trail, it's taking a toll on my ability to regulate my temperature. The temperature has dropped considerably in the past few days as well.
I got back to my car probably a little before 5 o’clock. I quickly gassed up and grab some snacks for the road and took off. Unfortunately there seems to been an accident so I got stuck in standstill traffic for about an hour. In rural Newfoundland, there's not much options to go around a traffic incident, this was the only road to where I was going. Sitting in traffic for an hour meant I ate all the snacks even the ones I had intended for tomorrow. I found myself really wishing I had more snacks because I didn’t really have dinner yet and I am used to having dinner around this time.
It was totally dark by time I got out to the parking lot at the trail head. I had originally considered setting up my tent, and using one of my warmer sleeping bags that were in my trunk. However, it started to rain and I didn’t feel like doing anything in the dark. I put a blanket across the top of my backseat to the front seats and snuggled up back there. Because my car had been on for almost two hours driving it was super cozy warm, and I ended up using my sleeping bag more like a blanket. I am writing this snuggled up with some pillows and my winter sleeping bag. I am feeling very cozy and think I’m going to have a great night sleep even though I am crammed into the back seat of my car.Â
Tomorrow morning will be super windy but because I do not have to go all way to St. John’s to get my car it’s going to make a big difference. Two more trails to go and I will be done!