Cheaha 5-9-14 / Skyway / CST / Pinhoti rain FAIL trip

It seems like Kevin and I have never planned an adventure that went according to plan. This last trip most certainly did NOT go according to plan. lol. When we first started planning these backpacking trips - the weather would ALWAYS say it was going to rain, we would cancel the trip, and of course - it would end up being beautiful weather and we'd be wishing we hadn't canceled the trip. Therefore, we watch the forecasts with extreme prejudice - usually assuming something along the lines of "that's totally gonna go north and miss us." Except this time - the weatherman was right! It rained the WHOLE trip. Our plan was to do the Skyway / Chinabee Silent Trail / Pinhoti loop starting at Adams Gap and going clockwise, hitting the Skyway trail first. Last time I did this loop it was Winter 2013, 25 degrees outside, and we did it counter clockwise. We had a blast, but all the good scenery was first, and the Skyway trail - which can only be described as a multitude of up's and down's through the most monotonous part of the forest - last. This time Kev and I aimed to do the worst section first. It sprinkled a little bit on the way there and was cloudy - but I had faith that the weather wouldn't foul our trip. Boy was I wrong. About 2 miles into the woods, the bottom dropped out. We had rain gear and what-not, but not enough for the downpour that ensued. First couple of pics here are of the CCC Chimney right off the Skyway trail.

We set up my tarp when the downpour started. After an hour or so, we were getting restless just sitting there waiting on the rain and decided that it had let up enough, we could probably go ahead and start hiking. The rain didn't stop though. At some point I think it crossed my mind that we should just turn back or maybe even just go ahead and set up camp nearby, just wait it out and head back in the morning the way we came. But it was early in the day, and we had a plan! These next pics are from the bridge over Devil's Den. This is a really cool place. This was my 2nd time there.

After Devil's Den we came to the exact spot where John and I did this same loop back in 2013.

The original plan was to camp at that exact spot, wake up the next day, and head up to the Pinhoti and came on the ridge the second night. This is the first time we've gone at a time of the year where one might want to stay up on the ridge. Most trips we've gone on it's been really cold and windy, and thus we never camp up on the ridge. We were 6.5 miles into the woods and we were water-logged. Boots wet. Feet wet. Pants wet. Underwear wet. Shirt wet. Hat...you guessed it: wet. We considered staying at the spot, but I remembered that the Cheaha Falls Shelter was only about 3 miles up the trail. Here, it would be dry and we could get all of our gear out where it might dry at least a little, and maybe achieve some level of comfort in spite of us being soaked to the point of misery. We decided to trek 3 more miles up to the shelter. We were able to pitch Kevin's tent inside the shelter (just the bug screen for protection) and my hammock hung from the rafters. We hung my tarp across the front to block the wind as it was blowing in really hard. It worked great against the wind, but was really loud. We still slept really well.

These are from the next morning:

The next morning my shirt, underwear, and pants had dried - my boots and socks had not. We decided that backpacking in the rain was for some other breed of backpacker and we were going to cut the trip short. We began hiking approx. 1.5 miles from the shelter back to Hwy 281. My truck was parked about 5 miles south of where the trail would cross the road. We crossed Cheaha falls on the way.

Never in my life have I ever had the desire or need to hitch-hike, but as we started the long walk back to the truck - that's all I could think about. I was hoping some nice person in a pick-up, or what-ever - I would have ridden on the back of a moped, backpack in tow if I had to - would come along. First car drove right past us. Didn't even wave at us even though we had our thumbs up. Then out of nowhere comes a red F-150 with a TN tag. Guy stops and asks what was up. We explain that we tried to beat the rain, but the rain beat us - could he take us up to Adam's Gap and he says to get in the back. It's a good thing too, as right about the time he dropped us off at our truck, the bottom dropped out of another cloud like a monsoon. We actually hitch-hiked, and we didn't get raped or killed.

:-)

So, I have learned a few valuable lessons:

1. The rain is not a force to be reckoned with.
2. Waterproof boots are only waterproof for about 2 hours after which they become heavy-ass wet boots.
3. Sometimes the forecast is right. (Kevin said my new trail name is now, "bad forecast". lol)


Until next time...