03-25-13 Together in the snow

Overnight, the rain turned to snow. Breaking down the tent added new challenges--the collapsible poles had froze together.

Once on the trail it proved to be cold and windy. The uphill warmed us up, but the conditions never got better.

At one point I said "this isn't fun anymore" and pushed forward toward Deep Gap Shelter.

We got there early afternoon, but the ideal spots in the shelter were taken already. I broke down a little--cold, hungry, with strangers and no privacy. Brandon reassured me we would be warmer here than in our tent.

Everyone nested up in their sleeping bags and ate dinner. We had warm soup, tortillas, cheese and peanut butter. The strangers turned out to be really funny, and for the current conditions, I had fun.

We joked about how we were like old people--in bed and fed by 4:30, complaining about aches and pains, concerned about the weather.

It was a coooold night. I had every piece of clothing on me. Eager for morning to come.