Day 5: Worst Day Ever

The rain on the night of day 4 made me so proud of my tent. I was all warm inside.

Leaving, today, the hiking was beautiful and I was making great progress up the climb and then into this miles-long prairie.

Then the rain started. No problem. I have my umbrella! It worked great. But the rain continued.

Finally, there was a break just before 3, but soon after, the deluge began. I waited under some trees for 20 minutes, then just put on the rain gear and started.

I finally arrived at camp cold and wet just as the rain was stopping. I started to put up the tent and…

My tent stakes were missing.

I panicked. I went through everything. I must have left the stakes at the last site. I engineered a tent set-up with rocks and sticks. It worked.

Proud of the solution, I made chana masala for dinner, met Strawberry (another wet hiker), filtered water, and climbed into my tent for the night at 6:00 pm.