Muddy Buddy - Day 412

We decided to try to get in 5 miles this morning early before the all-day rain was supposed to hit. We were hiking at 7:37.

These views are of the wide plain where the North Branch of Spring Brook emerges.

If you think it looks gray and subdued, that's because it was. This is the same valley you see from the Cherry Valley Overlook (so is it called Cherry Valley? not on the maps). But you are higher up from the overlook. We did not take that side trail, because our mission was to finish the miles before we got wet. Here's a slightly different view though.

We didn't quite make it without getting wet, but the hardest rain held off until we were at the cars. The trail was all in nice woods. Quite hilly, but most of the grades were gradual, and we completed the 5.1 miles in 1 hour and 55 minutes.

But the rain is not what made us muddy buddies. Bill decided to take a shorter route between the two points on a two-track!

And the weather? The forecast, as late as this morning, said 100% chance of rain all day, starting about 10 am. We might as well have used a weather rock. You know... if it's hot it's sunny, if it's moving it's windy, if it's wet it's raining, etc. There was some hard rain just after we finished hiking, but the rest of the day had only intermittent rain. We should have hiked. But I had some things to do, and it is supposed to be a little warmer tomorrow which will be nice. The weather is looking pretty good for the rest of my hiking days in this stretch.

Miles today: 5.1. Total miles so far: 4570.5.

See Goodbye Hiawatha