Standing Bear Farm/Hostel

After we had breakfast and packed up, we returned to the Trail this morning around 10 a.m. It promised to be a sloppy day, with fog and falling temperatures through the afternoon.  By noon, hiking the Trail was more like walking in a creek. You'll like the stylish raingear that Forest is wearing. Fortunately, his replacement raincoat is waiting for us at tonight's resupply stop, so he was covered in Tyvek, with a poncho covering his backpack. I was told he looks like a linebacker!

It was so foggy and rainy by noon, that I missed a white blaze and went slightly off track before I realized (the red line is the white blaze trail, and the red indicator was my location). Luckily, the GPS app works really well in all kinds of weather, so it was no big deal.

While I was hiking toward Standing Bear Farm/Hostel (shown on the map below), my wife was calling ahead to try to reserve a place for me. Most of the hostels will let you do that within 24 hours of arriving. Unfortunately, Standing Bear did not, so I was at the mercy of a first come, first served system. They told her they never run out of room. Forest and I were pushing on as quickly as possible, but with the rain and Trail conditions, safety came first.

On top of the weather, we had a bit of an unexpected test of our emergency response plan. When I reached Standing Bear Farm, I activated SPOT, picked up my resupply box, and got in line with all of my belongings and Forest to take a shower, thinking that everyone following my departures and arrivals had received the email the system sends. I had told everyone that I expected to arrive there at 4 p.m. When no notification had been received by 7 p.m., my wife checked in with the several other folks with whom I've been communicating to see if anyone else had heard from me. None had since noon. So, she called the hostel to make sure that I had arrived. After they checked and let her know that I had, she tried the stealthy approach and told them they didn't need to ask me to call...but of course they did, and I did. I'm not sure if SPOT didn't go through because of the combination of rain, cloud cover and trees or if the batteries were dying, but I will replace the batteries to be on the safe side and test it in the morning to make sure all systems are go.

The hostel is mobbed tonight. People who stayed here yesterday have decided to stay tonight because of the drop in temperatures and rain, so the bunks were all taken. They put us in an empty room with hikers spread out all across the floor like a disaster shelter. I'm hoping that I'm tired enough that I can get some rest, but it sure isn't going to be comfortable.