cowle's cove shelter to battell shelter

miles: 14.5

woke, packed up, breakfasted, and was moving by 06:45hr. about 5 minutes before i left, i heard thunder, and about 5 minutes after i left the skies opened up. thankfully it wasn’t a particularly long shower, but between the rain last night and this morning, the trail is saturated.

through the morning my ankle though still sore, was operating pretty well. i took it slow as it’s definitely still healing and has a ways to go.

the day was blustery and foggy. occasionally i could see that the towns at the foot of the mountains had sun, but not up here. almost every view was whited out.

i hiked to appalachian gap, which i expected to be a descent, but i climbed for a few miles before a steep descent. i stopped and had a snack, then continued on.

the next stretch was the one that has all the metal bars and ladders to assist. i recall this being the descent that i considered one of the first to mark the challenging half of the trail.

i stopped at the ski lift at the top and took another break. i had signal, so i called magz to talk about the resupplies. the hut i was in was warm and smelled like fresh pine. it was cozy with the winds howling outside.

i continued on, over mt. ellen and on to castle rock chairlift, also part of mad river glen. a thunderstorm was coming, so i holed up in the warming hut while it passed. i rolled out my ankle, then lay on the floor and took a nap.

when the storm had passed, i pressed on. my ankle was starting to bother me at this point, so i decided that i’d make it a short day and stop at battell. i stayed at this shelter on my NOBO trip as well.

i arrived pretty early, around 15:00 i think. i had a bandanna bath, washed my socks, journaled, and took another nap.

when i woke i was still on my own. dinner was peak refuel beef pasta marinara. tasty, and clocked in at a whopping 1040 calories. that should keep me warm tonight!

some additional photos from today: