We knew that to stay dry at night, we would hike soaking wet as long as it took to get from shelter to shelter until we got to town or the rain stopped. The twist was that our friend Josh and his friend Bobby wanted to meet us and do a couple days of hiking.
If there is an easy way, or an entertaining way to get anywhere, Josh will always choose the entertaining way. So it was no surprise that his entry to the Appalachian Trail involved a rental car, an ill-fated supply run to a vegan grocery store, an argument with a ranger who said the park was closed, and bribing a dad with a van-full of kids to take back roads into the park. They found us by stumbling a mile in the dark, "saving their headlamp batteries," and fortified us with whiskey for the next rainy slog.
Bobby was too smart to hike in these conditions. He climbed back to Skyline Drive and found a ranger to drive him to the next shelter. Josh sloshed out 20+ miles with us.
The one gear instruction I had given the boys on their way out was "bring rain gear and trash bags to waterproof your gear." The response I got was: "No s%*#, Sherlock." After the first day of long hiking, Josh pulled out a soaked sleeping bag and tried to dry it with the camp stove.
We were sick of rain and ready to get to town, but to get in striking distance as quickly as possible, we had to do an actual marathon: 26.2 miles, to get to a shelter close to town. Josh, limping from his 20-mile initiation and still damp from his night in a wet bag, said he was in.
We started and finished in the dark, squishing out a total of 27.1 miles in one day. Josh entertained us with stories and kept up for every step of the Shenandoah Marathon.
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