Day 13 started with a rumble of thunder around 5am. I’d heard a few splatters of rain on the tarp overnight, but was exhausted and put sleep in front of worry. A little rain on the tarp can be relaxing as it lets you appreciate being warm and dry. Thunder on the other hand gets my attention, especially when camped up high.

A quick look at weather radar showed the storm was rolling through the Kilkenny, but there was more headed my way. I skipped coffee and breakfast, pulling down camp and heading out as fast as possible. I didn’t hear any more thunder, but the rain was steady now as I finished with the Owl and moved on towards Martha.

Martha was a little confusing at the top because there were trails headed off in all directions, but the only sign pointed back the way I’d come heh. I was happy to see this sign a while later which told me I’d made the right guess on which trail to take down. Down was good because the beast legs were groaning at every step up. Between the climb of the previous evening and the rough morning they did not get a chance to recover.

The sun started to break through as I hiked down Cherry Mtn Road. There were folks camped at most every one of the sites along the road making breakfast after the rain had passed. I was jealous of their coffee and eggs having skipped breakfast. Doubt was creeping in as I wondered how I was going to make it up and down the climb scheduled for the end of the day.

I didn’t take a lot more pics that day as I was sort of lost in my head. Thankfully I did stop at the deli on the 302 road walk for a sub. That seemed to not only brighten my mood, but inspired me to camp short and rest my legs rather than try to reach the Dry River that day. I had an extra day scheduled so I changed my goal to reaching Edmands Path and getting in far enough to camp legally, but not much farther heh.

The walk through the Mt Washington Hotel and golf course was surreal. I kept expecting security to give me the bums rush, but official looking people on golf carts kept giving me a smiling nod as they passed by. Folks out for some exercise while vacationing also seemed amused at my stumbling through their resort. The path along the river was beautiful and I stopped to refill my bottles while families rolled by on fat tire bikes. Very surreal heh.

No more pics were taken, but I did find a spot to camp in preparation for heading into the final stretch of wilderness between me and the end of the trail. I really had been close to giving up earlier in the day, so just still being on trail seemed a victory of sorts. Well, except for my sore feet.