april 5 - the sun comes out

April 5 i woke up after a very cold damp sleep. The sky was cloudy, and i wasnt sure if it was raining, or if water was dripping off the trees. I ate a quick breakfast of pop tarts and quickly got on the trail. My clothes were still wet from the day before and i was very cold not moving. We stopped at a shelter for lunch about 3 hours into hiking. Chunks of ice were now falling off the trees as it started to melt. It was still cloudy and very foggy. We had a long lunch and rested before continuing hiking. We came across a few people doing trail maintenance. Like cutting plants and chopping up the soil on the trail to keep a recognizable path there. They told us that it was supposed to clear up later in the day. We were very happy to find out they were right. First the sun would peek through the clouds for s few seconds before disappearing again. But after a half hour of in and out, the sun gradually came out and stayed out for the rest of the day. The temperature went up as the day went on and the elevation decreased. I was able to hike in tshirt and shorts by the end of the day. The day started bad but turned out to be beautiful. It was warm, sunny, and a gradual downhill all the way to the shelter. We were debating going all the way to hot springs, but ended up staying at a shelter less than 4 miles away from town. My knee began hurting very badlly towards the end of the day. I was hoping that sleep would help.