I packed and re-arranged a few last minute things in my pack before Jubin arrived to pick me up around 1:00pm. We hosed off his tarp from his last outdoor adventure (it was growing green stuff) and loaded up the Mini and hit the road. We drove up through Townsend and stopped at the Subway to grab some lunch. This has to be the most unique Subway I've ever been to. They serve breakfast sandwiches (which last time I checked, Subway doesn't do breakfast) and they also serve Breyer's ice cream! I suppose with it being in the middle of nowhere in Townsend the owners can do whatever they want. We drove up into Cades Cove for a bit and filled out our back country camping permit. We then drove (with only a few wrong turns) up through the winding hills of Laurel Valley Mountain Homes and arrived at our trail head around 3:00.It had already begun raining lightly by the time we stepped onto the trail to journey towards solitude. We made fairly good time. It was 2.3 miles to the campsite and we arrived there after only 45 minutes of hiking. 
Most of the trail was downhill, and there would have been some great views that I would share with you all through pictures, but the rainclouds and fog only allowed us to see about 30 feet in from of us. We were completely soaked by the time we reached the campsite, and were greeted by 6 other campers that had been there for a bit. They had a good fire going and it seemed that the rain might let up soon. It did not let up at all and only proved to rain harder the instant we tried to get our own fire built. We gathered lots of wood and then proceeded to try the impossible: start a fire using wet wood. We used three starter logs, two fire pouches, and a butane lighter to give it our best shot. It worked for quite a while and we actually saw about a 10 inch high flame at one point. The rain continued to pour down, and I thought we 
were soaked before, but I was wrong. Every time I moved water squished from either my shoes, my pants, or my hands (they were very pruney by this point) The other campers packed everything they had brought and loaded their camp up and headed out. They decide that it just wasn't worth it, and they may have had the right idea. We were considering leaving ourselves, and as the rain continued to pour we taed more seriously about it. We have never backed out because of weather, but we also had not experienced this level of rain that showed no signs of letting up. We came to a point and decided that this was not good or safe to stay, and if were going to head out we needed to do so then so we would have enough daylight left to see the trail. 
We packed everything up quickly, letting the rain kill our fire for us, and hit the trail for the return hike around 6:55pm. As we left the campsite we saw why the other group left earlier. Their roaring fire had been silenced because the fire pit, the campsite, and the trail head were all under about 2 inches of water. We knew at this point we would have been swimming not sleeping for the remainder of the night. We slipped, stumbled, and "swam" our way back up the trail. There were many points where the water was 3 inches deep and covered the entire path forcing us to walk along the side of the mountain to avoid getting our shoes stuck in the muck. We pushed ourselves as hard as we could to get out fast, but could only go so fast at some points to avoid slipping down the side of the mountain.
Most of the trail was downhill, and there would have been some great views that I would share with you all through pictures, but the rainclouds and fog only allowed us to see about 30 feet in from of us. We were completely soaked by the time we reached the campsite, and were greeted by 6 other campers that had been there for a bit. They had a good fire going and it seemed that the rain might let up soon. It did not let up at all and only proved to rain harder the instant we tried to get our own fire built. We gathered lots of wood and then proceeded to try the impossible: start a fire using wet wood. We used three starter logs, two fire pouches, and a butane lighter to give it our best shot. It worked for quite a while and we actually saw about a 10 inch high flame at one point. The rain continued to pour down, and I thought we 
were soaked before, but I was wrong. Every time I moved water squished from either my shoes, my pants, or my hands (they were very pruney by this point) The other campers packed everything they had brought and loaded their camp up and headed out. They decide that it just wasn't worth it, and they may have had the right idea. We were considering leaving ourselves, and as the rain continued to pour we taed more seriously about it. We have never backed out because of weather, but we also had not experienced this level of rain that showed no signs of letting up. We came to a point and decided that this was not good or safe to stay, and if were going to head out we needed to do so then so we would have enough daylight left to see the trail. 
We packed everything up quickly, letting the rain kill our fire for us, and hit the trail for the return hike around 6:55pm. As we left the campsite we saw why the other group left earlier. Their roaring fire had been silenced because the fire pit, the campsite, and the trail head were all under about 2 inches of water. We knew at this point we would have been swimming not sleeping for the remainder of the night. We slipped, stumbled, and "swam" our way back up the trail. There were many points where the water was 3 inches deep and covered the entire path forcing us to walk along the side of the mountain to avoid getting our shoes stuck in the muck. We pushed ourselves as hard as we could to get out fast, but could only go so fast at some points to avoid slipping down the side of the mountain.We arrived back at the trail head around 7:45pm and loaded up the car. We realized that we would be soaked the entire drive back home, but we didn't care because we would at least be shielded from any further exposure to the rain. I kept my part of our deal when we were talking about leaving the campsite. We stopped off at the Golden Corral restaurant for dinner, my treat, and then we went to Jubin's house to stay the night, his treat. We watched the tail end of the UNC vs. Kansas game and then watched Pirate of the Caribbean 3: At World's End, before falling asleep for the night. I was still water logged when I laid down to go to sleep, but at least Jubin had let me use his dryer to dry my clothes in stages so I wouldn't be sleeping in wet clothes all night. I went to sleep wondering how much more the campsite had become flooded since we made the smart choice to leave.
Meditation of the day: "Life is a series of emtions". "My favorite verse in the Bible is: And it came to pass. It didn't come to stay. If you're life is terrible right, don't worry it will pass."
~ Mark Lowry
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