AT Day 19 – The Wind

Brad McCartney

Appalachian Trail

Last updated:November 16, 2020

The Wind

4th May

23.4 miles

Bushcamp (310.5) to Bushcamp (333.9)

I woke to a calm morning. The predicted 35-50MPH winds didn’t hit me at 5am. So I slept in.

As soon as I crested the ridge the wind started. From nothing to 30-50MPH. The more exposed the ridge, the stronger the wind. In the less exposed areas the trees swayed to breaking point. At times trees or tree branches would fall around me.

I had little time to enjoy the views at places like Big Bald. The wind was strong and cold. At times I was almost blown off my feet. The cold had me burning extra calories and eating twice as much as I normally would. My metabolism was keeping me warm.

As the afternoon wore on I dropped into more protected valleys. The rain began. Now I was cold and wet. At this point I had a sharp pain in my left calf muscle. I tried stretching but that only made things worse. Maybe a massage might help, but it was too sore to massage. I limped into the next flat spot I could find and set up camp. I took some ibuprofen and went to bed hoping for less pain tomorrow.