I pulled aside the curtain that cradled the motel room in dark serenity. Outside, the rain was pouring down with such an immense force that Vermont had declared a state of emergency due to the floods it had caused. Our plan was to only stay one night in the town of Manchester Center, but now it looked like we would have to extend it by one more.

New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts seemed to have vanished in a blur of rain, slippery rocks, tough climbs, road walks and Bear Mountain State Park as well as ice cream and sandwich stops.

Connecticut was 52 uneventful miles where the trail was narrow and surrounded by a dense forest.

Massachusetts had been cruisy but muddy.

And in New York we were forced of trail for a nero and zero due to bad air quality as smoke came down from the wildfires that roamed across Canada.

Now it seemed like we were forced to stay off trail yet again due to the heavy rain.

To hike or not to hike

Tang, I and Chipotle – Tang’s boyfriend who had joined us in New York – were discussing our options. We could hike out and hope it would get better. We could plan for bailout points, or we could stay one more night and wait for it to clear up.

I was sure of the fact that I didn’t want to hike out in pouring rain (who in their right mind does?!), but I also knew that it could dry up and change in a heartbeat. And then I would beat myself up for taking an unnecessary zero. Staying one more night also meant that we would have to increase our daily mileage to make our deadline.

I did the calculations.

– We have to average 28.5 miles a day, which is 1.5 miles more per day than before.

A mile and a half don’t seem like much and adding it to one day is barely noticeable, but it meant that we would have way less wiggle room for future zeros and neros.

On the plus side, staying one more night meant that we would be able to spend more time with Tang’s parents, who had come from New Hampshire to take us off trail and treat us to resupply, dinner and accommodation.

I looked out the window again.

– I don’t want to hike in this weather.

We decided to stay one more night.

Taking the wrong turn

The next day the rain had stopped and Tang’s parents, drove us to the trailhead. As we said goodbye, I felt a sting of jealousy. While we were embarking on yet another section that was sure to be a battle of mud, wet feet and floods, they got to stay dry and drive home to the comforts of their own home.

I tried to convince myself that I only had another 513 miles to go.

It did little to comfort me.

As predicted, our feet didn’t stay dry for long. But despite some overflowing sections, trail wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be. Dry feet is a luxury you don’t get on the AT anyway, so all in all the heavy rain hadn’t made too much of a difference.

Except for the rivers and streams. Even the smaller streams were now moving at a rapid pace with strong currents, making a river crossing difficult and potentially dangerous.

– When you get to Cold River Road, turn left instead of right.

A southbound hiker suddenly appeared out of nowhere and woke me up from my daydreaming. When I stopped dead in my tracks, she continued to inform me that there was a river coming up, but that the water levels were too high and that locals had told her to take a detour following the road instead.

Just before the encounter, I had briefly studied Far Out, the app used for navigation, and found Upper Cold River Road. Knowing it was a little further ahead, I put my headphones in and continued on my way. I’d figured I’d wait for Tang and Chipotle, who were shortly behind me, at the road and we do the road walk together.

Instead I kept going.

Cold River

The distraction of my audiobook in combination with the confusion of two different roads with similar names (Cold River Road and Upper Cold River Road, the latter being further ahead and the one where I thought the reroute was), I suddenly found myself facing the very same river that the southbound hiker had warned me about.

There was no doubt as to why the locals had warned her about crossing it. The river was wide and the water was moving with such a raging force that several tree logs had moved across it and were now collecting at one of the riverbanks. On the other side of it, I could see the white painted blaze on one of the trees where the trail continued.

Once again, I had to assess my options.

I could wait for Tang and Chipotle and then attempt to cross the river together. I assumed however, that Tang and Chipotle had gotten the same information as I had and would take the road.

The other option would be to turn around and hike back to the road. I was only about a mile from it, but even a backtracking one mile is one mile too much.

Or I could scout for other sections along the river where it would be possible to cross.

I decided on the last one.

Dangerous river crossing

I stepped off trail and made my way down to the river. Further up the river wasn’t as wide, and the water seemed calmer. As with the entire AT, trees and roots lined the riverbank and I figured I could make use of them to see how deep the river was – and just how strong the currents felt.

With my poles in one hand, and the other wrapped tightly around the tree, I unclipped the hip belt and chest strap and then sat down on the edge of the riverbank so that I could slowly slide into the water. It immediately reached halfway up my shorts, brushing against the bottom of my pack. The depth and cold water caught me by surprise, and I let out a low shriek.

As soon as I hit the water, currents pulled me downstream and forced me to drop the poles to the ground so that I could wrap both arms around the tree that served as my anchor. I tried to take another step towards the middle of the river but was sure of the fact that if I’d let go of the tree, I would be pulled downstream and share the same fate as the logs.

Having no other choice, I pulled myself up and got out of the water. I decided to give it one more try at a different spot, but ended up with the same result. I’d reasoned that even if I didn’t fall, the risk of losing my poles (that don’t have any straps) were too great. And losing them meant that I also be without a shelter, since I needed my poles to pitch my tent.

As much as I hated it, turning around to go back to the road was my only option.

At this point a lot of time had passed, and I now faced the next challenge – finding Tang and Chipotle.

Catch them if you can

Before my little side trip, I knew they were behind me. What I didn’t know was just how far behind me they were. Had they stopped for a break somewhere? Had they even reached the road? And if so, had they decided to take the detour?

I picked up the pace and started walking on the side of the road. As I passed by a house, a man informed me that he had seen some hikers walking on the road. I felt relieved. At least now I knew they were ahead of me and could keep going until I caught them.

Normally, a road walk is something most hikers dislike. But this time I welcomed the hard and even surface, free from rocks, roots and mud. Without any obstacles I was able to move faster.

I picked up the pace again.

Without cell service there was no way I could call Tang. And even though we both had Garmin devices – and had talked about how it would probably be a good idea to exchange our details so that we could get a hold of each other – we’d never got around to it.

Suddenly a car came up behind me. I turned around and put my arms in the air so that it would pull over.

Luckily it did.

– If you see two hikers, one in yellow avocado shorts and the other one dressed in blue, can you tell them that Terminator is behind them?

Road closure

A few minutes later it came back.

– The road is closed further ahead. You might be better off turning off at this junction. That’ll take you to the next shelter on trail.

Not feeling like I wanted to divert any more from trail than I already had, I followed the road I was on. Taking two wrongs turns in one day was the last thing I wanted to do. It would also decrease my chances of catching up with Tang and Chipotle.

A little bit further down, where the road was closed for vehicles, a construction crew was working. As I passed one of them that was busy with moving sand in a Caterpillar, I shouted to one of them.

– Have you seen a couple of hikers passing by recently?

To my surprise he told me he had seen three.

Three? I was confused – apart from the southbound hiker, I hadn’t seen any other hikers so far that day. Maybe the hikers I had been chasing weren’t them after all?

Reunion

Shortly after the road walk ended and I was back on trail. Even though being back on trail meant that I had to be back under the trees it’s always a relief to know you’re back on track and can start making miles again.

After crossing another river – this time with success despite strong currents – I approached the next shelter.

My heart skipped a beat when I saw the two familiar figures sitting in the shade of the shelter, seeking protection from the sun.

Our tramily was reunited.