Miles hiked: Zero
I spent the night after Day 2 in the RPH Shelter, which was fine, save for one mouse that tried to get into my bag. The wind was howling, but it was calm inside the shelter, the only problem was that the overnight temperature dropped to 30°F. While I have a 20°F sleeping bag and wore as much clothing as I had, including a light down jacket, it wasn't enough. I was cold all night and could not sleep. Around 4:50 a.m., I decided I had enough and would take Colette up on her offer to come and pick me up any time. I would call her in the morning.
She had had a fairly difficult ride, because there was snow on the ground as she left, and she did not have her winter tires anymore. But by 9:30, I was in her car, heading back to Lee.
My decision was made after a lot of thought on why my lower body was warm, but my arms were freezing. My conclusion was that the Polartec Power Dry tights that I wore were considerably better at trapping a layer of warm air than the thin Merino wool top that I had.
I really didn't want to spend another night out with that clothing, especially since the forecast called for even colder overnight lows.
Once home, after my shower and my huge bowl of oatmeal, it was shopping time and we went out and found a nice, thick Mammut Thermal Top with Polartec Thermal Pro, and it was on sale, too! This is just the updated version of the Power Dry line, so I'm hoping it will suffice. I'll test it out in the upcoming nights, on my front porch, since I'm staying at home for the next week and will just do day hikes on the AT, using our home as the base and Colette as my chauffeur!
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