Wow! It would have been hard to pick a better weekend for our freeze out than what we had January 16-19 on the Appalacian Trail. I found it interesting that many people I talked to before we went would simply shiver and tell me how miserable we'd be. Many just thought we were crazy and said so! I would tell them we weren't going on the trip to be miserable but to experience comfort in a hostile environment by practicing what we've been learning about. The truth is they still thought we were crazy. You know that when someone says you shouldn't do something how it makes you want to do it more? Well that's what I sensed from our intrepid group of eight as we left our cars behind and headed up the trail Friday night. (There's a lesson in how the Law exposes our sin in there somewhere but that's for another time.) Soon we reached our camp and settled in for the night. We learned the temperature dropped to -6F during the night but everyone slept well and when we hit the trail again Saturday morning, it was a balmy +3F. It generally warmed up as the weekend progressed and by the time we hit the hay Saturday night it had reached all the way to 20F. We had a few complain they were too warm that night! So our preparation was good and our fellowship even better as we enjoyed one another's company on the trail. We learned how fast a water bottle will freeze when the temperature is in the single digits and the pleasure of a warm, melty cheese and pepperoni sandwich next to a fire. That's livin!
Blessings,
Capt Hayden
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