A biblical storm came through last night! Thunder crashed and lightning flashed. It was miserable. There quickly was a stream of water running under my tent, and the sheets of rain that came down were unavoidable for the walls too. It was simply miserable. So, in a specifically violent cascade of rain that came down on my tent, I made the decision to pack up in the next break in the storm. Of course, that didn’t happen for a while, so I laid there shivering, waiting, and feeling the ground shake with every crash overhead. Each time, the walls of my tent flashed and I became acutely aware that only a few millimeters of fabric was protecting me from the violent storm, and even then it was doing a poor job. No single wall tent could take on the ferocity of this storm!
About 430am the weather subsided a bit and I quickly crawled out of bed and packed my sopping wet clothing. I only had 16 miles to the terminus, and I had on every layer I could get on. I packed my pockets with snacks to eat along the way, and I kept the legs churning. Multiple wet crossings dotted the path, but eventually I made it to a series of dirt roads (full of puddles from the heavy rains) and they led high above the banks of the White River. And, because I got up so early, I was able to wrap up the thru hike of the Ozark Highlands Trail at 11am. I cannot say it was a magnificent ending, but the rain let up a little bit at the ending for me to snap a quick photo at the terminus after 250 miles. This thru hike had some of the wildest weather of any I have previously done. I walked out to the road, hitched to Mountain Home, got myself a hotel room and went to see a movie at night. It was casual, but I did treat myself to a massive bowl of popcorn!
Ozark Highlands Trail Terminus
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