Daily Log: Day 50

Day 50 – Monday 8/31/2020 – 2084.2 – frost on tent and ground, some clouds, cool, monsoon sprinkles, no rain. I woke at 5 am. I was slow to get going. Frost all over my tent. It wouldn’t fit in stuff sack. It was very heavy with the frost both on the inside and the outside. I just stuck it as-is in my backpack’s mesh net. When I stopped for my 10 am snack I opened it up, shook off the frost, and tried to dry it a little. That helped make it weigh less. After that I did three climbs. At one point I got off trail for 0.2 miles. Also Guthooks trail path looks to have an error, but figured it out and continued on. The last climb was the biggest at 2000’. I had to push and push to keep going up and up. In the end I got to the top of the last climb and assumed the descent was immediate. But no! On and on I went at altitude for over a mile. Finally I began to descend. It was quite late for me. I think I finished at 4:45-5:00 pm. Twelve hours – yikes. I found a tiny space behind and within a couple of pine tree and clumsily set up my tent. These trees are blocking the wind. I’m at over 12,000 feet in altitude. It’ll be cold again tonight. I’m wearing my puffy and all my other cold weather stuff. Tomorrow I see Justin on trail! Yippee!

Selfie of Justin at Wolfe Pass preparing to hike northbound to meet me with my next resupply of food. (Photograph Courtesy of J. Watt)
Panoramic picture as I hike southbound toward Justin from Stony Pass to meet him.
The sun comes out, the coat comes off and the hat gets switched. (Photograph Courtesy of J. Watt)