All good things. Yesterday, walking up the 3000 foot climb to Priest Mt, I passed CLE a guy about my age, who was also walking from Harpers Ferry to Dalesville. CLE had taken a fall the day before, well actually, he’d fallen 4 times and cut up his nose, forearm and both shins. I’m not sure how, because he’s a fairly slow hiker, but he did.
Anyway, I passed him going up hill to the shelter. As is my usual, I get settled in, get my water and fix my sleeping arrangements, and about an hour later, in walks CLE. He was exhausted after 7 miles. We talked and had an enjoyable evening in the shelter. This morning, we walked out of camp together, shivering with numb fingers and toes. The temperature had dropped to freezing and neither of us had an excess if clothes. You know it’s cold when the bristles on your toothbrush are frozen! CLE matched my pace until I stopped at 9:00, to see how he was doing. We talked about another freezing night and possible “moderate” snowfall overnight and decided a ride into town would be a grand idea. So out comes my Garmin satellite communicator and I made arrangements for a ride and a couple of bunks in Glasgow. The only problem was we had 8.5 miles to go and only four hours to get it done. For me that wasn’t a big deal, but CLE has been doing 7 miles days. Well his choice was to step it up, keep up, or spend another freezing night in the mountains. I’m happy to report he accomplished his first 10 mile hike, before noon, and he got to the pick up point by two. Both of us are taking a zero day tomorrow, then we’ll resume our southbound trek on Saturday.
Whistler signing off from a cozy bunk room, with a full stomach.
Commentaires