Hiking Together: Meetup: Day 12 – Friday 7/24/2029 – 1459.8 – rainy, cold, clearing, cool. I woke to the patter of rain on my tent. Then the rain stopped. I’ve begun to feel the days are getting shorter. I got on trail by 5:20 am. I headed to two creeks about two miles ahead. There I got water and sent Justin a message telling him when I left camp so he could estimate when I’d get to the summit and our meeting [“Left at 5:20. Stopping for water about 1.7 miles from camp.” Jul 24, 2020 7:03 AM]. The rain started slowly again. I put up my umbrella. It was cool and began to turn colder. Finally I stopped and put on my rain jacket and rain mittens. They helped keep me warmer. But I was wet underneath. At about 9 am here comes Justin towards me. We were only 15 minutes from the 10,900 foot summit. There was not much to see. It was foggy, cold and misting. The grass was wet and it soaked my feet. Since Justin knew the way I mindlessly followed him down. Every so often I has to stop and breathe. We made it back to the Jeep about 10:45 am. Immediately I was cold and switched my shirt to a dry one, put on my puffy jacket and hat, put on dry socks and my camp shoes. Soon I felt better. I’m glad we’re done for today. We had brats for lunch. Then chores began to prepare for the next day’s section. We’ll be hiking southbound together for 15 miles. Then I will continue on and Justin will turn around and return to the Jeep. The rain stopped, the sun came out, but it was cool so we needed a coat.
