Meetup: Day 21 – Sunday 8/2/2920 – 1612.5 – clear, sunny, hot, cloudy. I woke late at 5:12 am and was on trail at 5:55 am. Today I had three climbs. The first was on a forest road and I missed a turn. I was at the “top” and eating a snack when a mountain biker comes up. We chat and he rides off. I look at my location and realize I’m not on the trail. I had missed the turn off about 0.2 miles back and down. The trail had split from the forest road and I was so focused on climbing that I went right by it. Down I went, got to the actual trail, and up I climbed again. The second climb was hard too. I had to do 25-counts. Then on the last climb I was nearly there, only 0.5 miles, when I heard a voice. It was Justin and saw him walking towards me. He had climbed 3000’ over 7 miles to get to Bowen Pass. He brought Cokes! We ate lunch and proceeded to hike back to his Jeep! It took 3 1/2 hours back and we got there at 4:00 pm. He drove us to the Winding River Resort where we are staying tonight. I need a break so tomorrow I’m slack packing 10 miles to Grand Lake CO on an alternative route because we can’t get a permit to hike in Rocky Mountain National Park. At the end he’s going to pick me up and we will stay overnight again at this same campground. The day after that I plan on slack packing again beyond Grand Lakes CO. This is all to give me a break which I desperately need. These climbs have been wearing me out! We had pancakes for dinner and now I’m stuffed!
