Meetup: Day 34 – Saturday 8/15/2020 – 1836.8 – clear, sunny, hot, Smokey. I got up in darkness at 4:45 am. After potty I came back to my campsite and used my headlamp on red mode to pack up. I was on trail at 5:40 am with my headlamp in low-intensity white mode. The first climb was 1000’ and then down on the other side. Then a second climb but not as bad as the first. However it was getting hot. So I listened to podcasts to pass the time. Finally I got to Justin’s camp site which is about 0.2 mile off trail at about 1:45 pm. So nice to see him. Over the next few hours we changed plans for me to slack pack tomorrow. He would park on the far side of Hope Pass. Then he’d climb it and meet me at the summit. We’ve heard that there are now three Colorado forest fires burning 100 miles or more north of us and the air quality is smokey. Another great tasty dinner by Chef Justin. My tent is on a slight slope, but I’ll see how I’ll do.
