Meetup: Day 41 – Saturday 8/22/2020 – 1943.6 – clear, sunny, hot, monsoon cloudy, monsoon sprinkles with hail, partially cloudy. I woke at 5 am. I was on trail about 5:50 am. I drank some MIO thinking it would give me energy. I only have 10 miles to meet up with Justin. I thought it would be easier, but still it was a struggle. The trail started with a climb. The descent was rocky and steep. The second climb and descent was so-so. But I was getting tired. I filtered water before the last climb to Justin. Although it wasn’t that steep the 4 mile climb wore me down. When I was a mile from him I could see his Jeep in the distance and I kept pushing until I got to him around 11:15 am. I dropped my pack and just needed to sit. I was done for the day. Why was only 10 miles so tiring? It was cool and the sun was behind clouds. Several other hikers came by. Justin made me a polish sausage wrap for lunch. Yum! Even a group of eight motorcyclists stopped to repair a flat tire. Justin lent them the air pump. When the sun did come out as they were working I decided it was time for my shower. On the other side of the Jeep, as the very cold water hit my head and ran down my semi-naked body, I couldn’t help but scream. This made the motorcyclists around front giggle and laugh. I scrubbed, yelled, rinsed, yelled and I was finally washed. I put on new clean clothes. The motorcyclists left somewhat successful with their repairs. Then I did laundry and hung it up on the Jeep to dry. The clouds came and went. More hikers and mountain bikers stopped by for a free soda. Justin is a great trail angel and engaged everyone in conversation. For a while the sun was shining. Then we got hailed on along with some thunder. For dinner we had blue tortilla chips, bean dip and RIB EYE STEAKS! Double yippee! As entertainment we would sit and watch with binoculars as hikers crested the trail a mile away. Once they got close enough we’d yelled hi, do you want a soda. It was so nice to be with him, meet other hikers, have great food, get cleaned up, be entertained and take a mini-break.
