Date: 2018-04-04
From: Standing Bear Hostel

To: Roaring Fork Shelter
Miles today: 15.2
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 29Not the best nights sleep in the bunkhouse as we had top bunks and the smoke from the fire blew in and got us both quite choked up. Resupply wasn't as good as we were hoping, but it will get us to Hot Springs. We are happy we had a roof over our head as it poured last night and we stayed dry. Just as we were heading back on the trail we met two section hikers who were starting their hike, "Lewis & Clark". Started out misty and foggy on the big climb out today going from 1600' to up over 4600' eventually. We soon shed clothing as we climbed, but had to put some back on as a thick fog rolled in with a cool breeze. Our first stop of the day was Snowbird Mountain. Just shy of the summit I stopped to put on my extra shirt, gloves and hat and Mary hiked on. Several different hikers passed by me while I was stopped on the trail. I soon hustled to catch up to Mary, again passing most of the hikers. When I reached the summit I saw a couple of hikers coming out of the short side trail to the FAA dish, but didn't see Mary. I thought she must be feeling better now that she reached the top and had her second wind, so I kept right on trucking, picking up the pace to catch up. I hiked for about 15 minutes up over the top and a ways down the back side when I realized something was wrong. I normally would have caught her by now. I turned on my phone and got enough service to call twice, but could only leave a voicemail. Soon a voicemail came in from Mary sounding quite upset wondering where I was, because she was on the summit waiting for me. By now I was about a mile down the mountain from her. I quickly ditched my pack and started hiking/running back toward the top. We were finally able to get a call through to figure out where each other was. Somehow we missed each other in the fog on the summit. She had a little take on the story, but I'll let her relay that... Ok, this is Mary, and here is how it happened - When I got to the summit and saw the FAA tower I knew that we had discussed that Earl Grey might call Peregrine to tell him "guess where I am". Another hiker, Sarah, went up to the tower and said there were a couple of nice cars up there. I made a quick trip up, spoke briefly with a gentleman who was working at the tower and told him I better get back to the trail so I wouldn't miss my husband. After waiting a bit "Lewis & Clark" came by and I asked if "Earl Grey" was coming. They told me he was behind them, stopped on the trail putting on more layers. So, I waited some more and another hiker came and I asked him, and he said he thought Earl Grey was behind him as well. Then Ulysses came up, and I realized the other hiker thought Ulysses was Earl Grey. Ulysses said he had not seen Earl Grey, and now I started to wonder if somehow he had gotten ahead of me. I wasn't sure if I should wait, or move on. I started to head down the trail, but then thought I should continue to wait. Then along came Flo-bo and Sha Ling and they said they had not passed by Earl Grey. So, I tried calling and it went right to his voicemail. I chatted with Flo-bo and Sha Ling and then my phone showed that I had a couple of voicemails. As I was trying to receive the voicemails a call came in from Earl Grey telling me he had gone past the tower and was down the Mountain a mile or so. Just as I started to hike on the sun broke through and I got a nice view from the summit, so I said to Flo-bo "well, at least I got a view", and headed quickly down the trail. Eventually I met Earl Grey quickly coming back up to meet me. He took my pack so I could hike a little faster and we hiked back to where he left his pack and continued on the trail. From now on I will leave my poles at the trail if I take a side trip so he will know to stop and wait/find me! After that experience we headed on without incident for the rest of the day. As we hoped, the weather was clearing and was now just partly cloudy with a good wind. We were heading for Max Patch with one of the best views on the trail and were hoping to spend the night on the summit to see the sunset and sunrise. As we neared the summit the weather was now clear, but the miles and elevation were starting to add up and we were slowing down. We stocked up on water and climbed to the top. The views did not disappoint, but it was cold and the wind was fierce. No way could we comfortably stay the night on top. We headed down the trail for some relief from the brutal wind. Once we found a decent spot we could tent, we realized we were so close to the shelter that we stumbled on a little more and found a packed shelter. Actually the shelter only had a few hikers in it, but someone counted 18 tents around it. We did find a pretty good spot to tent. A running joke we have had pertains to a hiker early on that said "I have to be careful or I'll accidentally do a 15 mile day", kind of bragging about how they can easily do that, but they are holding themselves back. We have often used that line jokingly, but for today we did accidentally do our first 15 mile day, so that milestone is now in the books. Looking to be another cold night (go figure), so into our sleeping bags we go!