Day 32

We woke up this morning with blessedly clear weather--blue skies and a bouquet of a dozen red roses from Montana. It's as though nothing, certainly not a torrent of thunderhail, happened yesterday, We knew we had a big day to make up, so we had an early morning, with a big climb up to Pintler Pass. The climb was arduous, but the view of the past few miles was spectacular. As I waited under a pine tree for Gangles at the top of the pass, I heard a soft, repetitive "THRUB THRUB THRUB", and we saw a spectacular omen: a tiny green hummingbird darting around.

Gangles and I continued our comedy of errors, and did take the wrong trail steeply up the hill about 100', but we quickly realized our mistake. I was still optimistic because of the good omen of the hummingbird.

They day was tough, rolling up and down the divide. The toughest part was losing the trail on a rocky white peak, where we bushwhacked for a while. We booted up the GPS which led us back to the trail. At the top of the pass, I surprisingly got cell reception, and actually talked to my sister for a few. I felt so much more human after that.

When we rolled down the hill, we ran into Barrel Roll, the Swiss Fits, Grinder and Bigfoot. We hiked to the last water for the day, and cameled up. Between us, Gangles and I carried 7L back up to the divide where we made dry camp on a beautiful saddle. Moosie didn't come in; she decided to stop short a mile, but sent us a text message saying she'd see us tomorrow. So, we were not worried.

Going to bed, with the vestibules open. Counting on nice weather tonight. THe moon is quite bright, almost too bright, but just so glad to be in. Sula tomorrow night.

p.s., Day 32 reminds me of that great TLC song, 'Creep', where they talk about the 32nd of loneliness. Also, 2^5!

Mileage: 25-28mi (?) from Johnson lake to a few miles shy of Schulze Saddle.