Day 139, September 3: Mile 2401 to 2424
Start: Ridge Lake - Mile 2401.3
End: Mile 2423.6
Miles: 22.3
Ascent: 5164 | Descent: 5233
It turns out that Gus does indeed have norovirus. He did not have very fun night, and woke up feeling awful. Apparently a few people we were camping near all were sick too, and in fact, I woke up a few times last night to the sounds of puking from several nearby tents. GREAT, I’m really hoping I don’t get noro.
I started a bit later than usual as I hadn’t slept well (surprise surprise). The rain fly on my tent was soaking wet when I got out, which made me even less motivated to get out and get going. But I managed to pack up and head out a little before 6am. It was super foggy, windy and cold, but eerily beautiful.
The others caught up to me after a few miles and I got the lowdown on Gus’ condition, which was poor. I felt so bad for him, but grateful he had Frankie to stick with him and take care of him.
The views today were stunning, which made the difficult terrain worth it. I climbed and descended so many talus and scree fields, but I was motivated to just keep moving. I was happy that the disappointment of the border closing had washed off of me a bit, and I was able to focus on getting the miles done that I needed to.
At our lunch break at a waterfall, Frankie told Kevin and me that Gus would be calling it a day at a campsite nearby. Kevin and I agreed we would continue on towards Leavenworth as planned, but that we would stay in contact.
The rest of the day was relatively relaxed. There was a long climb to tackle in the afternoon, but the grade was easy so it felt fine. I made it to camp around 7:30pm, later than I wanted, but I cooked and scarfed down my mac and cheese and went to bed.