Day 40-Doing the Smart Thing

Once my feet were warm--around the time the sun light up the sky--I slept so soundly I didn't wake when Portrait left the tent.  When he came back I reluctantly got up, put on my frozen socks and shoes--an act that brought back the fear and discomfort of the day before (and the tears as the frozen shoes pinched my toes).  We hiked back up to the divide--I wore my insulated jacket under my rain jacket and two hoods and one down hat on my head.  My sun hat dangled from my pack sometimes being whipped about by the wind. Even with my layers I was cold and my feet stayed numb.   

It wasn't long before we were miserable up on the divide.  When the option to take a purple route (alternates are shown on the maps in purple) which was lower and would avoid much of the snow, we took it.  Off the divide the conditions were much more pleasant--still cold, still snowy, still windy, but somehow...better.

We reached the climb that would take us back to the trail and the ridge around  5 o'clock.--too early to camp, but it would have been foolish to hike up the 2.5 miles to the ridge and start looking for a place to camp above the trees.  We did the smart thing and stopped early.  I tried drying out my foot gear in the late afternoon sun while having dinner.  Sadly everything was still wet when I crawled into the tent shortly before sunset.