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What the hell was that?  Midnight, camped just below Hope pass at 11,800 feet when “something” starts barking.  It was a strange bark, kind of three in very fast succession with two more for good measure.  This went on for a good 45 minutes.  At first it sounded like it was running around the lake below me but then appeared to be getting closer.  Great!  Is it being chased by something or chasing something towards me?  Here I am in my little tent with nothing but a pen knife, rock, and loud voice.  Eventually it got pretty close and I was getting ready to get out of the tent and start yelling at it when it just stopped, silence.  The end.  I think it was a fox or coyote but have no idea why it suddenly stopped. Well, that made it easy to get back to sleep! Update: After posting a question about this on Facebook, many hilarious replies, it was a fox.

Up and out early for the climb over Hope pass, nasty. Did see quite a few pika close by and some mountain goats in the distance. It was beautiful up on top of the pass, just had to use my minds smoke filter to imagine what it looked like. Another bad smoke day.

Heading down from hope pass was worse than going up. Pretty much a steep trail covered with rocks and marbles. By the time I got to anything near flat my left leg and upper back were very unhappy. I had been pushing it too hard without much rest and my body was getting very cranky.

I had a problem, only four and a half days of food but my body was saying next stop was at least five days away. I knew that I needed to take more time but could not run out of food. Time to start rationing, which, makes it hard to hike. I kept on pushing through pain, exhaustion, and worry when who should appear? Lisa the trail angle.

A trail angle is someone that helps hikers. Sometime a donation is accepted sometimes not. They just want to help hikers on their journey and usually chat. Help can be in many forms but often it’s food. Lisa made me a delicious breakfast burrito and handed me a soda. Also a snickers for the trail. That one act of kindness made a huge impact on my next four days of hiking. Oh, she also told me where she works, about a block away from my work. She works for an elevator company. I owe her lunch when things get back to normal.

Not many pictures today, smoke!