When he shared this idea my thoughts were turned to my couch. Two hard days of racing had rendered my legs a little tired and I wanted to just relax. I told them to go on ahead and that I would meet them. Normally when I do this I just fall asleep on my couch. I pulled together the needed equipment and decided to go. I started on the walk a few hours after they did. I didn’t get to walking till just after 8 p.m.

Darkness gradually made its way toward me and I found myself walking by moonlight. My headlamp was sputtering through its last bit of battery life. I turned it off and crested the saddle. I was content to stay where I was. The valley lights beaming up at me and the moon shimmering down on the lake made for a nice view. I ate a sandwich and pushed up the last little bit to the summit.

Parker, Russ, Anna, and Ryan were all huddled down and I could hear their chuckling from a long way off. Russ was producing enough methane to power my heater for the winter. Poor Anna. A small metal shack with three guys all messed up on trail food. We all were letting them fly.

Soon a lightning storm made us worry about being on the summit in a giant piece of metal. We packed up and headed back down to the saddle. By the time we got there the storm had passed and we went back to bed. I was tired.