Day 22 (23 Miles)

I opted to get a later start today due to the snowfields that I would need to navigate a few miles out of camp. The optimal time to hike on snow is late in the morning when the sun has been on the face for a few hours. At this time the snow is no longer icy and slippery, and neither is it so soft that one punches through or "post-holes" the top layer of snow. Park Ridge was the snowbound section of trail that I crossed, and it was beautiful even though it required a lot of effort to cross.

At the completion of the crossing I opted to give Molly a call to let her know I was okay and to check in on her. Cell phone coverage was spotty but I tried to call her anyway. After a couple of minutes I finally got a ring tone, but a few seconds later the call was dropped. I tried in vain to call again. I decided to leave my phone on while I hiked in the hopes that coverage would improve down trail. A couple of miles later I heard a message beep and discovered I had gotten a text messsage from her saying that she was concerned that I was in trouble.

At that moment I realized that calling her had been a mistake, because a dropped call could be interpreted any number of ways. If, like Molly, I was keeping track of someone in the backcountry I would also be prone to thinking that any dropped call was made in a time of duress. A much smarter strategy with dodgy coverage is to send a text message first, saying that you are safe, and then try and make a call after that, so if it is dropped there is no worry. After 40 minutes of trying I was able to finally get a reply message back to Molly saying I was okay, but at that point I would have rather talked to her, only I couldn't make a call!!! In the end I realized the folly of my ways and decided to change communication strategy downtrail.

Today was a tiring day due to the later start. I am starting to be convinced that a late start almost always results in more fatigue later in the day, due to the fact that psychologically one feels pressure to get more done in less time.