This would prove to be one of the most difficult days. Climbing out of Spanish Needle in freezing temperatures, high winds, and sketchy trail. I was starting to get down to my gross food that was left too so eating wasn't even fun. We stopped for a 5 minute break when we reached the saddle. We hunkered down under Ingrid's emergency blanket to keep out the wind and jammed bars into our mouths. I looked at my thermometer and it read 30 degrees. Continuing on, being buffeted all around by the wind, was extremely exhausting. The ferocity of the wind reached it's peak just before lunchtime and I had to stand still and lean into to it to keep from blowing over. Clouds were blowing across the mountain super fast and I couldn't even imagine if it rained. It would have been snow though since it was so cold. We hiked hard to get back into the tree cover and some reprieve.
I don't remember anything that happened between hiking hard in the wind and arriving at Fox Mill Spring. I didn't take many pictures on this day so I have nothing to jog my memory. We got water at the spring and it had cow and mule shit all over the place. Filter! I also did a ziplock laundry of socks and underwear again.
We were trying to make it as far as we could because we were toying with the idea of pushing to the end the following day so we wouldn't have to walk on Saturday. We found a nice spot and after looking at the maps later, realized we were probably close to 8500 feet, which would explain why it got so cold.
I hung my wet socks and underwear in my tent but they were still dripping so I left them on a branch outside. I put all my clothes on, including rain gear, because I couldn't get warm. I was toasty after I got all my clothes on. I also have a zero degree down quilt, a silk cocoon (which is supposed to add 10 degrees), and my thermarest pad. I wrapped myself in my sleeping bag while I cooked dinner in my vestibule. Bad Tina! Never do that. You could set yourself or your gear on fire. Ingrid came over and gave me a hot chocolate packet and I drank that with my magnesium drink.
We did not die from hypothermia.
Photos can be found on my Instagram @tinahikes
Author of Lola Hikes the Icy Mountain
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Lola-Hikes-Mountain-Tina-Fernando/dp/1524656089/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1491443809&sr=8-1&keywords=lola+hikes+the+icy+mountain
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