I had a terrible night, getting hardly any sleep, as my disease progressed top to bottom. By morning diarrhea was in full swing. Two of the other guys inexplicably had a bad sleep, too, though they weren't sick with my disease. Chris developed a gurgle in his lungs along with a headache, which kept him up most of the night. He was a little better in the morning, but we decided he had come down with a mild case of pulmonary edema. I didn't actually know whether to consider this serious or minor, but the only cure for edema is to get down. It wasn't until 10:45 that we had the hut cleaned up one last time and were ready to descend. Except for unpredictable bouts of diarrhea, I was now feeling well enough to go, aided by a dose of Tom's Immodium.

Soon after starting down, we came across a man and a woman coming up with a dog. I thought the dog was strange since pets are not allowed at 10th Mountain huts (they pollute the snow used for drinking water). But they were wearing official 10th Mountain jackets, and they were actually caretakers. It turned out that the hut was officially closed last night for scheduled maintenance—explaining the lack of hutmates—but the caretakers postponed their trek a day because of the weather. For the third night in a row, we lucked out! They explained the dog was trained in rescue and knew how to act around huts (what, does he pee in the outhouse?). We told them about our fiascos and the diseases, and found it interesting that they say they never touch any of the community supplies in the hut. Apparently they have their own private stash of dishes and cooking items.

The descent was very pleasant in nice weather, and almost all downhill or level. It took us just 2 hours to reach the car, which was still parked all alone in the big plowed lot. By the time we got back to our motel in Leadville I was feeling pretty good, but most of us were very tired. A couple of us just collapsed into our beds and slept for a few hours while others shopped. That night we went out again to Quincy's and had their Prime Rib (starting at $9.95 for 8 oz).