We were able to repair the tent to make it practically new.
Weasel cut his hair and beard for the first time on the road. The details look great, thanks to Pork Chop Barbershop.
We had lunch with Pit Stop, Joker and Pac-Man. It was a great moment.
Overall, this was a useful and quiet city stop.
We had a kitchen in our room at the hostel, so we made our first home-cooked meal in 50 days. Weasel prepared some tasty and healthy black-eyed peas and kale. It was nice to have some healthy home-cooked food after so much time on the road.
Day 1
Miles driven: 23.1 Originally planned: 20
Elevation Gain: 4,794 feet Elevation Decline: 4,620 feet
Highest point: 12,561 feet
Hours between camps: 10 hours 23 minutes
Weather: 81 F Sunny all day, warm. The wind on the ridges kept pushing me.
Animals: Pika, marmots, mule deer, many birds.
People found: Joker, Coffee Break who we haven’t seen since Chama, Danny from Germany who lives in Switzerland.
We only waited thirty minutes on the highway for a ride to Monarch Pass. We made a cardboard sign, maybe that helped. We enjoyed some breakfast burritos at the Monarch Pass gift shop and met Joker there as well.
The terrain was beautiful today, beautiful alpine meadows, scree with Pika running around and deep forests. The trail was very well maintained with minimal dead trees to climb. Snow is minimal and patchy. Today we have not crossed snow on the road.
We saw two beautiful mule deer in the woods that stared at us for a while before bouncing away.
Day 2
Miles driven: 23.26 Originally planned: 20
Elevation Gain: 5,523 feet Elevation Decline: 5,251 feet
Highest point: 12786 feet
Hours between camps: 11 hours 2 minutes
Weather: 79 F Sunny, warm, a little less windy than yesterday
Animals: Marmots and pikas mostly.
Today we walk over many mountains and crossings. Half the day consisted of walking through scree fields. The nice thing about the scree fields today is that they were practically paved. There are thousands of hours of work building trails along this section. The curves were also beautifully constructed. Many huge rocks were removed from the trail and smaller, easier to walk on rocks were placed in their place. It was a beautiful day on the trail and I took some panoramic videos of the ridges.
Today there were many long climbs. Some of the climbs I thought would never end. My legs and feet are tired tonight.
People found: Johnny Condom, Cheese curd and Joker.
Day 3
Miles traveled: 23.02 Originally planned: 20
Elevation Gain: 3,679 feet Elevation Decline: 5,256 feet
Highest point: 12711 feet
Hours between camps: 10 hours 52 minutes
Weather: 79 F Beautiful, sunny, hot in the sun. Wind in the step
Animals: marmots, many birds.
People Found: No CDT hikers, lots of Colorado Trail hikers.
I heard something at our campsite in the middle of the night making a lot of thumping noises. I wasn’t sure what it was and I was worried that the animal might be ruining our meal. Weasel investigated with a headlamp and bear spray per my request. He laughed when he saw that the attackers were two very large rabbits. They definitely weren’t playing with our food tied to a tree.
We immediately descended into an enchanted forest. It was full of beautiful tall and very dense pine trees. A least beetle killed trees in this section. I took my sunglasses off for much of the morning as the trees were so dense it was unnecessary to wear them. The undergrowth was made up of blueberry bushes, which were not yet full of berries.
After the enchanted forest we crossed Texas Creek. We spent about 15 minutes trying to find a way to cross without getting our feet wet. I stopped watching and just dove into the cold water in a shallow spot. Weasel tried to walk on some logs and ended up falling into the water. He was fine, he just took an impromptu shower. The good thing about crossing the stream was that our socks and feet rinsed off quickly.
We crossed the Lake Anne Pass today, the climbing side was steep but a good switchback. It was very windy, probably 50 mph sustained with additional gusts. In one direction cornering, you had to lean quite a bit to the right to stay upright and the wind was more in your face. In the other direction you had to lean to the left and the wind pushed you forward. When the wind temporarily subsided, you almost fell while compensating.
Above the pass there was snow on the ledge. It was optional to go over the snow or skirt it along some steep scree on the right. We did some class 4 (hand climbing) scrambling through a sea of boulders and smaller, wobbly rocks. We made sure to stay vertically apart when descending and climbing loose rocks so as not to kick a rock into the other person’s head.
After the sea of rocks we enter again into a forest of pines and poplars. The descent today was long and my quads were fatigued from struggling and walking downhill for so long.
Today we ended up camping earlier than usual. Tomorrow we will be climbing 2400 feet in 3 miles across Hope Pass and we wanted to climb with fresh legs. We have decided to ford a river tomorrow instead of walking 10 more miles around a lake. Tomorrow we will see if it is a good choice.
Day 4
Miles driven: 9.5 Originally planned: 20
Elevation Gain: 2,445 feet Elevation Decline: 3,269 feet
Highest point: 12635 feet
Hours between camps: 4 hours 40 minutes
Weather: 77 F Sunny, warm, less windy
Animals: Marmot, Pika
People found: Pac-Man, NoCo, Journey, Joker, Hot Cheese, Vacuum
We slept a little later and hiked the trail toward Hope Pass. The climb was long but beautiful. The snow at the top of the pass was minimal, about 10 feet, and I was able to slide a bit, which is always fun. We ran into a group of 80 runners who were training for the Leadville 100 ultramarathon. One of the runners complained that the snowfield at the top of the pass was horrible. I laughed a little, it was nothing compared to the snow we rode through a couple of weeks ago. I guess it’s all a matter of perspective.
After crossing the hill we descended through another forest. The moment of truth was upon us. It was time to cross the river, today it only reached my knees. Wow, I expected the river to be waist deep.
We pulled into Twin Lakes and luckily there was a room available in town. Our Salida resupply box arrived and we were also able to pick up some junk food at the store. We had a great time spending free time with our friends in the afternoon. There are three days of hiking to Frisco. That will be our next stop in the city.
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