CDT JOY: Lake City – The Walk

Day 91: 22.1 miles

Highlights: Bear, moose, and lakefront camping.

As usual these days, I woke up to frost covering the inside and outside of my tent. It didn’t rain yesterday, but the water on my breath and the plants around me caused freezing condensation.

I boiled some water and added protein coffee and unlike the day before where I only heated until I liked it by mistake, when I added the powder to the boiling water it curdled instantly. At first I thought it needed to be stirred, but each time, chunks of milk solids floated to the top.

Now what was I going to do? My options were to drink it or take it and throw it into the city. I didn’t want that extra half pound of weight and I also didn’t have a spare bottle to store it in. So I pretended there was oatmeal and chewed this drink. I wrote it down, but it wasn’t a good start to the day. So I treated myself to a bar in the desert to improve my mood.

A quarter mile into the day there was an outhouse at the Eddiesville trailhead, which was a treat. There were comments on FarOut from people saying that the outhouse was a nice, warm, clean and sheltered place to spend the night. After reading the comments, Midnight says «you know it’s hot because all the human poop in there warms it up.»

Then I thought about what it would cost me to spend the night sleeping in an outhouse. It would have to be a serious below-zero storm, and what bothers me the most is deciding what would hit the ground and how I would wash it off afterward.

Today we had several options: (1) hike 27 miles to town and wait for a problem before dark (2) hike 22 miles to an exposed, treeless lake (Midnight usually sets up a hammock), or (3) hike 27 miles and camp in trees near the parking area, and go into town the next morning. To add to the options once we get to town, we could (1) stay overnight and then go hiking the next day (2) skip the overnight stay so we have more time walking when the weather is nice.

I spent the morning thinking about what would be the best thing to do.

The elevation in the first five miles today was equivalent to 30 miles yesterday. It was going to be a slower day and we had five climbs and descents over exposed mountain passes. The weather was better than it had been in a long time, with clear blue skies and bright sunshine.

On the first pass, although it was only 40F, it felt great, with little wind and I was able to dry my tent. This time I followed Midnight’s advice and put the tent stakes and trekking pole up so I could dry the inside of the tent better, since last night my tub was still wet when I set it up for the night. It worked like a charm and took so little time when I didn’t care if the guy lines were shown or if the stakes were completely set in the ground. Also during the break I made some hot chai green tea and had my morning snacks.

After the break we went down to a water fountain to filter the water. I drank more water today when the sun came out and felt more hydrated with electrolyte drink mixes.

It wasn’t until 2pm when I finally had lunch, as we had a long climb up to another pass. At lunch time we saw moose in the distance and they came down the rocks towards us also grazing for lunch. At lunch, Midnight and I made the decision that today we would take it easy and appreciate the beautiful weather and walk into town the next morning. We would have almost the entire day to catch up on life and refresh ourselves mentally and physically to face San Juan the next day.

After lunch we listened together to a meditation on flow and how the universe will give you signs of what you need. After listening, I walked a little further and in a matter of an hour I saw a bear descending from the mountain and, say, a moose calmly drinking water from a stream. These were my signs that taking a shorter day here was the right thing to do.

Moose sighting

The rest of the afternoon was beautiful with mountains exposed in ash and amber. We arrived at a small lake at 6:30 pm and camped on a sandy beach. There was a storm in the distance and the setting sun provided one of the first vibrant pink sunsets I was able to see in Colorado.

Once at camp, I had couscous for dinner, wrote a little, and lay down in bed. The minimum temperature is 27°F for this lake above 12,000 feet and with the wind chill it will be much cooler. I took my water bottle to the tent to keep it from freezing, put my water filter in my sleeping bag, and took a Claritin to help my sinuses before falling asleep.

Day 92: 5.1 miles

Highlights: Lake City

Midnight and I decided to sleep in this morning and started getting ready at 7:30am. The sun was hitting the tent and beginning to melt some of the frost. I had coconut cream protein powder with coffee and a protein bar and took a lazy morning to pack. I was able to put my puff away early in the day with the sun shining and had an easy hike up to Spring Creek Pass.

At this trailhead we saw 4 other hikers waiting for trouble getting into town, which is never a good sign, especially since it’s polite to let hikers who arrived first have the first chance at potential trouble. Two of them had been waiting for more than an hour and had no luck. We headed to the toilet in the parking lot and on the way back to the road, the hikers had a problem.

Midnight and I stood on the side of the road and only had to wait five minutes before a car pulling out of the trail parking lot offered to take us into town. In town we headed to a church with a hiker center and enjoyed a hot coffee and chatted with the center’s volunteers.

One of the volunteers had a similar career path to mine and we were able to connect over quality systems and work in a regulated manufacturing environment. It was good to have kindness, conversation and connection. He said “strive to help others thrive” and that really stuck with me in relationships and in life.

After leaving downtown, we headed to the Matterhorn Hotel, dried out our shelters, and headed to a local parlor for nachos. After lunch, we took our gear inside and borrowed church bikes to go to the country store to resupply. I left with my hiking backpack filled to the brim with food for five days. I ate blackberries in the parking lot before I left.

After unpacking the groceries, we headed back to the church hiker center to drop off dirty clothes, which the center kindly does for free since there’s no laundromat in town; and I went to dinner at a chicken wings food truck. At the food truck we met someone from Texas here for a wedding and he had hiked the AT and used the same hammock as Midnight.

We had dinner and enjoyed a couple of beers in the hotel room and watched Harry Potter and Big Bang Theory while we packed food, planned potential climate rescues, and relaxed.

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