Day 33- Friday, May 27, 2022 - 16.1 miles - 43,908 steps - MP 794.8 to MP 810.9- Vert Up - 2455’ Vert Dwn - 2308’ - Total Miles to Date - 568.3

They are all dead. As far as my eye roams over this magnificent landscape of the Colorado Rockies - all the trees are dead. Forests that stretch for miles and miles up valleys and canyons, across slopes and on the flat mesas, all the trees are dead. Sure there will be a live one now and then but the forests stand dead. 

In 2016 I witnessed the death of 116 million ponderosa pines in California. As we drove first to Kings Canyon National Park and then hiked the Sierra High Route the forests turned bright orange as millions of pines died. Now I hike through the Rockies and I see an even worse blight. All the pine trees are dead. 

It is hard to find a safe place to camp because ever tree is dead and could potentially fall on us as we sleep. The number of blow downs on the trails are staggering but will pale in comparison to what is coming when all these dead standing trees start to fall. 

At first glance across this rugged, beautiful landscape your eye doesn’t notice the dead trees. You just see a forest. But, soon you notice that the forest isn’t green. It’s dusky grey brown. 

Not to preach, but we are in trouble. When tens of thousands of acres of forests up and die at locations all across the country and the world we need to evaluate the effect our activities have on this environment that sustains us. 

The wind is howling. We need shelter from it. Only the forest can provide, but the forest is mostly dead trees. That is my blue tent parked beneath that dead tree. Howling wind, dead trees. What could possibly go wrong?

Up at 5:45 am, tent down, pack packed and on the trail with Neeko by 6:30am. DG and Franzia like to sleep in. They will follow later. We may or may not see them, although DG is up when we leave. 

The trail climbs out of the lake basin and up to the ridge above from 11,248’ to 12,100’. Today we are walking on snow 50 or 60% of the time. As we approach the top of the ridge see three hikers. They introduce themselves as Ducky, Chameleon and Shoes. While chatting with them Bingo Bongo and Jif hike up. We leapfrogged Bingo Bongo and Jif all day as our pace is similar to theirs and the route finding got a bit tougher due to deep snows and blowdowns. 

Bingo Bongo is 57 and ran a Bingo wholesale supply business, hence his name. Jif is 62 and is an avid through hiker plus volunteers to do trail maintenance in Southern California. We had lunch with them on the trail and got into lengthy discussions about a wide range of topics. 

The going was quite slow. At times it was impossible to follow the trail. It was buried under 3 to 6 feet of snow and traversed steep hillsides that were difficult to cross. Many times we climbed down to the valley below and climbed up the other side to find the trail again. 

By Blue Lake the snow was deep and a small forest of fir trees had been flattened. We had to work our way through the tangle of trunks and branches and snow. 

Our last obstacle of the day was a 800’ climb to 12,200’ and then a 800’ descent. The climb was on a south slope making it relatively snow free. The descent was on snow. For me this makes the descent quick. Neeko is still very tentative on snow. His descents are slow. 

We made it to a stream crossing on the side of the mountain. It was now 5:30pm and time to quit. However, there was no level place to camp. We found a small place for Neeko, just about a body width and length in size. I found a level space just big enough to accommodate me in my sleeping bag as long as I didn’t roll too much. I pitched my tent, centering the floor over the flattish spot. I was beat. It felt good to recline and let everything relax. Dinner of spaghetti and pudding, then writing for an hour and a half. It was difficult to type on my phone because my hands kept cramping. They do this periodically. Don’t know what the cause is. As darkness settled in about 9:00pm I finished my writing and prepared to sleep. What an amazing place and an amazing adventure. It is by far the toughest part of the CDT to date. 

Nice forest, except all the trees are dead

Cairns mark the way when above tree line. This cairn is at 12,000’

Descending from the pass in the previous photo

Cold nights and frozen puddles in the mornings. The trail is often a ditch full of snow melt water. 

Our route along Blue Lake through the snow

Neeko descends the snow from 12,200’ to 11,400’

The valley we are heading for. Notice all the trees on the right side of the photo are dead.