Confession time. I was so tired by the time I got over the last climb of the day today I was stumbling up the trail, tripping on roots and rocks and shrubs. I have been setting goals of 20 mile days, but I see these are not possible for me. By the time mile 15 rolls around, I am pooped. Luckily for me, I found a little flat spot out of the wind with a tiny snow melt creek I could get water from. I set up my tent and collapsed inside. It was about 4:00pm. I had been hiking since 5:45am. And today I encountered the “Knife’s Edge”, a jagged promontory of rock with a steep north face notorious for holding snow late into the season. The trail runs straight across the face. You have the choice of crossing the snow or dropping 800’ to avoid it and then climbing back up. A good day.
From my perch on the ridge I could hear the wind blowing occasionally last night. When you are snug in your tent and quilt it is a nice sound. Awake at 5:00am, a tortilla wrap with peanut butter, pack up and on the trail by 5:45am. My original destination for yesterday was Cherokee Lake, but I realized 20 miles a day is not currently in the cards for me. I stopped on the ridge 2.7 miles short, yet I could see it on the other side of the valley. Now I was walking the horse shoe shaped ridge at the head of the valley to get to it. While on the ridge I checked for phone service. Four bars? I uploaded a couple blog posts but didn’t call anyone. With the one hour time difference I would be calling at 5:30am.
When I got to the lake about an hour and a half later there was three of yesterday’s girls still packing. The trail goes above the lake and as I followed it up through the meadows I caught up with Shredder (so named because he is a musician-a guitar player). As we traversed toward the Knife’s Edge he was about 100 yards in front. The trail approaches from the south, which is snow free but suddenly pops over the top and the north side is in full view. I didn’t know what to expect. Steep 60° snow with cliffs below and no runout? A series of steep snow chutes each separated by rock ribs? Most people I talked to about it yesterday were planning to drop down to trout lake to avoid following the trail which lies under the snow.
Upon beating the ridge and gazing west I saw a series of steep snow fields, most without any runout at the bottom. I also saw the tracks kicked into the snow from previous hikers who had made the crossing. It did not look bad to me and Shredder felt the same way as he was up ahead where the trail disappeared under the snow getting his ice axe out and putting on his microspikes. I walked up to him, sat down and put on my crampons. I wasn’t sure I really needed them, but dammit I had carried them this far, it maybe my only chance to use them. Shredder started out across the slope while i finished putting on my crampons and then I followed. The first field was very steep, but with foot steps already kicked in it didn’t feel bad. We progressed across each field, walking the trail in between each. I took a photo of him and he shot video of me working my way across one. We reached the end of the snow fields without incident and removed our foot ware enhancements. This was fun, and added a little excitement to the day.
Shredder is a much faster walker than I so I soon lost sight of him as we continued up the CDT. I did catch up with him when he stopped for lunch and we leap frogged.
Miles 13.4 to 15.2 for the day required gaining 1000’ to 12,800’ over a mountain. Miles 15.2 to 16.4 was dropping down the other side. It’s tough to make a big climb and descent near the end of the day. Shredder started out ahead of me by a few hundred feet and was half a mile ahead when he crested the top. Once up I started down the other side. He was nearly all the way down. I was super tired. At the bottom the trail started to do a small 200’ climb. I would have camped at the bottom but it was very exposed and the wind was blowing strongly. I had to start the next climb. I was hopeful I would find a little patch of level ground on which I could pitch my tent. I did find one slightly tucked away and immediately began making camp. It felt so good to lay down! One other hiker passed by an hour later. With dinner cooked and bed set up, I was out like a light. Here the ground was no longer frozen so the cold that had troubles me yesterday was not an issue.
The Rockies are amazing for their height and massiveness. The trail stays high enough that we are nearly always in high meadows. They are brown now because it is so early in the season, but it will be fun to watch them bud, bloom green up as the season progresses.
Sunrise from the ridge looking back at the snow covered rides we travelled to get here.
The trail on the ridge.
The trail getting to Cherokee Lake
This is the north side of the Knife’s Edge. The trail is on the left and crosses the slope just below the vertical cliffs.
Shredder on the second snow field. If you slip you have to arrest quick before you slide into the rocks.
My camp at the end of the day with the mountain we climbed and descended in the background right.
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