Have you noticed the miles I have been covering these past three days? 19.5, 19.7 & today 24.2? All above 9500 feet. Some with lots of ups and downs, in excess of 4,000 feet. Every one of these days damn near killed me.
Today I staggered to the water source and proposed camping spot totally exhausted. What made it possible for me to keep going? A tramily, that is a trail family. About mile 12 today I heard Monk calling my name as he came up behind me. We had just rounded the end of a ridge and now the trail crossed a sloping couple hundred acres of meadow. A water source, a small creek was close to the far side. The far side was bounded by highway 114. Not a lot of traffic, but about a car or truck a minute on average.
Monk and I walked to the stream together and then sat in the thick grass, filtered some water and had a bite to eat. Soon Apples, a mid fourties’ woman with a beautiful smile walked up the meadow and joined us. I had met her in Lake City and taken an instant liking to her. Soon Puddles, the 24 year old woman pro patroller from Maine joined us followed by Pig Pen, a mid thirties software programmer from London walked up and sat down. We were only missing Sunny D, Puddles friend and pro patroller and Man Hands, Apple’s husband. The conversation ranged all over the place but the one thing we all had in common was enjoying each other’s company. Sunny D showed up about ten minutes later, but Man Hands never did. Apples guessed he stopped for lunch before he got here.
The first twelve miles I had been walking by myself. It was all on dirt road. We were leaving one mountain range and traversing to another along some foothills. From the San Juan Range to the Collegiate Range.
The way had undulated up and down with beautiful views of open range land to the north. The road made for quick walking and I could easily do 3 miles per hour while walking. After a while the trail climbed away from the open range and into the forest, a mix of dead pines, firs and aspens. Accept for the dead trees, it was beautiful.
I had my sights set on a 24 mile day as there were few water sources. It was either 16 miles or 24. I chose 24.
After about half an hour of chatting and eating Monk and I excused ourselves and headed up the trail. We talked and covered about 4 miles, all uphill. It started out with us walking the highway for a quarter mile, then following a logging road for a mile or better until we reached a saddle where the trail became a trail
I am definitely the oldest of the group. Combined with shoes too heavy I am the slowest. Monk soon stretched his legs and left me behind. The others were somewhere behind. I did not know how much longer they stayed in the meadow talking and eating.
The trail climbed to the ridge top and then stayed there. The ridge top was a series of bumps 200 to 300 feet tall and the trail builders thought it best to run the trail right over the top of each, not contour around. Also, for the first three the trail ran straight up and down the fall line. The trail was steep, and because they allow motorcycles on the trail and run the trail straight up the fall line it is rutted and rocky. Tough walking.
By the time I had bested the first hill I had done 19 miles, still 5 to go. Remember, this is all happening above 10,000’. I was fading fast. My feet hurt. My legs were less than strong and having a hard time negotiating the loose rocks on the steep uphills and downhills. Luckily the last and biggest hump was a gentle grade both up and down. Now just 2 miles to go. I stopped multiple times to rest. Finally, I walked up to the creek, our source of water, found a flat place to pitch my tent, soaked my feet in the creek and shut myself in my tent to get away from all the mosquitos. They were very thick. Pig Pen had passed me earlier and we both set up our tents less than 15 feet apart. We conversed from our tents while cooking dinner.
Puddles and Sunny D arrived about half an hour after we did and hurriedly set up tents to escape the mosquitos.
Dinner. Blogging. Setting up food for tomorrow and it was time to sleep. What a tiring but amazing day. It was nice to make connections with such amazing people.
The rocky trail running straight up the fall line. Tough to go up. Worse coming down.
Open range lands and distant mountains
More open range land. Beautiful!
Check this out. More than ten miles by 10:00 am. Ten by ten. Haven’t been able to do that in weeks. Smooth road and no big climbs made it possible.
The route from Lake City to Salida along the CDT. 100 miles of trail, moving from the San Juan Range to the Collegiate Range
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