Wednesday , June 6
We got a ride from Chama to Cumbres Pass with the help of 5 Star’s parents who have been following his hike through New Mexico with their 5th wheel trailer. I’ve seen them twice before in the Gila and Pie Town. They have been very generous in giving hikers rides in town and welcoming hikers to visit their trailer for drinks, snacks and great conversation. They won’t be following him in Colorado and it looks like he’ll be joining our little band of hikers. We hiked 16 miles today and camped at 11,235 feet at a small lake. By dinner time, three more hikers joined us. The weather was good except for some wind, and there wasn’t much snow today. We had mosquitos for the first time at the lake where we camped.
I expect more snow tomorrow, which will make the hiking slower and more challenging . The Continental Divide Trail through the San Juan Mountains is very high and is famous for breathtaking views (literally and figuratively), exposed hiking along ridges and steep mountainsides, afternoon thunderstorms, and snow. In the mornings the snow is hard and icy and in the afternoons it is slushy and prone to postholing (plunging knee or waist deep into the snow). North facing slopes don’t get very much sun, so the snow lingers longer into summer. I’ve enjoyed hiking with the group and am thankful we will face the challenges of snow together.
I’m tired and it’s already past hiker midnight (9:00 PM), so I’ll bid you all good night.
Thursday, June 7
Today was an epic day on trail! High mountain passes, snow, beautiful weather, and friends to enjoy it with. We hiked over 20 miles, which was a real accomplishment with so much climbing and descending. The day ended with a snow “bridge” crossing over a river. It was intimidating but everyone made it across safely. The camping was sparse where we stopped and I couldn’t find a level spot for my tent, but I was too tired to care. We ate dinner as the sun was setting and the cold wind quickly drove everyone to their tents for the night. After hiking for more than 12 hours, I’m very tired and not up to writing much. Tomorrow promises to be an even bigger day...higher mountains and even more snow.
Friday, June 8
Today was the most challenging day on trail for me so far. Lots of climbing, snow, and exposed hiking. By “exposed” I mean that the steepness of the terrain requires courage and concentration...falling here is not an option. Most days begin and end with prayer, but this day I found myself praying for courage and safety multiple times. There was one very exposed snow crossing that I decided was not for me. I watched everyone else begin to cross and promptly turned around to find/make an alternate. I found a steep ravine that was free of snow and descended to hike around the steep snow section. I was pleased that it didn’t take me more than an hour to scramble back up to the trail past the snow field and rejoin the trail. Everyone was happy to see me again and
we pushed hard to get as close to Wolf Creek Pass as possible.
Saturday, June 9
I thought the last 12 miles to Wolf Creek Pass would be easy, but I was very wrong. First, there was very little water on this section of trail and I left camp with only one liter. I eventually found a trickle of water and used some large leaves to channel the water into my cup for filtering. It took almost 30 minutes to collect a liter, but it was enough. (Some other hikers in our group stopped and melted snow.) Next was all the “blow down” (trees fallen across the trail). Five Star counted 178 blown down trees on this 12 mile section. You have three options: over, under, or around. Sometimes trees fall in groups which makes things really messy. I ended up ripping a hole in a mesh pocket on my pack while climbing over a group of fallen trees. On top of this there were many miles of really exposed hiking on ridges and steep mountain sides, which wouldn’t be complete without some crazy WIND! It took Mike and I 7 hours to hike the 12 miles. Not our fastest hiking to date, but we were in no rush and tried to enjoy the hiking in spite of the challenges. Once we reached the pass we quickly found a hitch into Pagosa Springs. We reconnected with the rest of the hikers in our group and enjoyed a celebration dinner at a local bar and grill.
For additional content, check out Flickr for images, YouTube for video, SoundCloud for audio, and the Postholer Map with my most recent location.
Thanks for following along!
Comments