AND THEN THERE WAS ONE

June 20 - 24

For the last 3 weeks, I have hiked with others, and the glue that held the group together was an Australian couple named Medic and Bourbon. Their kindness, generosity, and friendship helped even this introvert feel like a part of the group. They are a joy to hike with, camp with, and spend time with in resupply towns. Other hikers that were part of our group at various times included Bee-Dub, Mike, 5 Star, and Smokey. They were all a blessing to me and it was my privilege to hike with them. Thank you all for including me in the group. I look forward to hiking with you again!

But for various reasons, not the least being my personal schedule to meet Eva on the 29th of June, I hitched out of Salida alone, returned to the trail at Monarch Pass, and began hiking north. I’ve got 150 challenging miles of trail to cover before meeting Eva and I'm looking forward to spending a few days alone. The climb from Monarch Pass to the high point of 12,552 feet seemed long and hard and the wind added to the challenge. After a brief call to Eva from the ridge line overlooking the little town of Monarch I descended to Hunt Lake and camped alone.

The hike to Twin Lakes was a  blur of steep climbs, deep descents, and avoiding afternoon thunder storms. I didn't take many pictures and was generally too tired to write. I enjoyed the time alone, but was ready to have some company for the next section. I strolled into Twin Lakes in time to get a breakfast burrito at the coffee shack and chat with other hikers . I picked up my resupply box and worked on packing for the next section as the Lodge got my room ready. After a shower and laundry I was ready for lunch. It rained for most of the afternoon, so I stayed in my room and enjoyed watching TV and reading a newspaper I found at the general store. I expected Bourbon and Medic to arrive in the afternoon. At around 4:30 I saw Bourbon in the parking lot of the Inn next door. I chatted with him briefly and confirmed they planned to hike out of Twin Lakes tomorrow.

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!