With a bit over 50 miles to town, I wanted to make today big so I could get in early tomorrow. I was the first from our camp to hit the trail and as I climbed I saw more and more hikers.
Yesterday we were all a little surprised we didn’t really pass anyone for the whole day. We didn’t see anyone until we got to camp.
Most of the day the trail jumped between keep roads and motorcycle trails. Motorcycles really tear up trails and leave them covered with big rocks and incredibly fine dust.
Todays trails gave me flashbacks to the Teanaway Country 100. That was 3 times as long with twice as much climbing per mile, so today went a little better.
Even though the scenery wasn’t great today, it still felt good to get out and hike some bigger miles. Today was my first day since New Mexico listening to music and it gave me a nice morale boost.
One strange thing of the day was a constant haze of smoke in the distance. Apparently there’s a fire burning somewhere nearby.
I was the first one to camp around 7. Caddyshack made it around 8:30 and the other guys must have given up. It’ll still be 21 miles to Monarch Pass tomorrow, but I’m gonna wake up early and get there as soon as possible.