It’s sorta hard to believe that it still gets below freezing at night here. Every night I need to sleep with my water filter to make sure it doesn’t freeze. If it freezes, it doesn’t work.
Lucky for us, camping up high meant that the sun hit us early today. We were able to get a decently early start and still dry out most of our stuff.
We were camped maybe half a mile off the CDT at a lake. As we were packing up, a few thru hikers actually showed up, thinking they were on the trail. The junction was poorly marked.
We had a few snow patches to deal with today. None of them were very big, but at least a couple of them were still long and steep enough to shoe ski.
A common theme of the last few days has been big ridge walks. It’s not a super direct way to hike, but it’s always beautiful. Nature called and I fell a little behind everyone. That meant I could take some epic photos.
Before we knew it, we were at the trailhead. The hitch into town was incredibly easy. FeelGood and Caddyshack were at the road just before me and they got a ride almost immediately. I saw them getting in the car so I ran down and got in too.
Then it was time to eat and drink until I felt sick. We got a room at the Viking Lodge that offers a steep hiker discount. Across the street was a great burger spot, a brewery, and a McDonalds was also close.
Tomorrow I need to get food for the next few days and then it’s off to the mountains again. We want to attempt a high route that stays along the ridges some more. Just two towns left in Colorado.