I really thought I was done with the rain but I guess not. Soon after laying down to sleep, it started raining, then thundering. Off and on all night it would rain and storm. Sometimes the lightning was even pretty close.
Luckily is stopped before the morning and I woke up to good weather. The rain overnight had made the trail very slick and muddy. The ground here seems to have a lot of clay in it and even a little water can turn the trail into a skating rink.
Most of the morning was spent walking through a wet forest with the plants soaking my legs and feet. Eventually I got to the junction with the Spotted Bear alternate. I kept to my plan of doing half and half so I stayed on the CDT.
The trail followed a creek uphill and made its way to… another giant wall. Apparently there’s a north wall too! The only whitewalkers here are thru hikers (that’s a game of thrones joke with a reference to the fact that thru hikers are overwhelmingly white.) It’s a damn shame so few people actually take this route. It was gorgeous.
It was also raining. Not the whole time, but enough to really suck. The clouds had been streaming over the wall all day dissipating soon after they went over.
Eventually they started getting darker and it started raining pretty hard and the trail got really really muddy again. With the thunder and rain, my plans were pretty up in the air. I had about 6 miles before the junction so I had some time. Not going over the pass meant dealing with blowdowns tomorrow. I waited out some of the storms under the trees with my umbrella. I would occasionally hike from tree to tee trying to make some progress.
I saw some blue sky in the distance and went for it. I checked the weather with my InReach and it said the rain should stop around 8. I was able to outrun it a little sooner and it stopped raining around 6:30 for me. The trail was so slippery it was hard to go uphill and going downhill felt like skiing.
It was getting late and I still wasn’t sure about the pass. I didn’t have a map of the route and even though I thought there was a trail, there might not be. Then I heard some jingling in the woods and noticed a horse camp with 4 horses, 2 guys, and a dog. I went to talk to the guys and it turns out they had just come down the trail I wanted to go up!
They were pretty shocked I had already come 28 miles to that point and they told me the trail was one of the scariest they’ve ever done on horses. It sounded like exactly what I was looking for.
I was thinking of camping on top of the pass, which wouldn’t have water. With all the rain most of the water sources looked like this.
I managed to find a larger stream that was still pretty clear and I stocked up. The cool weather today meant I didn’t really need much water and there’s a lake soon in the day tomorrow.
The climb was extremely steep and muddy. It actually really sucked, but the views made it worth it.
I was considering continuing on, but I hadn’t eaten dinner yet and I don’t really love cooking where I eat. I figured the top of this ridge wasn’t going to be popular with grizzlies so I decided to stop here and cook and camp.
It’s one of the best sites I’ve had on trail and I’m not even on the trail. This trail I’m on isn’t even listed in our app! It was a lot of extra work, but I’m really glad I pushed to make it. Now I just have to deal with the mud all over me.
