Total Mileage: 242.1
The goal for this week was to keep my 35 mile-per-day average through this tough section. The San Juans have been on my mind since last year and now I was finally about to do them.
The night before, I almost got water while eating a fig bar, until I caught a whiff of dead, rotting cow carcass. I entered into the La Garita wilderness and had 35.6 miles to reach the pass and hitch into Lake City for resupply. Some good meadow hiking until the uphill pulls started getting tough. Hail, rain, and high winds made it difficult, but I made it to the pass by 7pm. Was unable to get a ride in that night so I camped in a parking lot across the street.
The next morning it was cold and I was still damp from the day before. Once in town, I resupplied, charged my stuff at the church annex ( separate building for hikers and AA meetings), met and talked with “Golden Girls”, a cool couple doing the CT. I was back at the pass by 2 pm and into the big mountains.
Cold and wind for the next couple days, but the weather held and the views were spectacular and the hiking hard. There isn’t a lot of flat hiking in this section. You’re either going up or going down and by the 3rd night, pulling a 37 mile day with 9,500 feet of elevation gain, I was wiped out.
I pitched my tent where I thought it was safe from the wind but I was so wrong! At 1 am, my trekking pole (which I use to pitch my tent) snapped in half from the high winds. With the tent collapsed on top of me, I thought about just sleeping through it, but the wind made the tent so loud, I felt like I was being shaken in a paper bag. I packed up and hiked off the mountain at 2 am.
With hardly any sleep, I made my way to Wolf Creek Pass and got a ride into Pagosa Springs for a new pole. John and Dawn, two amazing people, drove me in and back up to the trail (23 miles one way). They had just hiked the CT and have also Triple Crowned. AT ’04, PCT ’05, CDT ’07. All With map and compass and before the trails became popular by the woman who ate her mother’s ashes.
Back on trail, I made it another 15 miles before calling it a day. 70 miles of hiking and 3 hours of sleep was a bit rough.
Almost in New Mexico and only 1500 miles to go!
