Miles Hiked: 20.3
Total Milage: 828.8
Location: Fenced Spring
This morning I slept in with everyone else because I was so tired. I didn’t sleep well at all last night. I absolutely hate getting a late start to the day. It makes the day feel so much longer and I feel like I hike a lot slower. It’s hard because most other people like to sleep in and if I leave camp early I will likely not see anyone for a while, if not until the end of the day. We all stopped for water at a small cow pond one mile into the day. It was another 10 miles to our next water source at Muddy Creek.
We walked along a semi paved gravely road for most of the day which really hurts my feet but at least it’s not pavement. Near Bridger Pass we met another hiker going Northbound named Yard Goat He also hiked all of New Mexico before flipping north. He plans to finish in Colorado. I highly doubt he sees another hiker for a couple more days because the other hikers we saw going Northbound are a few days ahead of him. Shortly after meeting him we all took a break, the day was getting hot fast. Jenga checked the temperature here and it was about 80 degrees.
We continued on to another break at Muddy Creek. The Creek was indeed very muddy but when you scooped the water out to drink it, it was almost clear. I still didn’t like the taste of the water at all though. I was so hot I was tempted to get into the water, but I really didn’t like how I couldn’t see the bottom. While I was thinking about it, 12 pack noticed that there was a very large Crawfish swimming around the shore. We then noticed that there was a lot more than just one crawfish, there were several! I definitely wasn’t going to get in the water now. I soaked my sun hoodie in the water before hiking on and it was dry within two miles of hiking. Its crazy how hot it was! Jenga also checked the temperature for a second time here because we all thought it was getting hotter. This time the thermometer read 90 degrees. I’m glad I’m here now and not in July!
After muddy creek, I planned to make it all the way to our camping spot at a fenced spring. I had the option to take a shortcut on the old CDT via an old jeep trail so I tried it. It was a mistake. Right before meeting back up with the trail, the old road I was walking on ended and turned into a wall of Aspen trees. I bushwacked through them like the route suggested and it was very painful. It was a very dense stand of young trees and there was hardly anywhere to stand except on top of tons of branches. My ice axe kept getting caught on everything and all the branches kept swinging back to smack me in the face. I was screaming and cussing, when I finally got back to the trail I sat down to take a break and wait for Jenga and Hummingbird even though I was only 1.5 miles from camp. 12 pack was near me during the awful bushwack and thinks he could have possibly broken a finger if not, jammed it really hard. Eventually Jenga and Hummingbird showed up. They said they had to bushwack through a ton of Aspen trees too but 12 pack and I didn’t hear them yelling about it like us. They took a slightly different route that may have been the better choice.
When we got to the spring, I was so happy to get some really nice water for the first time in a long time. It was flowing strong and clear out of a pipe. We all slept outside the fence across from the spring.
Happy Trails!
-Early Bird
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