Miles Hiked: 21.1
Total Milage: 1470.7
Location: Pagosa Springs, Colorado
Today I was really tired so I slept in until around 6am. 12 pack and I left camp together around 7am. We started the day by climbing to the top of a beautiful mountain and then descending it and walking along a ridge. When we were going over the mountain, I kept thinking about what it would have been like to be out on it with several feet of snow and our ice axes and spikes. I’m so glad that we are here in the summer without all the snow! Not only would it have been exhausting and slowed us down but I would have been absolutely terrified to do some of the traverses!
The ridge walk today was incredibly beautiful it felt like something out of a dream. 12 pack and I stopped to take some little breaks here and there but we ultimately were trying to get to town at a reasonable time. At the top of one of the ridges, we saw two people backpacking with some massive goats. They were so big I thought they were mules. I had no idea that goats could even get that large! For lunch we stopped on the side of the mountain above a lake. From there we only had ten mile to town and we covered the distance relatively fast. We walked by lots of alpine lakes and through some beautiful forests with lots of flowers and blown down trees.
I couldn’t believe that the clouds stayed away all day! I felt so lucky to get to hike a whole day without getting rained on or being really nervous about the clouds while being on an exposed ridge. About one mile from Wolf Creek Pass, Jenga surprised us! He was hiding in the bushes with his camera at the ready. I was so happy to see him! He is going to take a zero day with us tomorrow and hike back to Cumbres pass over the next three days with us. When we got down to the highway at the pass, we waited for Revolt who came to pick us up! We enjoyed looking at a sign about the CDT and visualizing how far we walked. It’s crazy to think that we are over halfway done. When Revolt came to get us I was so happy to see him. The last time I saw him was right before we flipped up to Wyoming and 12 pack and I have been talking about coming back to see him ever since. It felt like the family was back together again, although I wish Free Fall was there. We all had a beer that revolt brought for us before driving back to his house in town.
The first stop we made was the post office where I picked up a box from Sarah M. Who reads my blog regularly. I thought it was so sweet for her to send me something ☺️ I had the perfect amount of food for the next stretch to Cumbres Pass! I was so happy I didn’t even have to resupply which is a big chore in town! Back at Revolt’s I immediately got in the shower and put my clothes in the laundry. For the rest of the night we hung out with him and his wife Julie and some of their friends from Pagosa. Revolt made us some delicious cocktails and Julie made us an awesome snack platter!
If you’ve been following along, you’ll know that I haven’t really slept at all in over a week. Tonight Jenga gave me a generic over the counter sleeping aid and it worked so well. I ended up falling asleep on the floor without even blowing up my sleeping pad I was SO tired. It was AMAZING. After so long without sleep I was so desperate and feeling really crappy. The night of sleep I got was rejuvenating.
Happy Trails!
-Early Bird
Des Hikes Thru 