Miles Hiked: 30
Total Milage: 1989.6
Today I woke up early around 5am. I had all my things packed and ready to go by 6. The sunrise over the divide was so pretty. Our camping spot was just awesome last night despite the fact that I hardly had any water. The day started with two miles down hill to get some water. The creek I collected from went through a cow pasture so I definitely filtered it. The water wasn’t ideal but it was the first water we saw for 13ish miles. All morning I hiked through brushy cow territory and poop was everywhere. The trail wasn’t very well built at all but at least there were lots of posts and signs marking the way for once. Around 6 miles into the day I crossed the Sawmill trailhead where I collected more cow shit water to drink and ate some snacks before heading up a very long and steep climb where 12 pack caught up to me at the bottom.
The climb was almost 2k feet at once and I felt so weak and fatigued going up it. I was hiking so slow until I let myself listen to music for the last mile of the climb. I was so happy to reach the top and take a break in the trees on the other side. After my snack break I hiked another 7 miles to an amazing water source. We were in exposed fields almost the entire day but there was a three mile stretch where I got some shade that I was extremely thankful for. It was so hot! The climbs were steep and there was hardly any water anywhere. This water source was an ice cold spring flowing out of a pipe into a giant white bucket. At the spring I met Grizzly who is bike packing the CDT this year! I was hoping to run into her at some point but realized the chances were low and I thought I missed her in the last town. She was with her coach Eliza who is with her for a week or so. We all hung out for a while and I cooked a dinner for lunch since I didn’t want to carry water to cook it later. We all ended up dunking our heads in the spring because it was so incredibly hot. It felt great.
After lunch 12 pack and I hiked almost 10 more miles before stopping again. It was hot and exposed and we were going uphill almost the whole time. The tread was really bad in one section and my foot would turn sideways with every step. It really hurts my ankles when this happens and I was so irritated for about 2 miles. When we took our dinner break I made some peanut butter wraps really fast before hiking on. I’ve been moving really slow lately and I just wanted to make it to camp. The sage brush fields were so pretty in the evening light and there was a small shower before I reached camp. I was hoping for the awesome campsite by the lake but some weekenders were there when I arrived. I was so tired after hiking 30 miles I just looked around for the closest flat spot even though it wasn’t ideal.
Happy Trails!
-Early Bird
Des Hikes Thru 