Day 129: Champion Pass

Miles Hiked: 26.7

Total Milage: 2228.9

This morning I woke up in the hotel feeling rested but I did not want to leave the bed. It was so comfy after not sleeping in a bed for so long. We had a ride back to the trail scheduled for 9am so I had some motivation to get up and start moving. It was 8am before I knew it but luckily I already had most of my things all packed up and ready to go. I had a caramel frappe from McDonald’s for breakfast alone with an English muffin from the hotel. Our ride was there at 9am as promised. It’s a local guy that runs shuttle for CDT hikers only. We were dropped back off on the side of the highway around 9:20am.

The day started out with a 3 mile paved road walk before we hit a dirt trail in a green tunnel. 12 pack and I shared a sprite that was in a trail magic cooler. We had to go off trail to a campground to get water because once again all of the natural water sources have dried up. After the campground I had an 18 mile water carry to get to camp. We stayed on a dirt road for a while after leaving the campground. Once we got back on the trail again it started thunderstorming with lots of lightning. We set up our tents for an hour just to be safe while the storm passed. I was glad it was only an hour. During that time I got to text Luke and I took a small nap. It was great.

We started hiking again at 3:30pm. We had about 15 miles left to go. The miles flew by. For dinner I made some cheesey risotto which didn’t taste that great. My stove is broken so I wasn’t able to cook it all the way. It was 8:30 when we got to the last water source and set up camp. Almost 27 miles after 9:20am isn’t bad! It started to rain the last few miles before camp so I walked in with wet shoes and a wet backpack. Not fun. It was also freezing cold so I was thrilled to get inside my very warm sleeping bag.

I didn’t take any pictures at all today. I’ve hardly taken any pictures the last few days. I haven’t been feeling super inspired to. I also keep falling asleep before I can write my blog. I’ve been really far behind on it and having to write it days later. I don’t enjoy writing shorter posts with poor quality. I’m sure they are boring to read. I write a lot better when I am recalling things the evening after they happened. I’ve been allowing myself to step away from the blog discipline for a little bit. The trail has been tough mentally so I’m giving myself a small break.

Happy Trails!

– Early Bird