CDT mile 554.2 miles hiked 14.5
I awoke in the campground a bit groggy from the night before the full moon made it hard to sleep the past few nights. I packed up and was able to get a decent signal to upload my blog before others were up taking all the bandwidth in the campground.
An old home on Ghost Ranch
We rolled out to breakfast it was decent corn beef and hash, eggs with bacon toast and the usual fixings. After breakfast Buttercup and Freefall were to attend the worship at 9 am. I used the last few hours to send off some postcards and get those last minutes of Internet time in.
The box canyon
We rolled out Ghost Ranch and started up Box Canyon. We missed the turnoff and wound up at the end of the canyon. We turned around and that is when it happened I stepped on a rock that crumbled and down I went. Snap was all I heard and my Leki pole made of high-grade carbon fiber was snapped in half.
We got to the turnoff and Bandit said, “I’ll run back and see if I can get one from the folks at Ghost Ranch“. He is very thoughtful and also 10 years younger than me. He always seems to have extra energy. We sat in the shade waiting for him 35 minutes later Bandit was back with an older aluminum Komperdell pole. He said he donated $6 for it, but it works fine so we carried on.
The day was hot and we had to climb up and up over our final Mesa to finally leave Ghost Ranch and the valley below. In true fashion the CDT gave us one last desert hike before entering the mountains and leaving the desert behind.
The final bit of desert until Wyoming
We wove through various forest roads, we made a wrong turn and had to cross-country back to trail. We found our way and a mile or so later we stood in stands of aspens and what seemed like a lush forest, a true treat. Some of the best spring water yet was waiting for us and we settled in for the night close to the spring in a nice pine forest.
Aspen trees in the lush forest
Tomorrow we expect to hit our first substantial snow based on reports. Hopefully the river crossing will not be as bad as the folks a week ago had it, or this short guy is going to be swimming.
