Miles hiked 0
Artwork of the man cave
After our heck of a time making it through the southern San Juan Mountains we decided to much-needed rest to recovery sore feet and muscles, refuel our bodies and make gear changes as we needed. We we’re so fortunate to have two of the most wonderful trail angles take us under their wing and care for us. The trail angels in South Fork are Karla and Mark.
Karla and Mark arranged for us to stay at their house so Zorro, Buttercup, Snorkel, Cheezy and myself stayed with them and the rest of the crew stayed at the hotel down the road.
Trail angel extrodinare Karla and her world-famous bread pudding
The group met for breakfast in town, I had to leave to go help this Korean gentleman named Thermometer who was trying to flip-up to Yellowstone National Park to avoid the snow. After a big breakfast I borrowed Karla’s car and Sketchy, Veg, Big John, Zippy Moroco and I took a trip over the pass to Pagosa Springs to get their boxes at the post office and then we hit the outfitter.
I had been post holing with my snowshoes on the San Juans and the bindings were killing my feet, so I jumped at a used pair of 36″ snowshoes for $80. I also bought some new hiking poles suited for snow, extra sock liners and new headlamp. My 7-year-old Petzl e/lite has seen so much action that it constantly flipped down and blinded me when I used it. We wrapped up our visit with some burgers, milkshakes and visit to the local dispencery where I picked up some CBD salve for me aches and pains.
Once back in South Fork I went with Karla to take pictures of the 4 new mountain bikes the town has bought for hikers to get around town with. South Fork is a great trail stop and not to be missed. We ended the evening with a BBQ at Karlas’ place there were 14 hikers and we all discussed plans for the next leg.
Buttercup and I had a long talk about our future as partners. He is faster than me and I told him I didn’t want to hold him back, he assured me he loved hiking with me and we would carry on as a team. A call home made me miss Suzy even more but it was nice to hear her voice and catch up on the happenings at home.
I just want to give one giant thank you to Karla and Mark, these two trail angels are amazing. Their dedication to helping us on our journey is second to none and the fact they open their home to strangers is amazing. If you are on the CDT I can not recommend a visit to South Fork enough as it has all the resources for a resupply and is a nice laid back and relaxed place to feast and recover.
