CDT Mile 742, miles hiked 17.5

Blowdowns can mean a serious injury sometimes

The CDT is a fickle gal who is not afraid to give you a good slapping any chance she gets.  Today was supposed to be an easy day, descend to a forest service road, walk a few dirt roads and then descend a gentle valley along Deep Creek.

Buttercup gives the snowmelt the sniff test to ensure it is good

We woke up to frozen socks, tents and gear.  Zippy informed me that the temp had dropped down to 30 and after the previous night’s warmth, none of us were surprised that our gear would had frozen solid once more.  We slept in some as we are all exhausted from the San Juans, so after a leisurely pack up we hit the trail headed to Creede.

The tail was pretty nice and we made decent time walking through the aspen forest, and then the road.  Being back on a USFS road walking 3 abreast made us feel like we were back in New Mexico.

Buttercup and Zippy Morroco enjoy a yard sale to dry out wet gear

Everything was going fine we were making good time and had started down the Deep Creek trail.  There were some blowdowns along the trail and that is what would be my slapping.  I scrambled up a double layered blowdown and I stepped down I slipped, fell backward and crashed into the logs hearing some branches break along the way.  I laid there in pain, my left ass cheek was throbbing.  Zippy helped me up and we did a quick evaluation to see how bad I was torn up.
My skirt was shredded along with my boxer shorts and a deep 8″-10″ scrape went from my butt cheek to my hip bone.  I also had a pretty good bruise on my side but thankfully my pack protected the rest of me.

After finally getting back going we walked about another mile or so and there was Buttercup with his foot in Deep Creek.  He had rolled his ankle pretty bad and was trying to cool it down to reduce the swelling. So there you go in less than a 2-mile span the CDT gave a slapping to two of us.

We finally worked our way down to the trailhead and the road.  As we stood atop the hill we saw a large RV park and what appeared to be a gas station.  Wanting cold sodas as always, we headed down the hill hoping for treats at the store.  We crossed the Rio Grande and headed to the store, turns out it was a car wash, so we walked to the next group of buildings but they were closed, we saw a sign for the RV park office and a guy watering the flowers, “do they sell sodas in there?” I inquired and we were told “yes.”

The three of us walked down to the office and were greeted by the very nice ladies in the office.  After answering questions about our hike they informed us they had cabins for $50, but they are a mile out of town.  After making calls and getting quoted $130 everywhere else in town we decided to stay and the owner Helen had her husband take us to town later in the day.

The mighty Rio Grande

We feasted on ribs and amber beer.  We met up with Easyrider who told us his tale of the knife edge and then bailing down to Creede, once again reassuring us we made the right move.  We walked down the main street and I yogied us a ride back to the park.

Tommy Knockers has some amazing ribs on Tuesday

With full bellies, we settled in for some rest and relaxation.  I did our laundry and caught up with some folks on the phone before crashing hard for the night.

Creede, CO so far my favorite of trail towns for maxing and relaxing