CDT mile 824.5, miles hiked 27.9
Nothing says summer like a good hail storm
We awoke next to the highway the trucks grinding up the pass, these were not the typical nature sounds I am used to waking to. I made coffee and packed up, then the 4 of us set off for our uphill grind.
I met Buttercup at the top of the ridge a couple of hours later he was out of water and said let’s meet and break in 6 miles. I ran to the restroom and by the time I was done everyone got ahead. I pushed hard up and down the hills making my miles and eventually met everyone at Razor Creek. We all spread out our gear to dry from the previous night’s condensation. Buttercup and Zippy started reading what was ahead and the saw a cabin in another 25miles open to the public, making for a 35-mile day.
Storms and snow are the new normal for us
Cheezy and I wished the boys well on their long hike and all agreed to meet tomorrow at Monarch Pass, as neither Cheezy or me wanted to do that many miles. We packed up and left about 20 minutes after them, the day’s terrain was a roller coaster, as we made one of our climbs the sky darkened and the thunder boomed a few minutes later we got hit with hail for a bit, it came down so hard it turned the ground white. We hiked through it and eventually as it ended we had 4 dirt bikes come down the trail and pass us. The Colorado Trail allows dirt bikes in places so we watched as the 4 bikers rode by and then joked how that was, hiking for lazy Americans.
the only way to stay warm during a hail storm is to keep hiking, photo by Cheezy
We continued on and throughout the day had some rain showers, we came to our destination at 5:45, it being too early to stop we decided to push on up the next ridge to make tomorrow’s hike a bit shorter. We finally found a nice flat spot in the woods and set to making camp and a small fire. A nice hot meal and fireside chat was a great way to end the day. Tomorrow we should make Monarch Pass and go to Salida to see POD and Disco. On the 15th we’ll celebrate my 39th year on earth and soak in hot springs and eat pie….it’s a tough life but someone has to do it, I’m just glad it’s me!
Testing out pads for Snorkel’s upcoming article and man do I love the Exped
