CDT mile 1946.6, miles hiked 30.2
An old CDT marker leading the way
The alarm went off at 4:30 am we to be hiking by 5am. Charge was already up and packing when I stirred he takes a bit longer so he was up first getting ready so he could leave on time. I let my stove and made some coffee as I packed up. It’s the Perseid Meteor shower so as I was packing I watched some shooting stars.
With headlamps on we started down the trail, we had a few hill climbs up and down and as the dark turned to light we descended into a valley to circle a mountain. As the sun rose we were greeted by amazing colors and soft alpenglow on the mountains. We stopped as the sun began to warm us and we stripped down and put on sunblock. We at snacks and got back to hiking. By 9 am we had done 10.5 miles, Tatu-Jo said it was time for our hiker union break so we all sat down to snack and BS about life.
Playing with elk bones
We kept going, we weren’t hiking super fast but we were getting in miles. We were able to talk and we have been getting to know charge better, he’s a solid guy from Spokane Washington who works in Vail in the winter. He is super chill and really smart and bonus he is my age so we have plenty to talk about. He is planning to come with us to Leadore and spend the night, so with our simple 30’s we’ll be there tomorrow.
Amazing rocky mountains
The trail wasn’t so easy today we had lots of hills and small mountains to go up and down. It was mostly grassy and sagebrush but at times the trail disappeared and we did lots of cross country. As we came down one hill we met two Sobo’s, Elevated was a nice girl from Australia and the other guy was at kickoff but didn’t recognize me. I guess my new Afro, big beard and new thin figure have me incognito these days.
After the next climb, we plopped down to eat again and take in the views of the mountains as far as we can see. It was about 3 and we had done over 20 miles. We lounged and then got back to it. We walked and took breaks and rolled the last 10 miles up and down hills enjoying the day at a nice pace.
We loaded up at the last spring and started the climb until we found some trees to cowboy camp in. Tatu-Jo told us that we did good and this was his way of doing simple 30’s get up before dawn, walk leisurely all day and wala 30 miles done.
Now it’s time to sack out and do it all over again tomorrow. I got a message on my Delorme from my good friend Dirtmonger who is coming southbound he is going to be at the pass tomorrow when we get there so we all plan to spend a nice evening in Leadore and catch up. It will be great to see him and hear about his epic hiking season so far, he has already done the Sky Island Traverse in Arizona, the PCT NOBO and now is hiking the CDT. I can’t wait to see the guy he is like a brother to me and catching up in town is something we weren’t sure could happen but thanks to Tatu-Jo’s simple 30’s it is going to happen afterall.
