Outside 365

We’ve taken to giving eachother high-fives. “High-Five, We’re Alive!”. Maybe my mom and grandmother shouldn’t read this…

After 1400 miles, I’m sore. Incredibly sore. And it’s for a specific reason. Two days ago, Lost and I ran down a mountain. We were on the summit of Parkview Mountain when I saw a bolt of lightning about two miles away. “We need to get down now.” I said. Parkview is your typical Colorado mountain. High and utterly exposed, it’s a beacon for bolts. I started running down the ridge. Lost, frantically finished repacking her pack. I turned off the ridge and shot down a very steep, cairned, loose route to the trees. It was the type of slope that would normally have me carefully placing my feet. I was running. Lost was right behind. The bolts were now on top of us. We were exposed, and in the lightning storm. It was not good. High Five!

Yesterday, we worried about a repeat. Lost and I are the only ones that we know of that chose to do the extra miles to hike the Rocky Mountain National Park loop. Camped on the NP boundary, got up early and busted miles. It was cloudy. We were early. We were taking risks again. Right after the sign that said “Mountains Don’t Care” (about your safety) we went above treeline. With four or so miles until our next tree, the squall hit. Fear motivated and moving quickly we continued. Luckily, the scarily dark clouds didn’t electrify. It was another close call. Not quite like having bolts right next to you, but still scary. Instead, we pushed on through painful hail and strong winds. Completely covered up, not an inch of face showing, the storm passed just before we hit the trees. High Five!

Neither of us like this sort of thing. We’ve been considering a much higher and exposed, longer route for the next section. Again, no one else is planning on doing it. The weather forecast is for blue skies. I think I still want to go. But in general, I want to be safe, and down in the trees. Colorado’s big mountains, and the fact that the Continental Divide Trail often actually sticks to the rugged divide, mean that we’ll be hiking in exposed areas a lot in the next few weeks. Wish us good weather!

Other notes:
- Abbie’s hospitality and the hotsprings in Steamboat were fantastic.
- The shorter section meant that I ate more food than normal. Oh so nice.
- This hostel in Grand Lake is great. So nice to eat the prepared meal of Lasanga last night.
- Visiting my friend Sarah in Breckenridge soon.
- Had a long, paved road walk out of Steamboat. They suck.
- It’s hunting season.
- Radiolab podcasts are my friend.
- I’m having an awesome time.

Eating half a watermelon for breakfast probably wasn’t such a good idea.

Lost and I blasted through the Red Desert and the Great Divide Basin. Took a scenic alternate along the Sweetwater River instead of a shorter, official CDT road walk. Nearly the rest of the segment was road walking though. Surprisingly, road walking was very enjoyable. These are old jeep tracks mostly. Roads that are either hardly ever traveled, or lightly traveled. So it’s fast, easy, brainless walking where we can walk side by side and talk if we so choose. The desert is also home to tons of Pronghorn Antelope. Pretty cool.

Walked 25-28 miles between water sources. We have a 30 mile carry coming out of town today. Soon we’ll be in Colorado with no water problems, but perhaps increased lightning danger.

The main highlight of the last section was our 56 mile day into town. We wanted to do a 50. Not sure why. It’s a challenge that some hikers present themselves with. But since our maps and info isn’t very accurate, we didn’t know how far away from town we were. After 1300 miles, I’ve got strong legs. It wasn’t all that hard. I did have about 2 hours of pain, right before lunch. We’d hiked 25 miles, starting before 4am, had barely stopped and hadn’t eaten enough. The sun got to me. Luckily after lunch at a solar spring I maintained my usual energy until about midnight when I started to slow down. All in all, a great day. Mostly felt beat up from lack of sleep as opposed to the hiking.

See where I am. I’m probably backpacking. I probably update at every campsite.

It’s 6:30am and I’m up. That’s normal, I do that every day. But one of the great things about waking up early in town is that while I’ve got a kick start on the day, the rest of reality is still on it’s slow schedule. So here I am, spending time on my hotel’s computer, waiting for the world to gear up so that I can get back to the trail. My ride this morning is, as usual, the Official Saintly Naomi. The same fantastic specimen that put my up in her hotel room when I was injured up in Glacier. The same fantastic person who has repeatedly visited her husband on the trail and by extension all of us. She drives us around. She’s non-trail company. She drinks beer with us. She’s officially a Saint. This morning, after breakfast, she’s driving Wing It, Don’t Panic, Lost and I up to the trail. It’s some 40 miles each way, and would be a very hard hitch considering that there are a few murderer fugitives out on the lamb in WY right now, that there is an intersection that diverts traffic between myself and the trail, and that it’s illegal to hitch in this state.

The whole crew came in to Lander last night. People seem to be in various states. Lots of abused looking faces. Some deep sunburns. Some Hiker Hobbles. Three people are sick. etc, etc.. So people are zeroing today, and Lost and I find ourselves in front of the pack. We’ve all left the high mountains and are heading into the desert. Forecast is 80 degree, sunny and likely windy. Not bad. Plus, we’ve got the crazy idea of doing a 50 mile day. The plan is to try it on the last day in to Rawlins. I hope I make it!

The memories of the Winds are still vivid. Especially the stellar alternates over Knapsack Col and the Titcomb Basin, both sides of the Cirque of Towers, meeting TinMan from AntigravityGear.com and the walk up towards so called Temple Pass.

I’ve got new shoes again. This time they fit. I’ve got a loaded pack of food. I sent away my bear spray and bug repellent. Heck, I even saw a movie last night. (Inception.. I’m left confused) And the highlight of my stay in Lander was that Ben, a friend from college drove in to town and we shared burgers and beers for a few hours.