Follow Strider's Rambles

Day 70

About a mile from camp, I met a bow hunter who was looking for elk. I told him where I saw the group last night, though apparently that was outside his area. He asked me about the CDT. Going forward the terrain had really neat rocks: large, smooth red slabs and various sized white quartz. I saw a cairn constructed entirely of quartz!

Mid-morning I took a snack and water filtering break at a lovely creek with great sitting rocks. I had my Dad put a new BeFree filter in my last resupply box; it practically gushes! It was really smoky – from Canadian fires – so I took the climbs at a slower pace than usual. The smoke gave me a slight headache.

At 4 pm, I arrived at Wyoming’s southern border. I had hoped for a marker of some sort and was not disappointed. On the ground were written WY and CO along with a border line, all in quartz. There were also Wyoming and Colorado license plates propped on logs. I took a picture with the Colorado one. Woohoo, I have completed three states!

After the border, the trail was a rocky ATV road. I was low on energy and felt like I had to drag myself up each hill. Several ATVs passed and kicked up dust. Then, as evening drew closer, I came upon two coolers filled with trail magic for CDT hikers!! I ate fun-sized candy and a package of fruit snacks. Plus I grabbed a Starbucks mocha Frappuccino for tomorrow morning. It really lifted my spirits! I hiked another 3/4 mile and tucked my tent under a tall pine tree. I grinned at the fun spot.

Day 71

All night I woke a lot. Eventually I heard a few raindrops and got up to fetch my Ursack. It was 4:40 am and I decided I might as well get up. It felt fancy to have a Frappuccino along with my breakfast. I started hiking while it was still dark. As dawn came, a light rain started to fall. When it got heavier, I sheltered under a pine tree until it ceased.

The cool temperature and overcast sky made for great hiking conditions. I also felt full of energy as I climbed uphill. I pondered if it was non thru-hiker of me to shelter from the rain earlier. Then I came across two thru-hikers just emerging from their tents. I wasn’t the only one who sheltered! Clouds shifted and patches of blue sky appeared as I descended into a lovely valley. The sun came out and I stopped at a stream for a coffee break. One of the guys I’d seen earlier hiked by and I met Toolman; he said his friend was Frito.

Frito passed me while I ate lunch beside a stream, seated on a stump. Afterwards, I passed both guys while they ate lunch. There was a long gentle descent past many streams, a short switch-backed climb, and then a road walk to the North Lake trailhead. I entered the Mt. Zirkel Wilderness. As the trail began a long switch-backed climb, I found and ate 4-5 thimbleberries, my favorite wild berry!

A long way up the climb and shortly before North Lake, I came upon an elderly lady. She introduced herself as Marmot, a MYTH. I didn’t know the acronym so she explained: multi-year thru-hiker. She’d been hiking a different section of Colorado and got altitude sickness; it took her two weeks to recover. Marmot resumed her hike in this section so she could slowly gain elevation. I wished her well.

My goal was 25 miles and I hit it exactly. I had the energy to keep going, but the next eight miles were over 11,000 ft. So I camped amidst trees at 10,800 ft. and got a Garmin forecast. Tomorrow’s weather looks great. It felt stellar to have a high energy day after the low energy one yesterday. It was also nice to make camp a little early. After dinner, I ate mint Oreos and watched a Delicious in Dungeon episode.

Day 72

From camp, the trail climbed to 11,900 ft, near the summit of Lost Ranger Peak. I’d gone only a short distance when I came across Marmot. She said her oxygen was above 90 and she was sitting if she got light-headed. I admired her perseverance and desire to be on trail! On the ridge after the peak, I came across a flock of ptarmigans. The camouflage of their rock colored bodies was interrupted by fluffy white legs. They made cute cooing noises.

About an hour after lunch, I got trail magic of a sort, an on-trail pit toilet that my bowels were ready to use! Then I encountered Mamacita headed north. She had a fever and planned to hitch into town to rest. We didn’t get to chat in Rawlins because she had a pre-scheduled call while I was chatting in the lobby with Stew. It was nice to catch up briefly and I wished her quick healing.

While in the high terrain, Toolman passed me. Yesterday and today he hardly responded to my queries so I thought he was unfriendly. Yet, we got to chatting at an afternoon stream stop. He also did the AT in 22’ and the AZT last year, but apparently he hates this trail. He’s from Mississippi and doesn’t like the high terrain. He actually plans to get off trail in Steamboat Springs or Breck. It was interesting that I felt rebuffed by attempts to be friendly and he was simply miserable, poor guy.

In the late afternoon, I was hiking around Lake Elmo, when on the far shore I saw a large rounded critter running away. It stopped, stood on hind legs to look at me, and then continued its run. I think it was a bear! Despite feeling sleepy later in the day, I ended up hiking 27.6 miles. I had cell service in my tent, dangerous, because I stayed up too late texting and doing web stuff.

Day 73

It was only 5.5 miles from my campsite to Muddy Pass, the recommended access point for Steamboat Springs. Once there I got a hitch within two minutes from Salem, headed into town for a construction project. We chatted without stop all the way into town; about the CDT, hunting, boating, and gardening. He dropped me off and I went straight to the Dusky Grouse, where I got coffee and a GF pumpkin muffin!

Steamboat Springs has a free bus that runs every 20 minutes. I took it to the KOA. Sky-Hi gave me the restroom/ laundry door code, but it didn’t work anymore. A lady who had just cleaned the bathroom let me in and I took a hot shower. Then I went over to the office and said I’d forgotten the code so the lady gave it to me. I bought detergent and paid to wash & dry my clothing so I wasn’t being a mooch; I simply didn’t want to pay an exorbitant amount to camp outside.

I caught the bus downtown and resupplied at Natural Grocers. It’s a place I shop in town life and there aren’t many on trail, I figured it’d add variety to my resupply. Along with a couple unique bulk items, I went with cereal as my breakfast base to get a break from oatmeal. At the picnic table outside, I repackaged my purchases into ziplock bags that I’d saved from homemade meals.

For dinner, I went to Qdoba and got a veggie bowl. I was reading emails and waiting on my Anker power pack to reach 75%. (I only just realized it takes longer because it’s old, on its third long trail.) Anyway, I got a hitch fairly quick, yet only five miles to the base of Rabbit Ears Pass. The guy assured me I’d get another ride in 10-15 minutes; it was a good spot. Still, the sun dropped below the horizon and it got hard for people to see me. I gave up, waited for it to get dark, and stealth camped in the adjacent farm field.