It was about an hour into the hike that I tried to take a picture and noticed the lens was foggy with condensation. I turned the phone off completely then.
Pictures for the next day and a half were taken on Peggy's iPhone and we wrapped mine into my bandanna tying the bandanna to the top of my pack for lots of sun exposure and drying out.
This small section of trail is 13.6 miles long, mostly in forest with some glimpses of the Continnental Divide like the picture below.
We met a man hiking with his dog, Harriette, a border collie mix that was full of personality. The last we saw of them he was swimming in a lake trying to get her to come in. As we rounded the trail we called out "jump Harriette, jump! "
I don't think she ever did though!
The forecast was rain for the next 3-4 days but it never really rained. A few sprinkles was all. When we arrived at the trailhead that marked the end of this section there were 5-7 cars, hikers, dogs etc. everybody going out into the woods. We just wanted to get away from all of it. So deciding to get a head start on the next section which is also 13.6 miles long, we hiked a half mile up to the next water source, crossed the stream and found a good spot above the trail to camp. There were a handful of tents already scattered around the forest but a much quieter bunch than at the trailhead.
My iPhone is 3/4 clear of condensation so I'll keep putting it in the sun all I can tomorrow.
7/23/16 Saturday
Our goal is to finish hiking the next 13 miles and then decide where to camp. We want to climb up Mt Elbert, Colorado's highest 14K foot mountain, whose trailhead is accessed from the Colorado Trail. When we arrived at the end of this section, cars were parked everywhere, people, kids & dogs. All hiking back from Mt Elbert! We chatted with some of the other CT hikers that we knew & all decided to hike 1.3 miles to the next water which we needed to take with us up the mountain. Peggy & I started out leaving the others there at the trailhead and river. We felt we just needed to go then or we'd never get the energy to leave. At that point, 3:30 pm, we'd hiked 13 miles. Once there, we saw no good camp spots so we got water for a dry camp, cooking dinner & breakfast plus 2L of water for the climb= very heavy packs at 2# per liter. I carried 3, Peggy 4.
The last 300' climb was hard. Finally we found a great spot 1/2 mile before the trailhead where we can't be seen by anyone passing by. We'll be leaving everything in our tents tomorrow morning and take only our packs with warm clothing, 2 L of water & snacks.
After set up Peggy found she had cell service so we each contacted home or friends.
After calculating we found we'd hiked 17 miles today! No wonder we're tired, but we both feel this sets us up for the best early ascent of the mountain tomorrow.
* the treatment for condensation worked! The phone is working well again.
7/24/16 Sunday - ascend Mt Elbert
It rained a bit in the night but not too bad. As we were leaving it started raining again but we had hopes it might stop.
You can see by the clouds it's thinking of rain!
We reached the trailhead at 7am and the trail literally went straight up, Colorado has no notion of a switchback. Maybe the idea is to scare people away right off the get-go! That being said, there are others on the trail this Sunday morning. We had a snack at treeline and had 4-5 visiting Clark's Nuthatch (camp robbers is a familiar name for them- very bold birds) begging for our snacks.
I've developed a formula that seems to work on the uphill sections. Pick a pace that I can keep up for awhile. Usually it's quite slow but if I can breathe through it without stopping I can make more progress than starting & stopping (wheezing and blowing etc) it's quite the show.
Ascending took us 4 hours. The clouds began gathering and looking dark but we figured we had enough time to make it before we had to go down. Lightening is deadly if you're caught on a peak.
Made it!!!
We hiked down and 1/2 mile back to camp, broke camp & hiked 3-4 miles to town.
Once in town we found the inns & cabins were all full. Thinking ahead we reserved a spot for dinner and a room for the next night and started to talk about camping down by the lake in the bushes. One of our hiker friends was telling the store clerk about us and she wanted to talk to us. He relayed the message and before we knew it, she'd arranged a room at a B&B of sorts. We walked 50 feet to the house and were shown into a beautiful home lined with pine wood, directed upstairs to a room with 3 beds, we did laundry and had all we could have wished for. What a fine surprise! I'd been coming down the trail very footsore and praying for a place to be provided, I should not have been surprised but I was!! Thank You!!
Dinner was superb at the Twin Lakes Inn and our night sleep was lovely at Karen's house.
7/25/16 Zero in Twin Lakes at The Twin Lakes Inn.
Lunch was a shared burger and dinner will be another delightful yummy meal.
Leaving tomorrow morning early to start the Collegiate West portion of the CDT/CT. This is the high route, named for the peaks; Harvard, Yale, etc. we go over Hope Pass tomorrow too....Uphill formula applies. Next resupply in 5 days, hopefully.
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