Even though I loved the intense challenge the trail provided yesterday, I wasn’t sure I was ready to do it all again so soon.  As it turns out, we didn’t have too many challenges today (which should be evident by the fact that we hiked over 18 miles instead of a mere 14).

The sunrise this morning was beautiful- I’m glad I had to get up to pee, otherwise I would have missed it.  

We had to walk on some snow this morning, but it wasn’t too terrible - there weren’t any steep drop offs to worry about sliding down, and besides, the footprints of those who walked before us were deep enough that I never felt like I was going to slip.  Even so, I wore my microspikes (mostly to make Nick feel better.) 

Once we got through the worst of it, we happened upon two hikers taking a break - 700 and Scout - so we joined them.  I love it when we stop for second breakfast, and it was also nice to meet some new faces.  

I leapfrogged with 700 and Scout most of the morning, at times walking with them a bit.  However, my ankle didn’t like the pace they were keeping so I pulled back.  Surprisingly, I didn’t mind having to go slow - it’s so beautiful out here that I want as much time as I can get to soak it all in. 

Up until lunch, there were only a few pockets of snow to navigate.  In fact, the biggest issue was a wet and muddy trail from all the snowmelt.  We made relatively decent time and banked 10 miles by noon.  

We ate lunch at the junction where you can take an alternate, lower route to the highway (where we will have to hitch to Pagosa Springs, ugh ). 700 and Scout, who ate lunch with us, decided to take the alternate - they didn’t want anything to do with a trail like yesterday and I don’t blame them.  Nick and I, however, didn’t want to take the alternate (which is a road walk).  I mean, why would we pass up the opportunity to be in the mountains?  Sure, the snow isn’t ideal… but it definitely makes for some great Adventures.  

So, after lunch, we continued to hike the CDT redline. We decided to meet after 6 miles to assess the situation and come up with a plan for camp.  Despite the many annoying blowdowns, the trail wasn’t bad at all and we both made it to our planned meeting spot by 3.  From there, we decided to push on another 3.5 miles.

Nick, who had been ahead of me all day, quickly left me behind.  I, who had been behind all day, continued to limp along (literally).  For a while, the trail was relatively clean, with no snow and very few  blowdowns. In fact, the biggest hazard was my new friend, The Wind - it was just incredible, blowing at around 70-80 mph.  The last part of the day had us walking along ridges and The Wind was so intense that it blew me over, twice.  Good thing it blew me into the mountain and not away from it!  Being so exposed on the mountain with The Wind attempting to blow me off was invigorating - I was laughing out loud between exclamations of “holy shit” and “oh fuck”.

With less than a mile to go, thinking we got off relatively easy today, I walked into the protection of trees.  Of course, trees means more blowdowns, and I encountered some huge ones that were a challenge to get around.  One was so large and on such steep terrain that I couldn’t walk around it - instead, I had to climb over.  And when I say climb, I mean really climb, holding into the limbs and using all my strength to lower myself down without getting hurt.  (It was a actually fun to sort-of be climbing a tree like I used to do as a kid).  

The ‘fun’ wasn’t over.  After the blowdowns, I encountered some more snow.  At first it wasn’t a big deal, but when I found myself walking on one huge snowdrift amidst tons of trees, I started having flashbacks to yesterday’s excitement.  The snow was soft, so I was post-holing up to my thighs, and the trees weren’t helping matters.  At one point I was basically crawling on the steep snowbank, holding my poles with one hand and leaning into the snow with the other, trying not to fall into the snow or slide down. While I had been listening to music up until this point (something I didn’t do at all yesterday because the trail was so intense), I had to turn it off.  I needed all my attention on the task at hand and music was too distracting.

After I made it through that ordeal, I thought, “whew, glad that’s over.  I’ll be to camp in no time.”

Nope.  About 0.2 miles ahead I was dismayed to find myself in a similar situation - huge snowdrifts covering the trail and trees everywhere.  I attempted to follow the footsteps of others, but I completely lost the trail (well, to be fair, it was completely covered in snow).  At one point I found myself precariously standing on a huge snowdrift with trees all around me and no idea where to go next.  If I hadn’t been so close to camp I might have worried, but since I was a mere 0.2 miles away it didn’t seem too daunting.  First things first- get out of the snow and onto clear ground.  I can’t say exactly what I did to accomplish this except I clung onto a lot of trees as I made my way down.  Once I was on actual ground, I did my best to navigate to our planned meeting spot.  

It felt like it took me forever to go a mere 0.2 miles, but when I saw Nick waiting for me all was well.  

I’m not saying I want to deal with snow like this all the time, but I have to admit I’m having a blast out here.  I love the challenges because it keeps things interesting and fun.  Besides, the views are even more beautiful knowing we truly had to earn them. 

Along the trail:

Camp: