What a delightful day!  Yesterday’s zero we was exactly what I needed.  Yes, we only hiked 10 miles so I’m sure that has something to do with it, but I feel great AND I was able to once again go uphill without needing to rest.  How long will this last?  We’ll see.  :)

Injury update: my new Salomans are amazing and my ankle feels so much better!  Maybe it WAS the Brooks?  I still need to do some rehab but I barely have any discomfort at all (except when going downhill for a while, that is).  Nick’s Achilles are feeling better, too, although they aren’t 100%.  His concern now is the fact that he can’t feel his toes or even the top of his foot.  It’s the same foot he had surgery on for his toe and he IS walking differently because of it, so we’re pretty sure that’s the cause.  

Since Jack (our ride to Stony Pass) wasn’t going to meet us until 10:30, we had plenty of time to get organized and packed up this morning.  Nick even took another shower.  Then we walked to the post office and were there promptly at 9am to get our resupply box.

Inside the box were lots of fun surprises.  Nick’s cousin, Cindy, sent us delicious muffins (I’m so excited to eat them for breakfast the next two days!); Mary, our resupply guru, sent more dried apples and her famous breakfast bars (two of my favorite things); and Theresa and Maddie sent us a ton of letters and more clay figures.  

We saved reading the letters until we got to the Coffee Bear, where we were to meet Jack.  It was wonderful to read the letters while sitting at a table and drinking a latte in a real cup.  

On our way to the Coffee Bear we ran into some hikers who wanted to know how we were getting back to the trail.  Nick gave them Jack’s number and, suddenly, there were 4 other hikers getting a ride with us.  Because there were so many, Jack enlisted the help of his brother and his brother’s truck.  Two hikers rode with Jack in a Subaru and 4 of us (Onion, Sledge, Nick, and I) got to ride in the back of a truck with Jack’s brother, Dan.  It wasn’t as uncomfortable back there as I thought it was going to be because they gave us pillows and blankets to sit on.  I’m glad there were more hikers than just Nick and I because it made the drive more lucrative for Jack (although by the time we made it to Stony Pass both engines were terribly hot and needed to cool down - maybe $25/person wasn’t enough!).   

As I already said, the hike today was relatively easy because I’ve had some much needed rest.  Even so, I did manage to slip and fall down a modest slope of snow while I was attempting to cross - thank goodness it wasn’t any steeper!  I post-holed, lost my balance, and the next thing I knew I was sliding down.  I was able to stop myself after about 10 feet, but my knee is bleeding and the side of my leg will be sporting a bruise in a few days.  If I had to slip, I’m grateful it was there and not, say, on Knife Edge.  Nick said to me, “let’s not do that again, ok?”

—————Nick just spilled the nearly boiling water for rehydrating our meals - I guess that means I have more time to write (it’s nice that I had some time to write so early, usually it’s the last thing I do]—————

The best part of the hike (besides it being a short 10 miles) was the color of the mountains - they are a beautiful gray blue green color that I find soothing.

Another wonderful part of the hike is the tended-to bushes!  The CDT is on the Colorado Trail now, and I suspect the Colorado Trail is a little more maintained.  It’s a joy to walk through the bushes now!

Even though it was only 5pm when we got to the planned meeting/potential camping spot, we decided to stay.  It’s been sporadically lightly snowing/raining on us all day, the forecast says to expect more precipitation after 6, and there probably isn’t a decent place to camp for the next 7 miles or so.  Besides, we don’t have reservations in Lake City (our next resupply stop) so we don’t have to push it this section if we don’t want to.  It’s nice being able to take it a little slower because it gives me more time to recover AND more time to enjoy these magnificent mountains.

Aaaaaaand…. It’s precipitating again (can’t tell if it’s snow or rain).  So glad we are warm and dry in the tent!

Along the trail:

Camp: