My wish for no fog today was denied. For a little while this morning I thought that perhaps we might get lucky, but it wasn’t in the cards.
As you might expect, it was a very cold start to the day. I didn’t sleep well, either, since every little move I made let a little cold air into my otherwise warm cocoon, causing me to shiver. I hoped the sun would make an appearance and provide us with some warmth this morning, but we had to make do without it.
We were on the ridge line all day, and while I was disappointed that I didn’t get to see the views I’m sure were stunning, I must admit it was sort-of fun to hike in the (sometimes very thick) fog. It was a true Adventure. It was so cold that I hiked in my alpaca hoody, my rain jacket, my stocking cap, and my puffy gloves (covered by rain mitts) all day. We hiked together simply out of necessity - not only was it foggy (and then snowy) but the trail was essentially nonexistent. Staying together was imperative.
We lost the trail many times and, after we both completely lost our sense of direction and walked the wrong way for a while, we quickly learned to check the app often to make sure we were still on track. Usually we can see cairns in the distance, which helps when there isn’t a well defined trail, but not today. Today it was ‘blindly walk in the direction you think you should go and hope you see a cairn emerge out of the fog’.
this is what it was like most of the morning
After 4 very slow, difficult miles, we had to make our first decision of the day - take the slightly shorter Argentine Spine alternate or stay with the redline. I had been looking forward to the Argentine Spine for weeks, knowing it was all on the ridge line. However, since it was so foggy, was it even worth staying up there? Plus, what would we do if it started to storm? The Argentine Spine is very exposed whereas the CDT redline goes into a valley, which would have been a little safer. However, the CDT redline also had two really sketchy cornices to get past, which neither of us was keen to do. We went back and forth and finally decided to take the Argentine alternate.
I do not regret our decision. Sure, we didn’t get to see the amazing views, but it felt like more of a challenge and thus like more of an Adventure. The hiking was difficult- straight up to a peak and then straight down again (similar to yesterday afternoon), over and over. It was extremely steep. I didn’t care. Every so often we’d get a glimpse of a view and I’d briefly stop (stopping too long made me cold), take off my gloves (a pain but worth it?), and take a quick picture.
Not too long after we decided to take the alternate, it started to snow a little. Then, around noon, we heard thunder. It was distant but still - we were walking on ridge lines and summiting peaks, not great places to be in a thunderstorm. Nick had read that there was a supply shed by some power lines, so we decided to hide out there. The shed was almost a mile away, though, and the steep terrain and the snow made it very slow going. By the the time we got to the shed, the thunder had stopped. We were lucky- the thunder wasn’t too close to us (for the most part) and we didn’t see any lightning.
Even though the snow and thunder had already stopped when we got there, I was excited about the hut. I hadn’t eaten much all day (it was too difficult with the gloves and the fog and the rain and the snow) so I was starving. The shed wasn’t perfect but got us out of the elements and allowed us to relax a bit while we ate a late lunch.
Shortly after lunch, we had to make our second decision of the day. Do we summit Gray’s Peak? It was snowing again, pretty hard, and, since we had rejoined the redline, we could have hiked down about 2 miles to water and possible camping, calling it quits for the day.
Since it wasn’t thundering, we decided to push on. What’s a little snow going to do to us?
Adding snow to the already foggy day made the hike even more of an Adventure. As long as I was moving I wasn’t cold, so it was fine. (I LOVE my puffy gloves and the rain mitts that protect them from the rain and snow).
The route the CDT took us up to Grays Peak was insane. It was all ridge line and zero switchbacks. Nick, who hates heights, made me go first in some spots because it looked utterly terrifying on the ridge line (I love being up there and am not bothered by heights, so I was happy to lead the way).
At one point, the fog briefly cleared and we were finally able to see what we’d be going up. It was thrilling to see the breathtaking view as it was slowly revealed.
The intense climb up to Grays (on the spine) was rewarded with simply getting there - the fog had returned by the time we got to the top so there were no views to be had. That’s ok - I was just thrilled to finally be at the highest point on the CDT (14,270 ft). Besides, the snow and fog made the experience something I’ll never forget.
The way down from Gray’s Peak was so much easier than the way up because there were switchbacks. There was also a bit of a view on the way down:
the view on the way down from Gray’s
Towards the bottom, we found a campsite next to the trail. I typically don’t like to camp right next to the trail but it’s fine because thoughts of going any further seemed ridiculous. Needless to say, we are stoked to finally be in the tent. We’re both exhausted from the day - even though I had hoped to hike at least 22 miles, the 15 miles we managed to hike were hard-earned for sure!
Along the trail:
Camp:
