Today was a fun, fairly typical day of hiking. For my part, I held my own and arrived to our various planned meeting spots not too long after Nick, which is a good sign. I did take some ibuprofen this morning, but that was to combat some not-so-delightful monthly cramps, not because my leg issue was bothering me.
We didn’t see any other hikers at all, though, which is mildly disappointing because I was hoping to catch up a little with Puddles and Sunny D. At the same time, it was nice to feel alone in the wilderness - it was beautiful out there.
There was a trail register at one of the trailheads, which gave me an opportunity to see where hikers I know are. Its been a while since there’s been one to sign, so I was excited. Sadly, many of the recent pages were missing, but I did see that Tall Son signed it back on June 29th and Joe Dirt signed on July 2. They are flying!
In the afternoon, we stopped at a road bridge over North Fork Elk Creek. We both had read comments in the FarOut app about the trail bridge being out over the creek about a mile ahead, one about the creek being too strong to ford, and others saying the surrounding trail is very overgrown. Since there were so many not so great comments, we decided to walk a few miles on the nearby roads and forgo the overgrown trail and the need to find a way across the creek.
Just as we were about to walk down the last road that would bring us back to the trail, we met three wonderful people fixing a gate. They were extremely helpful because they told us to take a different road back to the trail. They informed us that road we were about to walk down didn’t have a bridge, so we’d be getting our feet wet. They showed us a different road that had a bridge and wasn’t too much longer. We chatted with them a bit before continuing down the road they recommended - I’m grateful we ran into such knowledgeable, friendly people because I wasn’t in the mood to get my feet wet.
In the afternoon, it stormed a bit as we hiked. Nothing crazy, just some gentle thunder and some much welcomed rain - it was hot enough today that I was sweating quite a bit, so the rain provided a great opportunity to cool off. (Earlier, before the storm, we both took off our hiking shirts and soaked them in a river for a little relief.)
the section of North Fork Elk Creek that still had a bridge and where we soaked our shirts
How is my issue? Well, my legs are doing just fine, thanks for asking. :) Towards the end of the day there were some wickedly steep uphills and downhills but, despite my trepidation about aggravating my issue, I didn’t feel any sharp pains of protest. At the very end of the day, I even carried 4 liters of heavy water about a half mile downhill, again without feeling pain. Did I go slowly just in case? Yes. But who cares - for the second day in a row, I made it to camp without any major issues. I’m not saying I’m totally healed yet, but I will say it’s a delight to walk without feeling pain with every step.
Tonight is our last night in Colorado, which is crazy to think about! Tomorrow we’ll cross into Wyoming, which is very exciting (new state!) and a little sad (I’m going to miss Colorado and her mountains). As a farewell gift, it sounds like another storm is on the way. Excellent. :)
Along the trail:
Camp:
