Day 12, 17.2 miles

It definitely rained for a bit last night, but either my rain diverter worked or it just wasn’t that heavy, but my site did not flood! And surprisingly, although I camped right next to the lake, I didn’t have any bad condensation! It’s actually the driest my tent has been in the morning since day 3!

Mile 200 yay! 

Sorry ma! 🙈

Love mushrooms bursting out

 

The trail was very flowy today for the first 11ish miles. I was in a good groove but didn’t forget to stop and appreciate the little things! I love all the mushrooms popping up and all the juicy pinecones and intricate flowers. I hit the bottom of the big climb closer to 12 than 3 like I had originally planned. It’s hard for me to slow down! I knew I’d be too early to meet Ace, but luckily, I came across something that stopped me in my tracks! 

Trail Magic!!

Brian and his fully blind and fully deaf dog Jenny. Jenny is 1/4 Mutt, 1/4 Husky, 1/4 Rottweiler, 1/4 Pomeranian! 

I was the first one there, and I had two honeycrisp apples, a Gatorade, and two bags of chips! Brian hiked the first few sections in early June this year before the weather was too hot! He is just going to do a couple sections a year with his engineering friends. 

Red came about an hour later. And then two other hikers that are hiking just the Collegiate Loop. Then, crazy thing, three more hikers came down Northbound. I thought I recognized one of the guys. I asked if he lived in Colorado Springs. We figured out that I had attended one of his talks about his last years Colorado Trail Thruhike at a brewery in the Springs!

Red finding out that her tuna packet is actually chicken! 😂 

Left to right, Red, Swapper, Tim Vile, Bionic Man (who I recognized), and Brian! 

It started raining and since we were in between two climbs, all of us both North and South bouncers decided it would be a good time to get out and start those steep climbs! With a belly full and excited to see Ace, I zoomed up that 3.3 mile hill!!

Trail was so steep and rocky!

The top!

Mt Yale

I scrambled up 200ft off the CT at the very top of the ridge. I think the FarOut app recognized that because my icon is now a mountain goat! 😂 

I wonder why they call this trail and trailhead the Avalanche Trailhead?!

Ah.. checks out

The trail was way somehow even steeper on the ways down than it was on the way up!!! My creaky knees were thankful when I could see the road down below. And I was even more thankful a couple minutes after I got down to the trailhead parking lot! 

ACE!! And the Black Stallion (On this trip it will make 350,000 miles!!)

It’s his birthday today and he came all the way from the Springs just to see me, eat some grub, camp tonight and day hike a bit with me tomorrow! I was so stoked to see this guy! The trial had been very mentally lonely for me due to pace, and it was great to have a friend to just shoot the breeze with today. We ate and ate and ATE in Buena Vista at Eddyline Brewery.

After that we hit the City Market for a few more food items, and then headed back to Avalanche trailhead to some dispersed camping sites nearby. It’s right near the road but it’s a low use road and we are so full and tired, we should sleep no problem! Tomorrow he’s going to hike out a few miles with me.

Thanks for reading!