Day 17, 23 miles!

Mooooooo!!!

Moo moo moo, mo mooooo, mooohoomoo moo moo MOO moo moo humuhumu moo mōo mo MOO!

Basically, I saw a lot of cows… thanks for reading! 

Jk jk…

I left just before 6am from atop the coldest place in the world. My hands were freezing putting away my sopping wet rainfly. Besides mosquitos, it’s my least favorite part about backpacking. Putting away a went tent in the dark when it’s freezing out! Brrrr! At least it was pretty!

I wore my wool leggings and Senchi top until I started to warm up. Right when I stopped to delayer, I turned around the next corner and I was in super thick and wet fog!! I didn’t dare put back on my sleep layers, just in case it stayed like that all day! Learned that lesson on the PCT in Washington! 

 Cow in the mist..

Caught up to Grant! Aka Dirt

Passed a familiar sign, descended here with the Quad Squad on our Monarch Crest Epic. From this sign all the way to Durango I have never set foot or wheel! 

Entering Bark Beetle territory for the next, oh I don’t know, two hundred miles!! Campsites need to be chosen eeeeeextra selectively from here on out

I barely eeeeked in my second 10x10 of the trail at 9:56am!! 

Then I immediately stopped for almost an hour to pack-explode! There is no better feeling than repacking your gear as it should be and without the extra lbs of water weight!! As I was finishing up my break, guess who came down the trail?

Quinn!

I had passed him early in the morning, that’s the only way he will ever be behind me! Haha. He’s so fast! It was great catching up while we hiked about 30 mins together until we hit a steep climb and I let the kid fly! God Speed young man! 

Yes, there are still flowers, yes I’ve held off on posting them 🤣 

A fresh fall! Gotta keep my eyes peeled around here! 

Preggo 

Just before I hit cow-zone, I met a father/daughter duo hiking the Colorado Trail. They are from Oregon, and it was so fun talking about the Northwest with someone again! Stoke (dad), live in Pacific City, and we’ve surfed a bunch of the same spots! Bougie (daughter), lives a short drive out of Portland, where we used to live for 6+ years. They are awesome and we will be in touch soon in the future!

Bougie and Stoke

“Yooo my name’s Keith, wanna party?!”

You’d think of cow land as lowered elevation but we’ve been steady over 10k all day! Water sources are few and far between here in cow land… and some of them are quite questionable…

QUITE… 

Jk jk, I’d never stoop so low (literally) 🤣  It just means that we need to carry extra water for all the long water carries. In this section we have a 12 mile carry and a few 8-10’s I believe. I know SOMEWHERE we have an 18-20 mile carry, but we’ll cross those dry creek when we get to them! The extra 2.1lbs per each liter sort of sucks, but it’s just the way it goes out here! 

My LEAST favorite type of “trail”

There were rocks GALORE today on the trail! It has rained a lot recently which hasn’t helped by making big divots and gulches on trail, ankle-twist city!! Luckily, since I smashed some big miles in the morning, I was taking my sweet sweet time in these heavy water carry climbs anyway! Step with intent and don’t get hurt! 

At mile 23 on the dot I looked over and saw my perfect home for the night! I stopped before 6:30, I ate, did all my chores, tidied up, and am now finishing my blog before 8:30! No knee pain or issues, I took it slow and steady all day! This is my preferred style of hiking on a long distance trail, in bed by 9, wake up by 5, start hiking by 6! I hope to have a similar day tomorrow! Minus the freezing cold and wet camp pack-up!

Thanks for reading!