This morning was super misty and cold. I lazed around a little and we didn’t end up leaving until just after 7am. Luckily it wasn’t raining too hard. There was just on and off light rain but almost always socked in with clouds. As most of my mornings go, we climbed.
7 miles in, we crested this pass…
I’m sure the view is usually nice 🤣
I was able to get a call out to Claire to discuss logistics for finishing the trail on Sunday! The end is near! The conversation was short as I had to run back down to warm back up!
Looking back up the pass
Cheeseburgler and I passed Digs, Big Pig, and Landslide, who had broke camp first but were hunkered down waiting out some rain in the forest. Not 10 minutes later, I came across a beautiful open meadow of flowers and some blue skies!! I was quick to do a pack explosion!
Cheese and I drying out our sleeping bags
Digs and Big Pig cruisin’
Digs and I SO happy for some sunshine!!
Eeeeuuuugh….
Dry socks for the first time in over 24 hours 😊
A beautiful afternoon!
There is a 14 mile water carry, which definitely changed our plans. It means that we have to do at least 22 today if we don’t want to dry camp. Usually, I like dry camping but only if it’s a few miles between sources. With a 14 mile carry, it’s definitely best to just get to the second source around camp time. I was sooooo happy that the afternoon held sunny skies!
Still not out of the weeds though
Goodbye San Juans! 😭
I needed this for the last hill!!
Wu-Tang Mush
Big one down
At about 5:30, I got to the water source, JUST as rain started! There was thunder directly overhead for about 5 mins before so I was RACING to get to the water source. Spinewalker and Weights were already there taking shelter from the storm. Cheeseburgler was about one minute behind me, which I was thankful for because I hadn’t seen him for the last two hours! We set up his tent as a fast pitch, meaning only the footprint, poles, and the rain fly. Perfect for waiting out a thunderstorm!
Three stinky dudes in their mid 30’s! 🤣
The Three Musketeers were right behind Cheese, and they decided to fully set up their tents and stay there for the night. Cheese and I waited out the storm while filtering water and eating dinner. We were hoping to go .5 miles more steep up a climb to a scenic lookout where we heard there were fantastic views! Around 7pm, the storm finally stopped and we packed up the fast pitch and hiked on! I’m so glad we did!
We got to the junction and all the campsites were taken, but we decided to go out .2 miles onto the ridge to see what we could find! There were two tents already up in the best spots but I found a nice wind protected space about 50 ft from the viewpoint and Cheese shimmied his way into one of the most epic camp spots he’s ever had! A new storm rolled in and I was happy to have my tent set up and jumped in just after 8.
Cheese’s tent with his door facing the epic view for sunrise!!
What an epic day! I don’t think we were planning on going this far but hey, it’s worth the extra push for the epic site! Only two more nights on trail, may as well! We are hoping for a beautiful sunrise tomorrow, I’m sure there’ll be plenty of pics!
Thanks for reading!!
P.S. It’s 9:40pm, and I am in the loudest thunder I’ve ever heard!! Only two lightning strikes have been followed by thunder within the second, which were both ground shaking. The rest seem 3-4 seconds/miles away. I have live trees around me and I’m very protected from wind. I’m not afraid of lightning strike, but it IS really intense and fascinating since the lightning strikes are 360° brightness out here on the scenic point!!
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