Day 6, 6.6 miles (out of Frisco)

Hello there! I’m just realizing that I walked the exact number of miles out of town today than I walked into town yesterday! Crazy. Man, it felt fantastic to see Claire and to sleep in a real bed for the night! Unfortunately it was a Friday night in a popular summer destination ski town so we paid way too much for way too little but it was still worth it!

Yesterday and today we Beer’ed and Dined! 

We went to REI and I picked up an addition to my sleep system that I’m excited to try out. It’s just a little foam pad that’s supposed to be used for sitting but if I place it just right under my foam pad, it should allow me to sleep on my side no problem! I’ll have to tell you in tomorrow’s blog post if it actually worked 😂.

We pulled up to Gold Hill Trailhead around 3pm (top picture) but it was still soooooo hot, Claire decided to wait with me in the car in the shade for a bit before I started trekking up the mountain. I find it’s always hard leaving a town in the afternoon, because it usually means climbing up a ridge or a mountain in the hot sun! 

Pictured above is “Gucci”, an awesome thruhiker that has hiked the CT and the Appalachian trail. My first Trail Magic of the trip! Trail Magic is when you unexpectedly receive something from a kind, generous person we refer to as a Trail Angel. Trail Magic can be food, drinks, a ride into town, some shade, sitting in a chair with a soda!! It’s the best and I’m always grateful for it. 

Claire took off about 4:15pm and there was enough cloud cover that I felt ready to start the trek! My pack feels way heavy (even though it’s still probably under 25 lbs with 6 days of food!). I knew I would camp around half way up the big climb,  so that I can go up and over the high point of the trail tomorrow.

This 10 mile climb will make any pack feel heavy!! 

View looking back at the Dillon Reservoir 

Met a section hiker and his dog Kanary (Kanari?) Star Wars fans tell me in the comments how to spell

It was so hot on the first part of the climb, and I was just telling Claire how I’ve only used my rain jacket and rain pants for mosquitos, and I wonder if I’d ever use them for rain on this trip…

…

It started coming down hard and I was getting soaked!!  A small grey cloud had turned into a big old nasty long rain cloud. The wind picked up pretty strong as well! Kanary’s owner didn’t have a rainy jacket and I was starting to get worried for him when it didn’t let up for 20 mins.

It’s raining cute dogs! He kept running way ahead of his owner to hike with me! ❤️ 

It was only 6:30 but my hands started getting real cold and I started wondering if I should stop and set up camp. I passed Miners Creek but all of the spots were exposed and directly under deadfall windowmakers in an old burn area. A widowmaker is a precarious (usually dead) tree or tree branch that could fall on a tent and yeah… make Claire a widow… I continued on! 

It stopped raining a few mins after that and the trail got really steep! I started to warm back up and even though there were gray clouds around, I felt like I could push it until I found a better campsite. I’m glad I did as the trail soon exited the burn area and returned to a healthy wooded forest.

Much better! 

I set up shop and ate dinner nearby, then went down to the creek and had a nice view of the mountains. I was worried about Kanari and owner, but I figured if they wanted to they could turn around and make it back to their car just fine. Moments later I saw them coming up the trail! I showed them a cool campsite just up from where I set up and went up to hang out with them and talk story until dark. 

Good boy gotta throw that wet butt around for scratches!! Haha

So I had a fantastic rest, my legs are feeling great, my feet are feeling good (even though one pesky blister in each foot still remains). My next resupply stop is Twin Lakes, about 67 miles ahead. I packed a ton of food since the terrain will be tougher/higher elevation, and I may veer off from the trail to do Mount Elbert, the highest peak in Colorado, second highest in the contiguous US behind Mt Whitney, CA, (which I did in 2018 on the PCT!)

Thanks for reading!