Day 27: Mile 366.6 to mile 380.8
8.17.21 -
14.2 miles +3,100 -2,600 ft
Segments: 22-23
I woke up at my usual 5 am along with a few other campers in the area. It was pretty cold and I had lots of condensation in my tent, so took care to not have it rain on me while getting ready. I got hiking right at 6, and pretty quickly ran into some of the others hikers that had left a little before me. They are Ilana, Janet, Mountain Mamma, Bullwinkle & Chaney. We were all pretty excited because we were going to reach the high point of the trail this morning!
We leapfrogged back and forth as we ascended beautiful alpine tundra and ridges with amazing views of the San Juan Mountains (but a little smoke/ haze too, sadly). Everyone was so nice and we were able to stop for lots of photo opportunities for everyone. It was a super gorgeous morning. The animals were out too! Tons of pika, marmots, and I saw a flock of ptarmigans. Eventually, after nearly 7 miles of climbing, we reached the trail high point! I took this opportunity to lay out on the ridge, drying out my things and taking a long snack break to wait for Squid, Stretch, and Berry, who showed up around 45 min after I arrived.
We chatted for a bit and snacked together, and I left since my water was getting low and I wanted to make it to the next source. After the high point, the trail descended down to a ton of jeep roads and we began segment 23 at Carson Saddle. There were quite a few OHVs on the road. I like the accessibility, especially for older or disabled folks, but there were some really ugly marrs on the beautiful distant mountain due to the roads. We also walked by old mining cabins and areas, so I guess it was pretty much always a “use” area since white men colonized the land. Ugh. So, I spent the rest of the afternoon grappling with the complexities of racism and colonization in the outdoors.
Once we got back onto trail, I took a little lunch break by a stream, and my tramily came up and decided to find a more shaded area. I was nearly done eating, so met up with them shortly, after going to the bathroom. We started the second climb of the day, which lead us up to a little pass through a really beautiful valley/ meadow. I passed Stretch & Mountain Mamma, but only a little while after, I needed to stop for a breather. While I was catching my breath, I looked into the meadow and saw some movement below. I was pretty sure it was a moose. And yep, saw the head move more and it was definitely a moose! And then I realized there were actually 4 moose down in the little ponds in the meadow! When Stretch and Mountain Mamma got there, I showed them the animals and we just stared and were in awe. It is so fun to watch them! I only wish we were closer so we could see them better. We were probably 500ish ft up from the bottom. After watching them for some time, it was time to get going and finish the climb. It wasn’t too bad, but it always feels harder, especially around 13,000 feet.
Finally we reached the top and reunited with Berry and Squid. After a little more hiking we took a break off trail at a wonderful scenic overlook where we could see the lake we were going to camp near tonight and we saw another 4 moose down in the ponds and bushes! They are so cool to watch. I’ve now seen 8 moose today and 11 total on this trip! And I only ever wanted to see 1! We hiked together down to the pond by the trail, not going all the way down to the larger lake further off trail. There are lots of people camping here tonight since it’s probably one of the best/ more protected spots on this stretch of exposed trail.
Since we got to camp so early, we hung out, watched a storm pass over that surprisingly did not hit us (though hikers that came in later informed us that they were hailed on), made dinner all together, and currently we’re in our tents, listening to another storm moving through, that’s actually very windy and rainy and hitting us right on. Looks like no sunset tonight since there’s another storm now, and it’s around sunset time. It’s been so nice to hike with and hang out with people at camp for longer than a little “hi, how’s it going?” Type of interaction. I’m so happy I was able to catch these guys, and I’m thinking we might even be hiking together until Silverton for sure, and possibly even the rest of the trail!