7-25-06
Start: campsite on Clear Creek, CO
Destination: 2 mi. N of Lake Ann, CO
Elevation: 11,250 ft.
Miles: 13.8
Weather: Storms: Rain, Hail, Thunder
We had a dry night last night, but tonight is wet again. Locals have told us that the storms this year are really sporadic. They usually hit between 2 - 5 pm, then peter out and the sun will shine. But it's been unpredictable. And like tonight, it stormed from noon - 3:30 pretty nastily - rain, lightning, garbanzo bean-size hail... Then the sun came out for about 30 minutes. Hickory got a fire going, and it started to pour rain and thunder again! Yeesh!
We took a scenic detour today. We came to a fork in the road - and took it. We climbed a couple miles and said, "Oh, Fork! Our waypoint is down in that valley!" So we trucked back down and went the right way. It was a pretty hike, and we had some great views, so it's okay. After that is when the storm hit, so thankfully we weren't up on the divide where we would have been if we didn't take the "scenic route." But we did walk the rest of the afternoon through 2" of hail on the ground! The mountains in the distance were actually dusted with white from it piling up.
We are about 3 days out of Crested Butte, and we are actually getting low on food. We're on our 3rd day in the wilderness, and our appetites are growing. I see where the "can't get enough calories" thing comes in, now. We've been pretty good up to this point - now we're finding ourslves conserving food as best we can. We threw some saltines in our meal tonight for extra substance, and I thought they tasted moldy. Mom disagrees. But remember, Gumdrop can eat anything! Oh well, it wasn't too bad, so I choked it down anyway. We will be hitting a trailhead tomorrow, so maybe we can yogi a few things from fellow trail users. I don't like the idea of begging for food and looking like an unprepared dork, but this stretch is taking us longer than we'd hoped. We need to not be taking those "scenic detours!" :)
As we were setting up camp, another distance hiker came by. His name is Fred and he is hiking the Continental Divide Trail. We told him we were hiking coast to coast, and he asked if we were hiking the ADT. We said we were, and he mentioned that the Powers hiked it - Ken & Marcia - you're famous on these trails! Fred then went on his way up the hill toward the divide. Another round of storm was on its way, so he was going to camp up by the treeline.
We are going to shut our tent door, try to get the damp cold out of us and get some sleep.
Sorry - Comments are disabled.