Miles Hiked 403.2
Elevation 9,993 feet
Miles Hiked Today 9.0
When I woke up this morning, it was cold! Getting quickly on the trail to warm up was the way to go, so breakfast was not eaten. Instead, I quickly packed up my backpack and began hiking by 7:15 AM. I had on a t-shirt, long sleeve wool shirt, my regular shirt, a down jacket, my rain jacket, a buff (neck warmer) and my stocking cap. If I had long underwear, I would have worn those too.
The morning stayed at the higher elevations as I hiked on. As a matter of fact, I thought I was doing very good, so I stopped for a snack and casually checked my position. Crap! I missed a turn and was a mile off the trail. Naturally, I had been going downhill, so now I had to retrace my steps uphill. About an hour and one-half and two miles was lost because of the error. To say I was angry with myself would be an understatement.
A little after I got back on the trail, it started going down. As I descended, the warm clothing layers came off. In the end, all I had on was a t-shirt.
Then I reached something I had read about – an avalanche debris field. Hundreds of trees were knocked over and covering the trail. This reminded me of Mahoosuc Notch on the Appalachian Trail. A natural obstacle course. The only difference is the Colorado Trail is very stingy with trail markers, so I had to guess where to go as I navigated through the avalanche debris field.
Things went fairly well. I was walking on logs (me with the lousy balance) and climbing over others. The avalanche debris field was coming to an end when my luck ran out. I was walking a lengthy fallen tree trunk when I slipped and went down hard on my knee and ankle. Surprisingly nothing seemed to be broken. Luck was definitely with me.
Because of trail detour earlier in the day and the amount of time it took to cross the avalanche debris field, I decided to make it a short day. Tonight the campsite is just a little ways from a very scenic pond. At 7 PM it’s still warm, so the lower elevation and forest I’m in now will hopefully stay warmer than the nights I spent at the higher elevations.
By the way – went over 400 miles today!
