Half-Way to Durango

Miles Hiked 247.7
Elevation 9,150 feet
Miles Hiked Today 15.1

I woke up late, so I didn’t get going until 8 AM. The morning hike had a few ups but nothing big. In fact, the morning was a pretty easy hike with a different terrain than what I’ve seen so far. Three cows appeared on the trail and I have no clue from where they came. I shot a short video of them, but they’re hard to see.

I also came upon the below structure. It was interesting in that someone seemed to go to a lot of trouble to build it. It even had an entry on the opposite side. All that was lacking was a cover to complete the teepee.

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This might be a good time to talk about weather. I have conclusively determined that Mother Nature likes to mess with me. In Florida, when the sky goes dark and thunder starts, you know you are about to get soaked to the skin. Not so here in Colorado. I must have put on and taken off my rain jacket a half dozen times today. The most rain I ever got was a little drizzle. In fact nearly everytime I put the jacket on, the sun came out and the rain stopped. Infuriating!

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I arrived at the Angel of Shavano trailhead just after 5 PM. I lost the trail when crossing a road and wandered into a large campground. After talking a few minutes with a couple of RV campers, they pointed the way to a path, which would take me to the trail a short distance away.

It was time to setup my tent but finding a suitable site was not that easy. A couple of young woman who I saw earlier on the trail had grabbed the best spot. After looking high and low (literally) for 15 minutes, I settled on a slightly slanted area and put up my tent. Once the tent was up, I fixed dinner and just as I was about to eat, it started to rain – again. Into the tent I went with my food, which is something I don’t like to do. The food odor lingers in the tent and may attract bears.

Just as I finished dinner the rain stopped, but it did rain later that night. That along with my sleeping pad trying to slide into the tent wall made for a restless night.

By the way! Today my hike crossed the halfway point. The Colorado Trail is 485 miles, and I’ve done 247.7 miles so far.