Start: Gold Pan Cabins
Stop: Elwood Pass 12.4
Today’s Miles: 27
Total CDT miles: 701.9
We knocked out some miles today! Sadly, they were still all dirt road walking, but we knew that would be the case if we took this route over the redline, and honestly.. not dealing with snow right now is A OK with me! I’m obviously still traumatized from Northern California on the PCT. Ha.
We were up and out of the cabin by 7, a bit late for us, but we were sleeping too good to get up. Our clothes mostly dried overnight from our handwashing and hanging to dry.. my socks were still somewhat damp, as I knew they would be.. which is always annoying. Wet socks suck.
The miles went by fast, and the views were actually pretty nice. The road wound through the mountainside with a river to our left the majority of the time. We hit some construction midday, where they’re building a new bridge.. we crossed on the old one without issue, the construction guys waving us through. Because of the construction, there weren’t many cars, so we didn’t get dusted like yesterday.
At one of the intersections of dirt roads, we saw a sign for a man that went missing recently. Apparently he was coming out to scope out the campsites for his Boy Scout troop and was never seen again. Sad stuff. After seeing the sign, I couldn’t help but look down the cliff sides for the rest of the day, like I’d magically be the one to spot him after everyone else has been looking way harder for way longer.
Eventually, Pebbles and I found a spot to camp, which looks like a legitimate campsite. There’s a pull off from the road, a fire ring, and a nice little side trail to the river beside us. While we were setting up our stuff (cowboy camping) a camper pulled in, saw us, and then pulled right back out again. I’m glad we snagged this place before anyone else did!
Tomorrow, we have to get to South Fork before the post office closes so Pebbles can get his shoes, and then I think instead of going up to the Creed Cutoff on the blue line, we’re going to roadwalk into Del Norte and sleep there. Apparently people have been bailing from the redline to the creed cutoff because of the snow-real slushy and deep postholing, but then having to bail from the creed cutoff too, for the same reason. Soooo.. we’ll skip all that and be safe and dry on the road.
Ok, that’s it! Goodnight yall!
These pics were so pretty. Sad to hear about the missing guy.
I know! Very sad stuff.