Start: Mirror Lake Alternate 5.6
Stop: Colorado Trail 125.7
Today’s Miles: 25.6
Total CDT miles: 869.4
I am so utterly worn out.
I slept great, once I warmed up. I was in my leggings, down booties, beanie, and puffy.. and it still took about 30 minutes to get warm. I never got hot and never took off any of my layers. I’m shocked!
We decided last night before bed that we would get to the road to Cottonwood Pass and take it up and over the pass, down to the Colorado Trail. We realized a little too late that this is the part of the loop to Twin Lakes that Nope was taking from the Butterfly House. If we had known about the snow then, we’d have done the same from there, instead of needing to go up and over a busy road pass again, and then also adding miles to our trek. Oh well. Live and learn.
Pebbles left about 10 minutes before me this morning, and I got to walking just after 6:30, bleary eyed and cold. They say it takes 3 weeks to form a habit and all that-I’m on round 3 of thru hiking and on day 49 of this round.. why am I still not a morning person?
The trail was mostly up for the first part of the morning, starting off in wooded forest and opening up to gorgeous views above the tree line. Right when I was spotting my last bit of trees for the foreseeable future and planning where to go dig a hole, Pebbles appeared from behind me! I screamed and almost had a really big problem on my hands!
He had somehow taken a wrong turn and went down the wrong path for at least a mile before he realized it. This whole time I was trying to push myself to climb faster because I knew he’d be so far ahead of me, and he was accidentally behind me! He carried on up the mountain and I snuck off into the woods to dig a hole-ultimately still being forever far behind him.
The views at the top of the climb were gorgeous, and there was a long line of snow right at the top-I just hiked around it since the mountain was otherwise a grassy bald. On the way down, somewhere before the junction to the road for Cottonwood Pass, a girl came walking my way. I asked her about Lake Ann Pass. She said it was sketchy, but doable. After chatting a bit, I had a feeling Pebbles may want to change his mind and take the redline instead of the (snow free) Colorado Trail after talking to her.
I was a little anxious, but resigned myself to be ok with going either way. It would be sketchy in the snow with a cornice and vertical descent, but if everyone can apparently make it, surely I can too. When I finally caught up to Pebbles, who was just packing up from his lunch, he informed me of exactly what I had expected. He decided to chance the redline.
I sat down and started eating my lunch, and asked if he’d wait for me before crossing it, since I’m slower and I didn’t want to cross it, and potentially slide to my death alone. He said he would. He didn’t leave right away, and chatted with me awhile instead. By the time I was packing up from lunch (only 25 minutes later, if even), we were back to taking the Cottonwood Pass road walk to the Colorado Trail.
I was instantly relieved. And then the next obstacle: he wanted to hitch to the Colorado Trailhead junction, 15 miles from here up and over Cottonwood Pass. I didn’t want to ruin my continuous footpath over something I could control. We stood at the road for a few minutes, and when no cars immediately came by, I told him I’d rather walk the 15 miles, but he could hitch and go without me.
We both ended up walking the whole way. Instead of going in a few miles on the Colorado trail, we’re camping at the junction. We did a little Bushwhack off the road uphill right before Cottonwood Pass, and it wore me out. Then, coming downhill for roughly 10 miles, baking in the sun and walking on the asphalt-my body feels cooked. When we got close to the junction, I yelled up to him, “I’m not going up a pass tonight!”
From the junction, the trail goes up 2500 feet to a mountain pass. I don’t care that it didn’t have snow on it-I wasn’t going to go up it at all tonight. My legs are baked and I have heat rash brewing on my back, hips, and butt. I’m tired. I told him as much when we got water from the creek that crosses right at the junction. I know I sounded snappier than I intended.
I assumed he’d keep going, but instead he stayed at the junction with me. He seems a little irritated, but I could be projecting. I hate feeling like I’m holding him back, but I also can’t keep pretending I’m 22 and can just keep walking when I feel awful, just because he can. Yesterday was over 8 miles more than we planned, and we already made it to 25 miles today. We don’t have to keep pushing so hard when we’re technically doing just fine on time.
Anyway. That’s today. I’m tired and burnt and exhausted. And I don’t know if I’ll be able to stick to his mileage or if he’ll want to keep waiting on me. Which is totally fair both ways. I really don’t want to hold him back and have him resent me because I can’t keep up. Ugh. Alright. That’s it. Goodnight y’all.