CDT Day 73: July 17, 2025
Start: 1482.5
Stop: 1504.7
Today’s Miles: 22.2
Total CDT miles: 1176.5
Today was so beautiful! Rolling hills, gorgeous mountain tops, lots of great views. I was pretty content all day.
Last night was filled with rain, off and on and never for very long. I waited for the rain to come to get out of my tent to pee, thanks to the mosquitos.. they were awful. I probably fell asleep sometime around 9pm, and didn’t start packing until 6:40. I slept great, thanks to the white noise of the pattering of rain now and then.
I was hiking by 7:07am, and it was easy going all morning. The temperature was cool, the skies were blue, the trail was wide and easy to follow. It was woods to meadow, woods to meadow most of the morning before some easy climbing above tree line that was stunning lake after stunning lake. I was truly in awe of Mother Nature, all day long.
At noon I stopped to eat lunch and dry out my tent. Redline passed me during that break, and then no one else until Wolf caught me mid afternoon. We talked and walked for about 45 minutes, over snow and up mountains, until the last climb where she took off and I couldn’t keep up. On the way down from that climb, FireFly caught me. We chatted off and on over the next few miles of the descent. I love how easy it is to talk with everyone in this trail family. I get so excited when I see one of them gaining on me. I feel like a cousin to their trail fam, but they all just keep welcoming me in.
I was supposed to go a bit farther today, but decided to stop with everyone else. Pika appeared not long after FireFly and I did, and I decided eating dinner with friends and hanging out a bit before bed was better than hiking ahead 3 more miles to potentially not have a spot to camp. Wolf had caught up to 2 of the hikers that passed my tent yesterday evening.. so at 6pm, I’m sure they’re not all that far ahead, meaning spots ahead could be limited.
We set up our stuff, I’m cowboy camping, and we all made dinner and talked. What a refreshing way to end a day! They’re going to do a 24 hour challenge in Wyoming, and listening to them plan and talk has me maybe considering it, too.
It’ll depend on how well I’m able to resupply in the next town. It would be a 24 hour hike into the town of Rawlins.. so, if all goes well, I’d get to zero there. Hmmm. Much to consider.
Anyway, I’m wrapped up, hiding from the mosquitos. We’ll see how well I sleep tonight. I probably should have just set my tent up, but it’s too much effort. Ugh. I may regret not doing it. The bugs are definitely out. Ok, that’s it. Sweet dreams yall.