WalkingCarrot

The skies cleared over night but left a heavy dew. The inside of the tent was covered with a layer of ice and there was frost on the food bags left outside. Our drinking tubes froze shut and socks which were wet become stiff. It was cold, such is July in Colorado camped at 12,000 feet.

The morning walk was a cold bath, walking through willows wet from the heavy dew. The water ladens branches and leaves were just waiting for a passing hiker to wash. Turn your head, don’t forget to get behind the ears. Completely wet from waist down.

We climb gradually to Nebo Pass, the most dramatic pass on the hike so far, a reward worth the effort. Tall, steep peaks soared above a vally so deep it’s depths were hiden from view. In the foreground a small lake sat in a high basin just below the pass reflecting clouds and mirroring the nearby ridges.

it was an awe inspiring place and the morning’s clear skies were starting to cloud up so we took an early lunch. Spreading everything out we managed to dry gear and clothes as clouded shade alternated with bright sun.

After lunch we quickly dropped 1,000 feet before the trail turned to go back up another vally. We climbed back up 1,000 feet to Hunchback pass. I am convinced that Hunchback Pass got it’s name because climbing the step trail makes one lean so far forward to keep from falling that by the time you rech the top your back becomes hunched over and it’s hard to stand upright. The trail in this section is old, so old that it was built before the invention of the switchback.

The drop and climb between Nebo and Hunchback passes, like other parts of the CDT, could have benefitted from another invention, the water bar. Serious erosion is the result of runaway trails and when this condition, erosion, meets “steep” the result is a trail choked with rocks and too difficult to walk so another path parallel to the first one is pioneered creating unecessary scars on the landscape.

The afternoons thunderstorms geared up with heavy rain, thunder and lightning. We got only a few droplets, but were concerned about the upcoming walk across a broad plateau high above timberine, very exposed and with no good options for nearby shelter which defined the divide for several miles.

So we chose the old Colorado trail route, down the Bear creek jeep road. It didn’t have broad panoramas but did offer some nice views.

We made camp a short ways up Pole Creek.

17 miles