Rocky Mountain High
The CDT from Silverthorne to Grand Lake does a lot of Up and Down. A lot. And it spends a lot of time above timberline. A lot. Of all the trail so far in Colorado, this section probably offers more Rocky Mountain High per mile than any other.
Our rainy days continue, and in the mountains that also means thunder and lighting. High ridges and extreme weather don’t mix well. We had several morning, yes mornings, where we stayed in the tent until the skies cleared enough to climb the next ridge. We sat out several mid day storms, and we camped short of our destination on a couple of nights due to the exposed trail ahead. All this means that we are in Grand Lake, 2 days behind schedule. Just like in the army, we did more by 9am than most do all day, so we arrived early enough in the day for breakfast. We also have enough time today to do chores, so we will sacrifice our “day off” and head out tomorrow. For thoseat home playing along with the counting days game, that means we will be one day behind schedule………..
Back on the trail, we did take advantage of one rain delay to take an unscheduled pit stop into the town of Grand Lake for food and spirits. And we were fortunate enough to have clear skies for the trail north of Berthoud Pass, where we hiked over three 13,000 ft peaks (and contoured around the tops of 2 more) all in just about 6 hours. Stunning, though exposed, views. The Carrot even manageed to conquor her fears of guidebook excess and climbed through the notch that was, rather sublimely, described as “near rock climbing” and “not quite needing ropes”……call her the “Climbing Carrot”.
This was also a great stretch for being in the back country. Almost all of the 75 miles was in Wilderness and there were ungulates galore, mostly Elk and Mountain Goats, with a few deer tossed in for good measure. Things that make you go hmmmmmm…why don’t mountain goats get struck by lightning? Afterall they hang around those high peaks and have lighting rod like horns???? Hmmmm…..
On now to the “Never Summer Range” of mountains; next stop Steamboat Springs. 326 miles done, 4 weeks tomorrow…..
August 14th, 2010 at 6:40 am
Checked with Monte on the lightning/goat connection. He says that they don’t have rubber hooves, so they just get the heck off the ridge when the storm comes. And, they never think “Oh, the storm’s not quite here yet.” 🙂
Nice stuff. As usual, I am somewhat envious. But not about the rain.
August 15th, 2010 at 5:12 pm
we just had two glorious sunny days…after two days when it rained 3 times each day and we had double rainbows both morning and afternoon…hope you have had more rainbows than rain….