Welp, two sections down with four zero days to speak for it. It being the bad weather in colorado. Actually the first section was pretty nice but when we got to Lake City I ended up taking a zero day with the sprouts as we waited out a snow storm. Well, we waited out the storm. We were not quite able to wait out the snow on the ground itself as we entered the San Juans.
The first day actually wasn’t too bad. There was some post holing, up to about the knee but it wasn’t too bad. The next morning however, when I put on frozen shoes was absolutely torture. Even though we started the day with a climb that quickly rose the body temp it wasn’t enough to counter thaw the shoes and my toes until about a half hour later when the pins and needles finally stopped. At the top of that climb the sprouts and I decided that we really didn’t need another day of post holing and we decided to take a low route through the vally. It was a rather fun day 🙂
The weather was actually fine in the San Juans itself but the ground conditions were rather unpleasant through the entire 120 mile section. There was the afformentioned snow bit where there wasn’t snow the was heavily saturated ground (mud). But eventually we got through it, well, some of us. Sprinkles for the sprouts ended up taking too many ibuprofen one night and messed up her stomach lining to the point she could no longer keep anything down. Lemon ended up feeling unwell and bailed early off a 31 mile push to the end to avoid the rain.
Ah, yes, the rain. Currently we are experiencing the remains of a tropical storm that is causing historic flooding in Pagosa Springs — where I am now. This flooding even shut down the road to the pass briefly as the had to deal with mudslides. Thus three days of zeros with 7 other thru hikers at a trail angels house. The second night I ended up making my favorite swedish treat — kanelbullar — for a potluck us thru-hikers threw together. Unfortunately however this respite from the weather must come to an end and it is not because the weather is letting up. It should be okay, the trail stays away from the valleys trying to follow the contental divide as close as possible so that water accumulation can never get too bad. Otherwise about fifteen miles into the next section there will be an opportunity to take a low route where the Great Divide trail — the cycling CDT — goes through forest roads. So ultimately everything should be alright, even if I do end up gettig a little wet. Next stop Chama, NM, which you may notice is a new state 🙂 Unfortunately it is not a new state by trail. There is about 10 miles of Colorado past the highway where we get into Chama but I can promise you that by the end of the week I will be onto my last state 🙂
Until next time,
Zoe “Glitz” Walker
CDT Blog 