It Can Happen

This is the fifth and final post of my section hike on the Colorado Trail. The morning of July 24th consisted of a waking up to a tent fly that was soaked with condensation. It didn’t dry out by the time I was ready to leave camp. So I had to pack it up wet. I was above 11,000 feet most of the morning. The hike was in and out of wetlands. So the mosquitoes were quite thick and annoying. I also a bit low energy.

I got my mojo back after an early lunch at the Timberlake Trailhead. Unfortunately, a couple of miles into the after lunch part of the hike, the rain started. It was not the typical Colorado afternoon thunderstorm either. It was an all afternoon drizzle. It was one of those afternoons where everything is wet so you just might as well keep walking. I hiked with a thru-hiker named Squirrel for several miles. He seemed to be a career hiker. He has hiked the Appalachian Trail & the Pacific Crest Trail. He has plans to hike the Continental Divide Trail next year. The Colorado Trail is one of his short thru-hikes. I got along with well in the short time I hike with him. It also didn’t hurt that he was from Athens, Georgia. He left me in the dust on one of longer up hills of the afternoon. I had planned to camp near the Mt. Massive side trail, but with it raining, I decided to just keep on hiking rather than sit around a wet camp. I ended up camping on side of Mt. Elbert not too far from the trail (north access) that goes up it. I ended up doing 21.5 miles that day. I found a tree that was dry underneath. I camped next to it. It worked out well. The rain stopped sometime that evening.

View near Porcupine Lakes

A quick selfie.  Setting up a tripod takes to long with the mosquitoes out

The Trail

The trail

Another view

Mt. Massive

The next morning my tent fly was actually dryer than it was the previous morning. With this being my last day on the trail, I got to where dry clothes to start the day since I didn’t have to worry about saving them to sleep in. Wouldn’t you know it; I had to walk through an overgrown portion of the trail first thing. I got wet from walking through it. The day was beautiful though, so I dried out quick. The day went quick as the hiking was easy. It was mostly level or downhill. I finished up at Twin Lakes Dam. It was about a 10 mile day. For the week, I hiked a total of 84.5 miles. I have now hiked 90.4 miles of the 484.6 mile Colorado Trail. I still have a ways to go…

Coming down to Twin Lakes

Mt. Elbert

Me getting close to the finish

Twin Lakes