Posted by 19.9 miles
Prior to departing I completing some surgery on my new shoes. The tongue is just too thick and putting constant pressure on the main ligament running to the toes at the ankle joint. It was out with the pocket knife to slice open the tongue and remove as much of the internal paddding as possible. This made a world of difference. It feels painful to do this to a brand new pair of shoes I have for lest week but this version 3 of the shoe is way different to version 2 and needed to be fixed. I don’t undery why manufacturers feel to need for constant updates. Version 2 of this shoe had served me well for many years and was perfectly fine.
I arranged a shuttle out of town at 9am through Tumble On outfitters and back up to the Cumbre Pass around 9:20, so a later start to the day, loosing roughly 3 hours of the a typical hiking day. Still I was keen to do 20 miles. It should only take maybe 3.5 days into Pagosa Springs. Like all town stops I prefer to do a shorter day on the way into town to maximise the time there.
Colorado certainly lived up to the hype. The first glimpse of the hills ahead were enticing.
Initial climb up. Expertly graded. My legs did not feel like they were climbing up but the altitude certainly made itself known with heavy breathing over an eight mile climb to 12,000 feet.
Lunch was a brief affair under the shelter of pines with rain drops starting to fall. After an initial scurry to rearrange gear they cleared just as quickly as the arrived such is the fickle nature of the weather. I continued climbing up and shortly after encountered Coffee Stop. We had a brief chat on the side of the trail. He is much slower and I’ll likely never cross paths with him again.
The summit of the climb delivered me to a rock rock bivvy. Unfortunately it was facing the wrong direction and did nothing to quell the chilly winds coming over the mountains. Storms were setting off in the distance with the crack of thunder and the winds were ripping. I was forced to put a jacket on to stave off the wind chill. Typically I’m hiking in a single layer – it just wasn’t enough.
What goes up must come down and the trail continued onto a long descent to the Dipping Lakes. There was no way I would be dipping today. I was going to stop for a rest here but the mosquitoes were in plaque proportions in the marshy country and I kept moving to gain some elevation away from the water.
From the valley floor it was another climb straight up back up 12 ,000 feet. Downed trees littered the trail and it was difficult negotiating so many. The extra effort in lifting yourself over logs or crawling under them at altitude was taking its toll.
Up until now the trail had been relatively snow free with only a few short drifts across the trail. They will have melted in a few days. However from the Dippings Lakes snow parches would become much longer. Several steep sidecuts sections around hills had snow clinging the bank, spilling over what would be trail underneath, forcing me downslope into the scrub to skirt around.
Back at 12,000 feet snows partially covered most of the the trail. So late in the afternoon it was melting superfast. This meant wet feet either by walking through the slushy snow or the marshy areas around all edges of the melt. Entire sections of trail were submerged resembling small creeks.
With only a few miles left to go the longest stretches of snow were encountered. There was no avoiding it. To do so would mean long arches around on dry ground adding too much distance for the day if attempting to do this for each drift.
I crested a small rise and had a surprise encounter with a porcupine. We freaked each other out. It was large and took me a while to realise what it was. Too big to be a marmot. It became obvious when it turned its back to me quills raised in defence. It quickly moved off and hid in some bushes.
I pressed on to Trail Lake and called it a day. It took a while to find a suitable camp in the open and rocky country. I found a small space behind some low pines sufficient to shelter from the wind. The still partially frozen Trail Lake in view. It was bound to be a cold night and one where I would stash my water filter in the bottom of my sleeping bag to prevent it from freezing. Once they freeze they are cactus.
Mick Beckers 