Posted by 22.3 miles
A fairly gentle morning led into a gruelling climb and a full body work out by late morning and into the evening.
From camp the trail delivered a mix of easy, flattish and downhill terrain with the soft cushioning of pine needles underfoot before connect to a rocky moto track through yet more burnt country.
The burn areas are horrible. There are views to be had through what looks like clearfelled country, with hundreds of thousands of dead trees on the ground. The lack of shade makes it hard to find suitable places for short rests.
As a land manager it was awesome to see some dual use tracks to provide opportunities for everyone on public land over here. There was a 5 mile stretch of shared use trail with the CDT following a moto track. This would never happen at home with trail bikes confined to the boring road network. A bunch of riders came through and the understanding of established give way rights makes mixed used trails work. I could hear them approach and stepped off to the side. The group leader called on mic to the rest of the crew “Hiker on trail” as he saw me and let me know how many riders were coming through. Each rider greeted me as they came past letting me know how many more were behind. Complete courtesy and zero conflict.
Off the moto track I descended down to Hwy 125 and the Willow Creek Trail Head stopping for a drinks break before the start of a brutal 5 mile climb up to the last 12,000 footer of Colorado, Parkview Lookout. This was an incredibly steep climb requiring frequent short stoppages to catch my breath. To add to the pain there were dozens if large blow downs requiring climbing over, skirting around or crawling underneath. Crawling is the worst with a pack on. It tiring enough hiking with a heavy pack let alone getting down on all fours to negotiate obstacles.
I eventually arrived at the top to what must have been an old fire look with commanding 360 degree views. It took me close to 3 hours for this stretch, way more than I anticipated.
Of course the day wasn’t over and with winds increasing it was time to descend off the north side and finish the day out with anther 7 or so miles.
I was in need of water with only 250ml left. The next source, a small trickle in a gully was 2 miles ahead. While stopping to filter I met Ah Hoy who had the same need. We discussed how much further we would go for the night. It was 6pm and had the same campsite in mind, 4 miles yonder. However the trail kicked my arse from the water source with dozens more blow downs and steep but short climbs. On reaching the Troublesome Pass trail head I was done for the day and just didn’t have the energy to climb another 1.5 miles to the campsite.
So here I sit on a slightly sloped site but I’ll make it work.
God Bless America. Setting up my tent, I found a full rifle magazine of 7mm ammunition that a hunter had obviously misplaced. I left it there. A licensed shooter in Oz would loose everything if they had a negligence like this. I pulled a case out to check the caliber so now my prints are all over it – trusting nothing untoward now happens with these.
There aren’t many photos today simply because the subject matter was no there and because it was such a tiring day.
Just on dark and just about to settled for the night I heard a voice approach my camp saying “I have beers.” I replied with “You’re speaking my language”. Here I met Lorax, a former CDT hiker and now self described trail maintenance crew of one. Since hiking the trail around 8 years ago Lorax now spends a lot of this summer trailing along the CDT ‘clearing’ sections of blow downs for hikers. He was caching a chainsaw and other tools at the trail head for some work tomorrow.
Lorax slung me a beer and we sat on the ground for a yarn. I say yarn but it was more of me listening to his often at time incoherent ramblings. An interesting guy for sure with some very interesting views and interpretations on life. One of those guys that would ask a question but not really listening to answers before heading off on some other tangent thought bubble. Beers finished we wandered back to his vehicle parked down the road off the trail head.
I saw some of Lorax’s ‘clearing’ yesterday and am appreciative of his work but like many hikers equally as frustrated. He will cross cut trees at height that are across the track to put them on the ground but doesn’t take the time to put a second cut in to take a wheel out and completely clear the path. His theory is if hikers can step over that is good enough. Oh well, any clearing work is good work.
Mick Beckers 