Days 66 Flatter Ground

22.7 miles

Lara, the Trail Angel who I secured a ride with met me at my hotel right on time. Her communication with me through yesterday and this morning was superb, asking if I needed anything for trail, which I didn’t, and providing a description of her car for when it pulled up. She was on her way to the Denver airport to pick up her son and the trail head was right along the way. 

I was greeted with a cooler bag of treats and snacks to pick and choose anything I cared for. Wow. Completely unexpected. I couldn’t decline a beer to have with lunch and grabbed some other small snacks including an icy pole just because it was there. 

Lara had me at the Rabbit Pass trail head around 9am and I was on my way. 

It was great to be on some flatter ground for a change although still at elevation. I recall the morning being quite a meditative walk through the trees with plenty of water about. The mosquitoes were out in force and a huge pain as every time I stopped for a break I would be bombarded on any exposed skin, mainly my legs, and I had to quickly slip on rain pants. 

This was a shared trail with mountain bike riders and at one point a group of four came up behind me. I jumped off trail to let them pass but kept catching up them again due to the number of tree blow downs that had to be negotiated, easier for hikers than it turns out for riders who have to manoeuvre bikes around the same obstacles. 

Carry out pizza and beer for lunch was awesome. So tasty and a welcome change of my usual lunch fare of tortillas with either Nutella, peanut butter or salami & cheese. 

The afternoon was a bit of a blur. I recall some long climbs at lower grades and still many snow drifts. 

By 6pm I’d made enough for the day and found a nice sheltered site with amazing views. I would have been great to sit watch the sunset while cooking and eating dinner but the mosquitoes were so bad I was confined to my tent.