Hiking With Gadget Girl
It's All About The Adventure!
After yesterday afternoon's challenging uphill hike, I was not looking forward to the continuation of that nasty, rocky logging road.
We were happy though, to start at 6:37am! We started out slow due to elevation - we crossed the 10,000 ft and kept climbing. Linda was ahead of me and as I was plugging along, a noise startled me. Looking over, there was a big buck looking at me between the trees. He stared at me and didn't move. Well, I moved (as soon as I got a picture)!
We were directed off the logging road and started a steep climb that topped out at 10,483 feet. Then we descended 200 feet and rejoined the logging road. We wondered why we were rerouted up a steep climb when we could have stayed on a nice rocky road and come out at the same place. The trailbuilders must have had some valid reason.
The mushrooms continued to impress and we took a lot of photos.
Came across a black barb wire fence with a snag of brown fur attached to a barb. Looks like deer.
We soon exited the Lost Creek Wilderness and began following the North Fork Lost Creek on a gradual uphill that lasted for about six miles. The temperature was wonderful, much cooler than the previous three days. A nice stiff breeze was blowing into our faces, cooling off whatever sun rays was blasting heat onto us. There were many water sources and we didn't have to carry extra water.
After our lunch break, we left the beautiful meadows and headed continued to the saddle where a lovely log fence separated the uphill from the downhill. And boy, did we hit the motherload on mushrooms! Beautiful red, gorgeous mushrooms.
The further downhill we went, the warmer it became and the air had a weird, urine smell to it. Crossed into Segment 5 and reentered the Lost Creek Wilderness. So far we hadn't seen a soul all day, except for the man across the meadow in a campground sharing his music with the world. The forest was beautiful with a mixture of aspen, fir, and bristlecone pines.
After a few more gradual ups and downs, we arrived at the spot we had planned on camping for the night. We still had energy and considered hiking more, but we really wanted to sleep at the 10,000 ft level for acclimation. We decided to make camp and elevation was 10,366 ft. We have now finished 60 miles!
When we get internet service, I usually check the Colorado Trail 2019 Facebook page for updates from hikers ahead of us. Two new interesting articles popped up. One was from two gals in Segment 8 who had an episode with a bear. Most of us use a bear resistant bag called a Ursak, with a oder resistant bag inside. Their Ursaks were tied up and a bear came in and batted the bags around, doing what bears do when they want something. They banged pots and yelled at the bear, but this just ticked the bear off and he charged them. Then back to bags for a couple of hours until he finally gave up. The food inside was decimated and the gals had to leave the trail to go buy more food.
The second article was a sad one. Three women hikers were camped way south of us, were in their tents, and a tree came down on top of one tent and killed the gal inside. Although we already know to do this, but this gave us more incentive to look up at the trees around us when making camp to ensure we don't put our lives in jeopardy by parking our tents under dead trees. If you camp, please take the extra minute to make sure you don't camp near dead trees.
Note: If you are interested in seeing more pictures of this day, click here.