The San Juans part 2, La Garita Wilderness
Getting back to the trail street a long break in Denver was much harder than I expected. Instead of feeling strong and rested, my body hurt more than it had any time before on the trail. My packs was also legit heavy. I had an ice ax and more than a week of food to get me to Silverton. I weighed my pack before leaving Bear Bait’s house, and I was carrying 50 pounds.
After a rough first day, I found my strength again and was able to pick up my mileage again. Going through the San Juans was challenging because of so much climbing and descending, but also really fun with lots of amazing expansive views.
Getting up to the top of a crossing called Knife’s Edge, I had my second really scary moment of the trip. Though the extra days off had allowed for some of the snow to melt, it didn't melt it all, and it made some situations much sketchier. Here the trail hugged the high point of a mountain side, but it was still covered in snow. I couldn't see any path across it and I could see that people had dropped below the trail, so I tried the same.
However, the people who had crossed it earlier in the season had enough snow to be able to drop all the way to the valley below. For me that drop was now exposed rock, so I was forced to traverse and find my way back up. Once I started though, I realized all the rocks were unstable, making getting across and afterwards up to the trail all really challenging. I was legit rock climbing, but with a heavy pack, inappropriate shoes, and half the holds would shift as soon as I tried to grab them. It seemed just as dangerous to turn back as to keep going though, so eventually I made it across.
I finally made it across and had a few more days to get to Silverton. Here I learned what would become the next big struggle of my hike: mosquitos. They love my blood. If there are 1000 people and 1000 mosquitos, I tend to get bit a thousand times and no one else does. And the mountains in Colorado are full of them.
One evening, I hiked until the swarms around me became too much, then hurriedly threw up my tent. To my surprise, I must have picked a spot some local deer really liked, because a pair where hanging around my camp all night.
Talking to a Durango local the next day though, I found out that pee deer are really common in the area. They're called that because they love to come up and lick up the salt from where you pee, so you gotta be careful not to have it too close to your camp.
I only spent a night in Silverton, had dinner with a couple other hikers, then got back on the trail. The next day was June 21st, which is not only summer solstice, but also a hiker holiday: Hike Naked Day. I wanted to be back on trail to celebrate.
That day up in the San Juans was super windy though, like rest of my time there would be, so I only managed to celebrate for a few hours. That night was incredibly rough camping on the totally exposed mountain crossings, so I hardly slept, and the next day was the toughest hiking I've done due to exhaustion.
That next night, I might a girl named Emma who was section hiking the CDT. She walked past my camp on trail and joined for the next night. The next day we hiked together and took a 5 hour detour into the town of Creede to find a good burger. It was super fun! I'm far behind the big group if CDT hikers I had met before, so it's fun to make friends instead of being on my own.
The wildlife most common up on the high mountains of southern Colorado were the charming marmots, a large bushy tailed rodent. They were fun companions on the trail.
As soon as I dropped down off the San Luis pass, the trail changed dramatically. The elevation dropped, all the uphills and downhills became much more gradual, and the famous Colorado thunderstorms started making appearances. But having survived the most infamous section of the trail, I felt ready for anything.
I took a stop off the trail in Gunnison. It's not a very popular destination for CDT hikers because it's a long hitch off the trail, but I got lucky with my rides both in and out of town. My friend Amanda Sage was having an art opening in town, so I wanted to stop in to see her. Gunnison is a charming college town, I really enjoyed it up there.
After that I continued on to Salida. It was only two more nights, an early stop, but I wanted to see another friend in town.
After here, my next stop will be Leadville. It's already July and I don't want to dilly dally too long in Colorado, so I'll be trying to pick up speed!
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