We spent last night in Silverton at a hostel, we had real food, hot showers, and a soft mattress. Stephie chose to leave town and come back to the trail, she volunteered! I'm still surprised. Today we did 11 miles after starting at 1:00, gaining 2,500 feet of elevation. It was straight up. Bo was so tired that I took him off the leash and surprisingly he followed along as well, I don't know what is wrong with those two, guess I'm stuck with them. Although when we got to the top of one climb with Bo off the leash, Stephie spotted a deer; then Bo did too, and there was no stopping him. Even when I jumped in front of him he was so intent on saying hi to that deer the his royal highness took off after it. It was good to him he still has some spunk in, him I must admit. We got a great spot about half way up a mountain, with a roaring fire, and now it's time to eat!
Monday, August 10, 2015
8/9 Another cold one
Woke up this morning to frost inside and outside the tent, so I pulled my sleeping bag up over my head and went back to sleep. 11 miles in 2 days means we get to sleep in!
The frost has all melted... we're all still in the tent enjoying the heat of the morning sun, while our gear dries out.
Finally hit the trail around 11am ridge ran for 14 miles above tree line all day... it was hot and sunny, and basically no water. My neck is radiating heat, and my cheeks feel swollen.
When we got to the road where we planned to camp there was a small SUV and three people. One hiker, Mike and his parents. They gave us beer, cold, cold, wet, cold, beer, chips and guacamole, water, and just lit a fire. Could be in for a great night, we'll see.
Oh ya! I love when good people just do something good for no reason. Especially when trail angels don't know they are being trail angels, at the mention of the word they get a strange what did you call me / sheepish grin look on their face and seem to love the idea of what they accidentally did. That was the case tonight with this family and they fed us chili mac and sent us to bed happy.
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
The day after 22
We woke up sore this morning, but we were only a half mile from the summit of the mountain. After some coffee we tackled that beast, then hiked the top of a ridge for a few miles through beautiful wildflower meadows, in great weather. His royal ceph-ship still carried nothing, but kept up great. We ended today with another climb setting up another early morning summit, which keeps us off summits and ridge lines during peak lightning times. Our campsite tonight may be the best yet, right by a lake that mirrors the main mountain behind it, absolutely beautiful. As we were eating dinner with our fire blazing a deer walk up the hill and stopped to watch us for a while before heading back down the hill. The AT has nothing on the views here, well maybe in a few spots, but here it's everyday. Still no other thru hikers heading North. We can hear mountain goats across the valley from our tent as we go to sleep. Great clear, dry night.
8/5/15 slow decent
After walking up to a gorgeous lake, no moose unfortunately, we have a bit of a climb before a giant 4,000 foot decent. We are leaving the high country, and getting back to tree level. It's a pretty standard day, hike, see something amazing, trip on a rock, tell Bo to keep up or slow down, hike, have a snack, drink some river water, go up a hill, kill a mosquito, hike. Until I realize the road we are supposed to get a hitch on tomorrow is a mountain jeep road, then I have a minor panic. Luckily before that road was another road that went to Silverton, which we got a hitch relatively quickly. Not short into the ride to Silverton, I find myself thinking "We are going to die in this little Asians Subaru." We didn't die, he was a student at cu boulder studying computer science, but he could have used a driving lesson. After he dropped us on the opposite end of town we managed to find the hostel. Now I'm clean, dry, and going to sleep on a mattress tonight with a belly full of hot food, and beer. Silverton is a cool little town, I've never been here before, but I like it!
Monday, August 3, 2015
Day 1 8/1/15
We did it, day one in the books! Fourteen miles, that's right Stephie and Bo absolutely crushed it today and we hiked fourteen miles. I was so impressed, and proud. We saw a couple of elk skulls, got rained on, saw tons of South Bounders (Sobos) finishing their thru hikes, met another North Bounder (Nobo), and made it into camp to set our tent up right before the afternoon shower. It was a great first day. Now we are sitting in our tent next to a babling broke, about to go start up a fire to cook dinner. Shooting for ten miles tomorrow, but we're going up 4,000 feet in elevation.
The climb 8/2/15
We started today at 9:00am in overcast conditions that changed to and from rain as we hiked. We climbed three thousand, six hundred feet up in 8 miles through gorgeous wildflower fields, and beautiful mountain views, ending around 2:00pm. We planned to go farther, but a storm asked us nicely to stay where we were, which was fine because we were right next to Taylor lake, around 11,600 feet. We hid from rain most of the afternoon, but after a while the rain let up long enough to let us eat, and then watch
the clouds roll in, literally. We could no longer see the lake, mountains, or people's tents around us. It was so cool to watch. Supposed to be sunny the next few days, which would be nice.
22 mile day 8/3/15
Today while you were at work sitting or standing at your desk we hiked 22 miles. From 8:30am to 8:15pm, talk about a full day. Bo was being rubbed by his pac so today at decided to carry his stuff for him. I personal felt like Bo was the Prince, and I was his guide/sherpa through the woods, so Bo's trail name is his royal highness Prince Bocephus, or any variation on that. We went through beautiful wildflower meadows at 12,000 feet, with mountains as far as the eye could see, crossed saddles between mountains, got rained on, and hailed on on top of a mountain, luckily there were trees for cover and we made a fort for Bo out of our pacs. Then ended the long day with a 2,000 foot climb to camp. Needless to say Stephie, and his royal Bo-ness are passed out after big meals, I'm not to far behind them.
