8/10 the end?

Well Bo has managed to make me question yet another thru hike. I thought bringing him with us would make it easier, ha! He did great, for a while, until he took off after a marmot on a cliff one afternoon. He came back with some blood on his paws but kept up with us off the leash, and seemed alright. But this morning he wouldn't even get up to eat his breakfast, I had to put it in front of him. Stephie carried him across the street once we got into town, and he limps when he walks. I think his trip is over, but now what do we do?

Right now we're in lake city, who's post office is inept.

8/7 half day Friday

We woke up kinda late this morning, and as we were packing up, Maleak showed up. We flip flopped with him as we climbed, and descended various mountains through the end of the San Juans. Which were absolutely amazing! We got into a wilderness area and climbed up a mountain that has a couple creeks running through it's valley meadow at 12,300 feet just outside Silverton. Bo was the happiest I've seen him this whole trip today as he ran around next to the trail off leash for a bit. We joined up with the continental divide trail today as well... I could see us doing that. We climbed pretty much all day, ups and downs, as we were getting close to another climb that would put us near 13,000 feet  Maleak came walking down the trail towards us, going South. He told us the from the ridge he could see a couple of storm systems coming our way. We decided we would wait them out rather than run 6 miles on a ridge that goes from 12,500" - 13,000" with absolutely no cover. One storm has passed, and the other is on the way. I think we'll stay here tonight and get up early tomorrow to watch the sun raise from the ridge.

A cold morning 8/8

Last night didn't get above 50 degrees, when I got up at 5:30 to go to the little boys tree it was no where near 50, and it was wet. I was grumpy, to say the least. We camped at the head waters of the Rio Grande, and eventually made our way to the continental divide trail, crossed the 100 mile mark, and reached the highest peak on the Colorado Trail 13,271 feet. I felt so good climbing to that point that I decided I would go another 100 or so feet up to the top of the mountain. I put a rock on the highest peak and by the time I got it balanced Stephie was at the top, she didn't take one break, I am still impressed. Tonight we camped about 400 feet altitudinaly down from the trail, but are still at 12,600 feet. It's gonna be another cold one, but I will not be getting up at 5:30. We didn't really think about days for mailing foods so now we can relax and take 2 days to go 14 miles because tomorrow is Sunday and as Harry Potter put it so well: "There's no post on Sundays."

Town vortex 8/6

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!

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.

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!