A perfect day on the CDT

Day 120

Date: 29.08.2022

CDT Mile: Mile 2'416

Miles hiked: 25.1 miles / 45.45 km

Elevations: 6'381 feet ascent (1'946.3 m Aufstieg) / 5'974 feet descent (Abstieg 1'822 m)

Camping at: 8'458 feet / 2'579.7 m

We enjoyed a very nice sunset and once the sun was gone, also the wind stopped. Still, it was cold in the morning and when I hiked out shortly past 7.am, I was wearing a jumper and my gloves. But the sun was out, without any clouds and I could take off my jumper and gloves about an hour later. The air definitely got colder, but if the sun is out, it is still warm.

Today is gonna be a big day with a lot of climbing, even of we 'only' hike 25 miles, which is our plan.

The day started off still with two modest climbs over forestry hills, as we had them yesterday. We run over those hills in no time! But then the terrain began to change slowly into more exposed rocks, granite and boulder fields. We started our climb to Pintlers Pass. 1'400 miles of climb in less than 2 miles. It was very steep at times, a real climb again since a while. And it also was wonderful. We pushed more than 16 miles and over 3'600 feet of climb before lunch at 1pm! We run down the passes! We stopped for lunch down on the other side of Pinter's Pass at Johnson lake. A beautiful lake, located in the middle of mountains and wilderness. We stayed there for a while, went for a swim, did hiker laundry and had lunch. It was wonderful! After lunch we started off again with a steep climb up to Rainbow Pass. It was hard, but the views from up there were insane! Like we are in the little Wind River Range. And for that I had to open a new map on my app, the last map of the CDT! From today, we have less than 500 miles to go. That's crazy. It took forever and now it seems to be so reachable and close! If I can keep up with Soccermum and high miles per day, I will definitely be able to reach the canadian boarder as wished on the 21st of september!

We stopped for dinner on trail next to a stream, before our last uphill climb of the day. The beginning of the climb was very steep, but not long and we hiked slowly up the valley till after another steep climb we reached the top and Waren Lake. A beautiful spot for camping. There was even a fire pitch, and so we collected wood and I had my first bonfire on trail. We stayed out long after hikers midnight, enjoying the warmth of the fire and the beautiful sky filled with stars. It was a truly perfect hiking day today - tough but wonderful!

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