Brisk day and wildfire

Day 119

Date: 28.08.2022

CDT Mile: Mile 2'390.9

Miles hiked: 28.4 miles / 45.45 km

Elevations: 5'082 feet ascent (1'550 m Aufstieg) / 4'121 feet descent (Abstieg 1'257 m)

Camping at: 8'015 feet / 2'444.6 m

It was a cold night and also this morning it was still cold. With Soccermum getting up was a little different than with the group. We slept in a little longer and hit the trail by 7.20am. All day we hiked in forest hills, up and down and up and down. A big part of today's forest has been burned a long time ago. But some parts were still very beautiful green and with trees which haven't been burned yet. However, hiking about 6 miles in I notice smoke clouds very close from the trail. I wait for Soccermum to show him. It is little yet and as we pass it, no danger for us today. Also, as it is not windy. Still, we note the location and will try to reach out for Curtis, the trailangel we stayed at in Darby, who is a volunteer firefighter, once we have service. Hiking on over hill and hill, we can see that the fire, far behind us now, has grown. In the afternoon we had service and called Curtis to inform him. They are already aware of this fire and will send fire inspectors there today to check it out.

We hike a very fast pace. But also the terrain and weather were in our favor. There was a lot of climbing today, but it was mostly gentle climbs, fast to hike. And the weather stayed cool all day. It felt like a snow mountain breeze. The sun was out, but the air was still brisk. Could this be already winter coming? We hope not, but it is strange having hot/warm temperatures all the past days, and now from one day to the other the temperature dropped massively.

We hiked more than 15 miles by lunch and stopped shortly at a creek. We didn't make a lot of breaks all day. A short one in the morning, then lunch, then a short one in the afternoon and the last one at the last water source of today and our dinner spot. The last about 6 miles of today have been quite challenging. There was a ton of blowdowns, slowing us down a lot and I also cut my knee climbing over one of the fallen trees. However, it looked much worse than it actually was, more blood than needed! Reaching the next possible camp spot after dinner I was really tired and my feet, back and legs were super tired too. We did great miles today, but for all the hiking in fast time, with little breaks and only reaching camp at around 8pm, I still hoped I could hike at least 1 or 2 more miles...

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