Last 13'000 peak on trail!

Day 65

Date: 05.07.2022

CDT Mile: Mile 1'323.9

Miles hiked: 25.2 miles (+/-1.5 miles cause of backtracking for lost Crocc shoe and getting lost!) / 40.3 km (+/- 2.5 km extra)

Elevation: 6'112 feet ascent (1'864 m Aufstieg) / 5'981 feet descent (Abstieg 1'824 m)

Camping at: 10'007 feet / 3'052 m

We planned last night to get up super early and start hiking at 5am. It is supposed to rain and thunder again in the afternoon and we wanted to get over James Peak, the last 13'000 feet peak with 13'309 feet (4'059 m) on the CDT, and two saddles with some ridge line walking as early as possible. Also, we decided to have a very long day today in order to reach Grand Lakes tomorrow, hopefully in the early afternoon, or for sure before dinner (20 miles). However, being in that valley and in the forest makes getting up much harder. It is dark and cold! The sun will not reach the valley and the forest for quite a long time. My alarm went off every 15 minutes as of 4am till 5.15am, when I finally started to get up. Also Boss and Ducky didn't move yet. I was out first by 5.45am and started the biggest climb of the day up to James Peak. 3'169 feet in 4.4 miles (+/- 1'000 m in 7 km). The climb turned out to be not as bad I thought it would be. Once over the tree line, we had some beautiful views. But it is cloudy and very windy and cold. Cold wind on uphills above treeline (3'700m), where the air is thinner anyway, is not my favorite, unless the wind pushes you up the mountain😁 which in this case it didn't 😒. But we reached the top in 2.5 hrs, quickly eat a snickers for some calories and energy and started to climb our way down again on the other side. As per our hiking app, there is no water for 12 miles, I also got 1 Liter of water about halfway up to James Peak. But with all the snow melt and rain, there are many small streams to get water from. Well, guess it makes me stronger (hopefully!), carrying around water, specially uphills and at high altitude! The weather doesn't really know what it wants. The sun is covered by some clouds, it's windy and some bigger clouds appear on the sky. After we descended James Peak on the other side, we have some ridge line hiking. Being back on the CDT without the CT (Colorado Trail) has some affects. Firstly, there are not many CDT trail marker's anymore and secondly, often the trail is non-existent. Also the ridge line walk is like that. There are cairns, enough to spot them and see where to go next, but no trail. One could have taken a road to hike on, and hindsight we should have done that. Much faster, easier to hike and the views were ok but not worth it all the extra work. And by the time we made it to the Rollins Pass Trailhead, big dark clouds and thunder are coming our way. There are a couple of cars at the trailhead and as a guy walks back to his car I just ask him if we can stay and sit in his car till the thunderstorm is over. I absolutely hate thunderstorms and lightning's up in that altitude. However, he had to leave for work. But he is a mountain guide out here and recommended to stay and wait the storm out before climbing the next pass. So we did but the storm never came. And after about 30 min we decided to hike out. Lucky us, I just barely made it over the pass before the thunder and lightening reached us. Luckily, on the other side of the pass we walked downhill for a long time and reached the treeline shortly after. But now it is raining. And it will only stopp for an hour, which I used as a lunch break, before it continuous to rain all afternoon again. Whilefhavng lunch, I did see a moose family crossing the other side of the stream, very close to where I was sitting! They were much more scared of me than I was of them. It was very cute! Soon later it started to rain again. I feel cold, wet and miserable. I am not enjoying this anymore. If the weather doesn't change for better soon, I have to think about alternatives here. I am on trail to enjoy myself and to have a great time. But with this weather, taking all the views away, adding danger to climbs and making me feel cold, wet and miserable, that is not the case anymore. When setting up my tent around 5.45pm, I am lucky as it isn't that bad. My Tent is a little wet, but the inside seems to be ok and my sleepingbags are nearly completely dry, even so I had no chance to dry out my gear today. That's ok for one day, but if it is rainy all day tomorrow again, I might have no dry tent and sleepingbag anymore. Luckily, tomorrow I will reach Grand Lakes, I am soooo looking forward to this. Boss wants to move on the same day. I can't. I have to at least stay there for a night, shower, do laundry and rest a little. Let's see!

I am having yummy Pad Thai for dinner but don't manage to even eat half of it. Ducky made it to camp too shortly after 8pm, it is still raining and will do so all night. So badly, that my tent is dropping water in the inside too, keeping me up during the night. I will definitely have to dry out my tent and wet sleepingbag tomorrow! Oh and down here, in little lower altitude we now have the pleasure to meet our tiny naughty friends the mosquito's too. There are plenty of them here, seeking for our blood!

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