CDT – Day 44 – M1466.6 to Encampment, WY

6/7/15 Day 44

M1466.6 to Encampment, WY, 7163′

Tent – Nights Spent Alone: 7

16.6, 824 Trip Miles

Mostly Cloudy – Breezy

Day’s of Snow: 7 – Day’s of Rain: 13

# of Zero days: 5

6:38 am to 4:30 pm

Gila Crossings Final Total:  221

Tick Count: 4 (3 more crawling on me)

Critter Count

7 Pronghorn

4 Chipmunks

4 Deer

Totals

523 Pronghorn*

119 Lizards

116 Wild Horses

56 Elk

54 Deer**

39 Chipmunks

37 Cotton Tail Rabbits

22 Horny Roads

21 Squirrels

19 Prairie Dogs

17 Jack Rabbit***

12 Ground Squirrels

7 Snakes

4 Moles

3 Coyotes

2 Rattle Snakes

2 Toads

1 Mouse

1 Skunk

1 Marmot****

1 Weasel

*180 from car, **3 from car, ***1 from car, ****1 from car

11.6 miles on snow today. Ugh. What a tough day. So tough I had my snowshoes and snow baskets for my poles shipped to Steamboat Springs, my next stop. I also want to get some water proof socks possibly. The right gear is key to being happy for me out here.

View south to Colorado

Today I didn’t have the right gear and it made it very tough both physically and mentally. Colorado is almost 700 miles long and there’s a ton of snow. Once I have my snow gear I’ll be happier about the miles.

It’s easy to get down when you think about the miles and how hard they’ll be. The other thing is I think about doing alternate routes like we’re planning for this next section between here and Steamboat Springs. It’s 80 trail miles and there’s a 69 mile dirt/pavement alternate you can do. Most of the 80 miles of trail would be under snow. We’d also be the first ones through so without snow shoes it would be painfully slow.

CDT sign post, which were 3-4′ high

I worry that skipping so much trail that I’ll feel guilty. I’m still going to walk from Mexico to Canada but I guess my perception of what it would be like was different.

The CDT is a collection of trail connected by lots and lots of roads. Adding some more road instead of doing miles of snow filled trail shouldn’t bother me so. Once I get my gear I’ll be all about snow travel.

There was a lot of this today.

This trail is so much harder than I ever thought it would be. Everything from the planning and logistics to the route finding/altering to just the hiking is a challenge. I’m earning my crown for sure with this one.

I’m calling bullshit on myself right here and now.  Even when I got my snow shoes I wasn’t down with snow travel.  I take my hat off to those who choose to hike through the San Juans with all that snow.  It doesn’t matter if you have snow shoes of not, walking on snow is a pain in the ass.

I was quite pained about the adding of road miles.  I started my hiking career as a purist so the idea of not hiking the proper trail was a hard concept for me.  I learned quickly that the CDT isn’t the AT or PCT.  You do what you can and go where you can go, anything to make it to the next town or goal. 

Back to Day 43, Forward to Day 45

Scatman

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Get out there!