We gorged ourselves on food and waddled out of town. We didn't make it far before our stomachs told us it was time to stop for the night. We slept in the next morning and slowly packed up camp. As I hiked, a beautiful moose came galloping in front of me. I reached for my camera and spooked her, but she came back within minutes. She stood tall in the forest, almost posing for me.
For the next quarter mile, every time I looked back, she was there watching over me. We kept moving and ran into a trailhead parking lot with tons of tourists heading into Rocky Mountain National Park. A ranger told us of an alternate trail that would save us from walking along the highway. It turned out to be gorgeous and we thanked him as he pulled up at the next parking lot. We had lunch next to a creek as the sun dissapeared behind the clouds. It began to rain but we knew it wouldn't last long, so we kept eating. The sun came out very briefly again before we were hit with another storm and got moving. Thunder boomed as we climbed up to a pass and the rain came down harder. The rain turned to hail and we tried to take cover from the hard pellets of ice. By the time we got to the pass, the storm had passed and the sun was slowly drying us out.
We saw the trail on the adjacent ridge and headed for it. After getting to a trail junction, we realized we had missed a turn and were almost a mile off trail. We grumbled as we turned around and headed back. The rest of the afternoon was nice and easy until we got to a steep Jeep road. My feet flew out from under me on the slick gravel and I fell backwards. My hip hit first and I could feel the crunch of my phone in my pocket. Next was my elbow slamming onto the side of the road, as my shoulder began to pop out of its socket. I rolled in the dirt thinking 'please no.' A million thoughts ran through my head. Was my thru hike over? Just like that? I stayed on the ground for a minute, mentally checking in. My shoulder was in a lot of pain but I don't think it had completely dislocated. Incredibly thankful, I stumbled up, brushed off the dirt, and kept moving. Everything ached but we made it a couple more miles before I could take some pain medication and fall asleep. I woke up still in a funk from the day before, so I told Beaute I was sleeping in when I heard her pack up around 6. The last thing I wanted to do at that moment was hike. I lounged around for three more hours before finally getting out of camp. Not long after, I realized I had lost my paper maps out of my backpack and would need to rely on my dwindling phone battery to have directions. There was no way I'd run into Beaute again that day. I passed a road and followed the trail marker to the other side. Wanting to save my battery, I held off checking the maps for a while. When I finally did, I realized I was off the trail that my GPS was telling me. I was confused because it had been marked but I trusted technology and turned around. The route took me along a jeep road before it dissapeared and turned into a cairns.
It became incredibly steep and I was using my hands to keep me balanced as I climbed up the massive slope. I kept stopping to wonder if people actually went up this way, but I'd see another cairn in the distance and keep moving. I finally reached the ridge and got over to a fire lookout where I sat down for some lunch. The chipmunks were pesky and we're looking for any scraps you might drop. As I looked back at the ridge I had climbed up, Beaute came climbing up it. Very confused, we both took turns telling each other what happened. I had been on the right trail but my GPS had told me a different way that on other maps was referred to as "I don't know why anyone would go this way." She had come up from the trail but gone down the wrong ridge for about a mile and a half. We laughed at the ridiculousness of the trail and joined forces to stay on track. The rest of the day was nice, with only a few more climbs and a lot of ridge walking. By the end of the day, we ran into another hiker who informed us that there was no water for 6 miles. It was already 7pm but we needed water to make food. We tracked through, trying to make it as fast as we could. The night got darker and darker but our stubbornness kept our headlamps in our backpacks. We stumbled and fell and finally heard the sound of the creek running nearby. We found a couple flat spots and set up in the dark. We woke up early the next morning and made it 20.5 miles without stopping, taking our packs off, or sitting down. It was incredibly hot so as soon as we got to the road we hitch hiked down into town. We took two relaxing zeros and floated down the river before heading back to trail.
We got back at the hottest part of the day and began the eleven mile highway walk. The sun beat down on us and about two hours in, I ran out of water. We made it another hour before stopping off the road by a lake and falling asleep for two more hours. We filled our bottles with the algae filled lake water and kept moving. We made it a decent amount of miles before finding some potable water at a campground and tucking into some trees. The rain hit just as we had finished setting up our tents. Usually we didn't get that lucky. The next morning was beautiful and we got moving down trail. We had to stop often for mountain bikers who were tearing up the trail in front of us. I was in a funk and wanted to do anything but keep walking, but my legs kept moving along. We made it to a spot by a lake and settled in for lunch and another long nap. When we woke up, the clouds were dark and it looked as though it would rain any minute. We packed up just in time for the large drops to smack against our rain jackets and headed further down the trail. Luckily it only rained briefly before the sun came out again. I couldn't pull my mind from my funk and I began dwelling on if I was really enjoying myself or if I was just out here to finish this. I felt terrible mentally, but my legs kept moving forward. Just as I thought things couldn't get worse, I kicked the side of the trail and felt my toe bend backwards as it had too many times before. A wave of nausea was sent up to my stomach and I hobbled to a patch of grass. I took some pain medication and duct taped my toe to its buddy before Beaute came along and sat down beside me. I told her about my funk and she told me I couldn't quit. Not every part was going to be enjoyable, that's why everyone isn't out here. We started hiking again. I'm not sure if it was the talk, the views, or the pain medication, but I was out of my funk. I felt strong and the views became striking as we walked along a range. One side was filled with smoke from a forest fire and the other had streaks of rain coming down. It made for an incredible sunset that we got to catch just before setting up camp for the night.
My day had totally turned around, and it didn't hurt that we got an awesome campsite. My tent was lit up red by the sun the next morning. It was cold but we warmed up quick as we started hiking. The bugs were driving us absolutely crazy all day. If it wasn't the mosquitoes, that would swarm every time you stopped for a second, it was the flies, buzzing around your head and taking a chunk our of your skin if you let them linger too long. It was frustrating but the options were let it happen, or look like a crazy person and waste all your energy as you swing your arms and legs around. We were moving fast but were surprised to find we hadn't made it that far after our first break. It was a real bummer to have put in a bunch of effort for little reward. We took lunch near a river where a dog was lounging by his owners car. We loved pretending he was ours as we got him more water and played around with him. Just as we had finished eating, a cloud came over a nearby hill and it began to rain. Soon it was pouring and we ran down the road to get back to the trail. After 40 minutes, I was suspicious that we hadn't hit the trail again. I checked the GPS and we had gone about a mile down the wrong road as we ran through the rain. We tried to move fast getting back on track. We had a short reprieve from the first storm but another one was coming up behind quick. We ran for the blue skies up a steep ATV track but eventually the storm caught us, and we were soaked again. The trail soon turned into muddy slush that was impossible to walk on. We tried to keep moving at a snails pace as not to fall with every step. Under my umbrella, the mosquitoes still bit at my arms and neck. I took a couple deep breathes but it was hard to keep my frustration at bay. I wanted to scream at the hiking gods, "just please let us get out of Colorado!"
The rain awarded us a brief moment of sun and we ran into a crew of guys section hiking. The informed us that the water situation up north was bad and that we'd have to carry a bunch of water. That really sucked for Beaute and I, who together only had a three liter capacity. It started to rain again as they pointed out the locations of water on the map. We hiked through the rain for a bit more, giving up on being dry for the day, when the sun came out again.
We made it to the water source and called it quits for the day so we could rehydrate and start out with water in the morning. As we sat cooking dinner, we heard two game animals sparring in the distance. Unfortunately, we never found their location but drifted off to sleep with the powerful smack of antlers on our last night in Colorado. We woke up and filled up on water before heading out. We only had a few hours left in Colorado and I was sure we'd get lost before she let us leave. Just as I was about to check the map, we turned a corner and saw the big white sign; 'Wyoming State Line.' We threw off our packs and rejoiced in finally making it through the most brutal state I'd ever hiked through. We took pictures, ate snacks, and went about the daily massacre of mosquitoes and flies.
When it got too unbearable, we left the border and began our first few miles in Wyoming. We ran in to a couple of forest service guys who had cleared the trail of blow downs for the next ten miles. We cringed at what everyone had to climb over before but felt very lucky by the timing. Wyoming was hot and pretty open, but I couldn't care less. We could finally move again and the trail was so well marked. It felt as though when I crossed that border, all my doubts about finishing were left behind. In the afternoon the trail dissapeared frequently, which made looking for cairns take longer. We made it a good distance before filling up our waters and diving into our tents to escape the bugs. As soon as I climbed out the next morning, I heard the buzzing and knew it would last all day. We spent the morning walking through frigid bogs where the sun hadn't hit yet. My toes burned, not having recovered fully from the San Juans. Every step was excruciating and I wanted to chop them all off to make it easier. Finally the sun came out and my feet returned to their normal aches and pains. It was nice hiking in the morning and we cover a lot of ground before lunch. As we sat down beside a rare water source, the flies began to perk up. A hundred of them swarmed our bodies and packs. At a certain point, you just let them crawl all over you, akin to roadkill being slowly devoured on the side of the street. I kept dwelling on the thoughts of biological warfare I had in my mind. Buying a large can of deet and dowsing all moving things within a few feet. We kept moving.
The afternoon was incredibly hot and we couldn't escape the sun on the exposed ridge. When we did drop off into the forest, it became a tangled web of blowdowns. We felt like bulky ninjas as we climbed over, under, and sometimes through hundreds of dead trees. One false move and you'd rip your gear, or your flesh. Luckily, I'm very careful with my gear.
It took us much longer than expected, but we made it through bloody, dusty, and wrapped in spider webs. It was back on the ridge from there, until we descended to a road where we had to chase off an angry pack of cows. We also met our first Wyomingite who rode up on his ATV with his lips permanently pursed around a large chunk of chew, except for the bit that had escaped and was smeared across his front teeth. He had never seen hikers there before, proving how rare thru hikers are out here. We slipped off the road to a culvert with water and set up amongst the rocky ground and thistle. We jumped back up on the road and had a nice morning walk. We moved fast and the air was still cool enough to keep us from sweating. We made it to our only water source for the day and found a small underpass we could eat lunch under to escape the warming sun. When we emerged, it had gotten immensely hotter and we slogged on down the road. A few hours later, my lower body ached more than it usually did and I couldn't think straight. The heat was killing all of my thoughts. We were sweating like crazy and didn't have enough water to keep going through the heat of the day. We searched everywhere for a small patch of shade but were unsuccessful. Just when I had given in to the terrible headache and burning skin, I saw concrete sticking out from the road. I ran to it and found a small gully that we could crawl into. The shade felt incredible and we laid out on the cold ground and fell asleep, trying to rest our aching muscles. An hour later the sun had lessened so we emerged from our cement oasis and got back on the road. It was overcast and had started to rain but the drops felt like running through the sprinklers on a hot summer day. We wasted away the afternoon, walking and talking, before hopping a fence and setting up camp for the night. Mile marker 1651
