We slept in at the RV since we could. It was nice since it was snowing that morning where we intended to hike. You could see snow on the peaks in Missouri Basin area. Then mom and dad took us into Buena Vista for breakfast! It was awesome. The waiter later confided in Cristin that she was pretty sure she wouldn’t eat all that she had ordered…..but she was wrong 😉 Dad says he is going to put up a plaque that says I fed Cristin! Then we went to the laundry mat and finished drying our clothes that we had washed yesterday in the camper. They didn’t dry over night. So much for fast drying clothes of hikers! It only took three quarters to finish the job though. So quick stop. After that a quick run to the grocery store finished our resupply needs and we were back out of town. When we got back to the trailer we finished packing our backpacks. It didn’t take long since we had done most of it the night before. Then we loaded up the dogs and packs in the pick up and mom and dad drove us up the road about 5 mi to the Missouri Gulch Trailhead there we said goodbye and started hiking it was about noon. We had gotten Subway sandwiches while in town for lunch since we had only packed 4 lunches and we have the 11,12,13,14 to eat for. We decided to start hiking and eat about an hour up the trail because we had eaten so much throughout the day.
The trail was steep! No maybe about it- the most consistently steepest trail I have gone up yet this trip. I have hiked it before but not with a pack on. We went slowly but kept a good pace and stopped twice to eat 1/2 a sandwich each time. We decided that we could get to the top of Elkhead pass and make a plan there because we were ahead or schedule. We hadn’t expected to hike in so quickly. We met four groups coming out as we went in and said the snow on the mountains wasn’t deep- 2in at most and melting fast. The weather was great and the forecast for Missouri Basin was 66 and a low of 33 with a ten percent chance of some light rain or snow. On the way up the pass we saw a porcupine! We luckily kept the dogs away and moved on but I didn’t expect that! We decided to camp on the top of Elkhead pass and climb Belford and Oxford early the next morning….they are literally right above us as we are camped at 13156 feet. So we should be able to do both summits and be back at our camp by 9-10 then pack up and head down the Pine Creek Trail back to the Colorado Trail by tomorrow night. Maybe a little farther as it is about 7 mi we think back down the valley to the CT. It feels like we are on the moon or something up here but the weather is beautiful with only patchy clouds and hardly any wind! The breeze is cold or warm according to the cloud cover, but you can still feel the last dregs of summer on the breeze. We are keeping our food and dog food close to the tent – in the tent and in our vestibule as we don’t want to loose it and we don’t expect many intrusions up here. Kemba will probably sleep at our feet tonight and Chelly on the vestibule. We traveled just under 5 mi today but over 3,000 ft up to the pass. We will head way back down tomorrow to about 10,000 I think. I bet tonight is cold! But an adventure! We are excited to summit the two mountains in the morning. I am thinking we may make it farther tomorrow than we anticipated. That is ok with me as more miles the next two leave les for the 14 and Mt Princeton Hot Springs and Casey! I miss him so much and am really looking forward to seeing him this Sunday! Tomorrow is Thursday- yeah!! Only about 40 mi between me and him ;). I bet I can hike pretty fast.
