Day 11- 8/26/18, 22.7 4012 ft ascent
Camp Hale mi135.2-Busk Creekmi 157.8
Wow! Long day! Woke up at 5:30 at Camp Hale and had breakfast with the CMC crew; Eric, Gary, Kim and Tony! Scrambled eggs and sausage burritos! Yum! Then Tony hauled us back to the trail where we had left off about 2 miles ago. We were walking by about 7:30. Tony’s pickup said it was 36 degrees in that valley at that time. Chilly morning. Mario and I dodged thunderstorms all day in the Holy Cross Wilderness and it rained off and on. Most of the hike was heavily wooded with few views. But every once in a while a view point would come and it was fabulous. At the end of the day the views of Mt. Massive to the south of us, where we were headed, were pretty amazing.
Most thankful for …. Michaela taking a break to rest her knee. We are hoping that she can be ready to go through the west collegiates! She was having the worst pain that she’s had so far this morning during the first 8 miles we hiked. So Michaela got a ride with Eric, Kim, and Gary to Twin Lakes where I will meet her in a few days. We have a reservation there the 28, but the lodge was able to get her a room for tonight and tomorrow night. Really hoping her knee will feel better with rest. I am continuing on hiking with Mario Polo.
I saw God today….. the Holy Cross Wilderness. I mean really lol! Didn’t see the cross on the Mt. b/c the snow is all melted, but we walked right by it. Really pretty area, but we were just trying to get through before and after thunderstorms. It was the best part of the day. Really pretty.
What I ate for supper…lasagna with two cheese sticks. I ate my nightly Snickers around 4:30 with some peanut butter to power me through the last several miles.
Quote of the day….”Look, the elevation profile for this section is like a dead man’s heart beat….”- MarioPolo says this morning as we are eating breakfast and contemplating how far to go. Famous last words b/c we climbed more today than any day previous. We did, however, hike farther today than any day previous as well!
What I learned today…Well, just keep going! We wanted to make it to bear the Timberline Trailhead so that MarioPolo’s father-in-law could bring him his resupply in the morning. But we didn’t want to camp at the Trailhead either, so we ended up walking another 1.2 mi to s place to camp…geesh!!
Most favorite part of the day… Probably the Holy Cross Wilderness. It comprised of all 4-5 miles of the nearly 23, but reminded me of Montana and the landscape during my NOLS trip
Least favorite part of the day…getting to camp so late and rushing around to eat and get in bed
Most useful gear of the day… My new insoles in my shoes b/c my feet are feeling better and better!!!
Food of the day…snickers and the lasagna tonight was fast and filling. We barely had time to eat before dark was on us.
Song of the day…10000 reasons in my head
Fun Story… As we were nearing the end of the day, we had planned in camping near the Timberline Trail head. Which is at the west end of Turquoise Lake. Well, looking at the Guthook app someone had commented about a month ago about there being lots of bear poop and trash at the Trailhead and did not recommend thru hikers to camp there. So we decided to push on about .4 mikes to the next Creek since Mario needed to come back the next morning to get his resupply. Well, we get to the next Creek and there is NO camping as it is treed and steep. No way to set up a tent. So we met a few hikers a couple of minutes later and they suggested a creek about 15 min away. Oh, and there’s some other people camped there too. Great I was thinking! More hikers to meet! Well, we get there and it was more like 25 minutes and the other campers are some rowdy college age boys/men with a HUGE bonfire going. Ummm, I thought there was a burn ban on?!?! So we walked quietly by and to the other side of the creek and down aways mostly out of sight to camp. It was almost dark. We threw up tents boiled water and hung a cord for our bear hang in record time. I could tell Mario was nervous b/c he kept looking over at them. They were partying it up! Who knows what they were up to. When we got in our tents he asked if I wouldn’t use my headlamp so they wouldn’t notice our glowing tents! I agreed, and I kept my bear spray handy too… Well God intervened and the skies opened up and it started raining with in 10 minutes of us getting in our tents! That shut their bonfire down! We were up and gone the next morning before they even wiggled.