CDT Day 37 (6/24/23)
Miles 834.8 (Red line 1028.4)- 865.6 (Red line 1059.2) (30.8 miles)
Verbatim
It was a really tiring evening, although was overall a really good day on trail. I met lots of people, and saw maybe twenty different people throughout the day. There were ten motorbikes, two ambitious section hikers trying to go 90 miles over the weekend, 4 weekend warriors camped by a mountain they wanted to climb, and quite a few hikers. I chatted with Pyro and Blue briefly this morning, and then met a kind middle aged hiker named White Spot towards noon/oneish. White Spot and I tackled a climb together and then spent some time chatting around a muddy mountainside spring over lunch. I really enjoyed hiking and talking with him.
It seems I’m really catching onto the CDT hiker bubble now. I’m meeting and passing someone new almost every day. I could have camped with company last night! I didn’t, but even the possibility is quite intriguing. I wouldn’t know what to say! I did enjoy talking with Blue. He was fun to spend time with.
The nature today had a lot of vibes. It felt like NorCal on the PCT most of the day. With hot sun and burned trunks of pine and spruce or fir. Dusty or newly greened ground cover. There were multiple fresh springs. There was rocky ground and some open parks. There were lots of prancing and jumping mule deer. It was quite nice. In the evening I was up high overlooking hazily layered mountain scapes. That haze felt NorCal too. It was a nice vibe! I liked it. NorCal was an efficient portion of the PCT, and these last three days have been efficient. I looked at a detailed CDT trail map posted on a public National Forst trail billboard. It was really fun to look and see how far I’ve come. It’s a long trail and I’ve walked almost a third of the expected miles. CO is well underway and after this next section it will be easy to imagine that I’m halfway through the state. Wyoming will likewise come quickly and with great interest. And then I’m onto the final section! ID/MT. The trail seems comprehensible.
I’m camped a mile shy of Monarch Pass, the hitch into Salida. It was big news today when Raider and ET looked up the pizza place’s schedule and discovered it’s closed on Sundays. I’ll have hit both Creede and Salida on the day that the pizza is closed. What. The. Heck. 1000 miles and no pizza?!
West of Monarch Pass is Guniison! I must have driven this pass before. That’s exciting to think about. I liked this part of the state.
Post Note
Let’s talk NorCal on the PCT. I think, maybe, that NorCal is actually my favorite part of the PCT. Which is funny to say because it’s definitely the worst part of the PCT. NorCal is the portion of the PCT where all the PCT hikers who were so excited to party their way through the desert and have a cool instagram through the Sierra suddenly realize that hiking to Canada is going to be really hot, grimy, sweaty thing for a really long time. By the time they’re through NorCal and onto better things (like Oregon and Washington) they’re going to be worn and tired and nursing trail-chronic injuries. It’s about this time, beginning of July that is, when it gets REALLY hot. It’s also about this time when all the summer fun back home begins. For most hikers, I felt this way at least, it’s pretty tempting to go home and play unless you’ve got some friends out on trail to play with instead. NorCal is the moment you realize trail isn’t a continuous party like in the desert, isn’t as beautiful as the Sierra, and is going to take a lot of rather unrewarding work if you’re going to make it out with continuous footsteps before fire season sets in. It’s the part of the trail where you’ve come a long way and you’ve still got a long way to go.
But there’s a lesson to be learned in NorCal. And the lesson is this: enjoy being up high. There is NOTHING like being up high. All heaven will be is ridge walks. I swear it. I’ve been there. Top of the mountain. Layer upon layer of hazy mountains all around you. Yellow mustard plant blooming its fragrance. A fresh spring. I love being up high. You put a lot of work in during the NorCal section of the PCT. It’s never as glamorous as the other sections. But you’re rewarded with some of the longest and most peaceful ridge walks you can imagine. I loved that place. So to walk fast and furious along the CDT, to feel the energy and warmth of the summer heat, and to be up high was a glorious way to feel. It was something like NorCal.