Continental Divide Trail – Day 42
June 12, 2023
Miles Today/ Total: 18.6 / 756.0
My alarm went off at 5:00 am this morning and my body and legs were not ready to get up. I laid in bed a little longer snuggled up in my warm sleeping bag.
I finally got up and started packing and got around and on the trail by 6:15. It didn’t get as cold last night but the snow still hardened up overnight and made traveling on top of the snow easy this morning.
The trail was on shelf on the south side of the valley and completely covered with snow. I camped at the bottom of the valley and started walking up the valley to intersect the trail. I intersected the trail near the upper end of the valley and began following it up on a shelf that wrapped around Summit Peak. There were several snow covered traverses on this trail as I made my way steadily upwards.
After rounding Summit Peak I could see that there was less snow on the surrounding mountains. The trail led downward to a bench below Montezuma Peak that was practically snow free. I took my crampons off and actually had 1/2 mile of dry, snow free trail.
Rounding Montezuma Mountain, I was back in the snow, but not as consistent as the last few days. It was partly cleared with some snow drifts remaining. The snow was even softer this afternoon and I spent a lot of time postholing. This made the going slow as I would have to try to find an alternate route where I could walk in too of the snow.
I ended the day following a ridge line that was partially clear. The trail then began to drop into a valley that was completely snow covered. I found a dry spot under a tree at Bonita Pass and set my tent up for the night.
