Continental Divide Trail – Day 51

July 13, 2023
Miles Today/ Total: 24.9 / 865.8

I slept tremendously last night. I actually woke up before 5am fully rested and ready to get my day started. I packed up and was on the trail before 6:00.

The trail continued down the valley and came to a ranch, nestled in the valley. It looked like a nice quiet place to live.

As I worked my way down the valley, I met several CT hikers going SOBO. I stop and talked to most of them. They are about 600 miles in on their 800 mile Thru hike and counting the days to the end in Durango.

There were several small stream crossings and one major crossing of Stewart Creek. They was a bridge there, but one side had been washed out and it only went 1/2 way across. Fortunately it was only shin deep so I just walked across.

About 9:00 the trail joined a 4×4 track and I had a couple of guys in a Jeep Cherokee ask me if I needed in water. I had just filled up so I told them no. They then said “How about a beer”. And I said “ I could definitely use one of those”. It was even a good IPA. I thanked them then headed to some shade trees to drink it.

It was still early, but it was getting hot out already. Most of the day was spent hiking in meadows or on 4×4 tracks. I was always on the lookout for some shade. In addition after leaving the valley, water sources were becoming scarce. Some of the streams on the Far Out app were dry so I was filling up at every water source. Even ones less than desirable. Good thing Sawyer filters work so good.

I ended the day hiking up a closed forest road that was being forested. There was supposed to be a campsite about 4 miles down this road and with all the foresting activity I was worried it would no longer exist. Fortunately when I reached the area the campsites still existed and I set up for the night.

I cleaned up (I was covered with a lot of dust from the road walking) , ate dinner, then climbed into my tent to escape the flies.