Continental Divide Trail – Day 52

July 14, 2023
Miles Today/ Total: 26.4 / 892.2

I sure sleep good after my long hiking days. Another great night of sleep last night.

I was up an on the trail early and the trail started with a gradual descent on an old forest road. Soon I was in a valley and worked my way through a cow herd as I headed for Hwy 114. A short walk on the highway and I was back on a forest road and beginning a series of several ups and downs for the day.

The trail soon turned to single track and continued the ups and downs, but added in rocks to the equation. The rock varied in size from pea sized to baby head. They were all loose on the trail making it very difficult to walk. This lasted for about 15 miles of the day.

In addition to the rock challenges, the water sources are becoming farther apart and less reliable. I had a 10 mile water carry this afternoon. In this heat that meant carrying 4 liters or almost 9 lbs of water.

Because of the long water Carrie’s, I had planned to camp near my last water source of the day. Unfortunately this was in a forested area full of dead trees. I ended up walking an additional mile looking for a good place to camp. I found a spot in a meadow far enough from any dead trees.

The bugs are starting to get bad at night and I set my tent up and jumped inside to escape from the flies and mosquitoes. I cooked in my vestibule tonight keeping the bugs at bay.