Continental Divide Trail – Day 82

August 13, 2023
Miles Today/ Total: 28.2 / 1,437.5

I woke up about 11:00 last night and looked out of my tent at the sky. The stars were amazingly bright. I could see the Milky Way and thousands of stars in the sky. The wind was still blowing strongly and I just looked at the stars from the comfort of my tent.

The wind died down some time after midnight, but when I awoke this morning it had shifted from the south to the north. It was now a cool north wind and blowing right into my tent.

I got around and packed up my gear. There was a lot of sand in my tent which had blown in last night. I tried to dump out d we hat I could as I packed it away.

The trail today was none to exciting. It was all two track road and continued through the desert, up and down hills, and past several herds of cattle. The water sources were springs that were used to water the cows as well. One of the springs was piped into a cattle trough and I scared away the cows as I walked up to it. The bull stood staring at me and I kept the corral around the pump equipment between him and me. I collected my water and then walked about 100 yards away to filter it.

I met several SOBO CDT hikers today and spent some time talking to a few of them. We exchanged info about what the trail ahead was like and then continued on in our respective directions.

In the afternoon I hit a section of the trail that was real sandy making it hard to walk. I found a cow trail nearby and followed it for awhile until it turned off away from the road.

Nearing the end of the day I started looking for a campsite. I found a flat area on top of a small hill and started setting up camp there. I soon had an audience as the cows came over to see what I was doing. They eventually tired and moved on their way.

I cooked dinner, ate, and enjoyed the sunset view before crawling in my tent to end another day.