Album: journal:20110704 | ||||||||||
Happy 4th of July everyone! First, I enjoyed some great bat watching last night at dusk. Today's hiking was somewhat unremarkable. I got a little bit of a late start (9:17) up the shoulder of Mt Harvard. It was hot and I was soon out of water even though I started the day with a liter of Ramen soup and almost a liter of Gatorade. After gaining a ridge at 11,800 the trail was mostly descending to North Cottonwood Creek through forested slopes. I took a fantastic break at Morrison Creek. There was a perfect shady spot next to the water. It had a great place to lean my pack and recline while enjoying the cool breeze and lack of bothersome insects. I watered up and ate a freeze dried ice cream sandwich and drank a vanilla milkshake. Mmmmm. My revere was broken only by a group of trekkers with Colorado Mountain Expeditions. After the lead group went through I began to think maybe I should get moving. I wasn't eager to leave my perfect spot though. I finally did and leapfrogged one of the trekkers 5 or 6 times over the next 9 miles. Down at the road who do I see but Chriss, the guy I met at Kenosha Pass who gave me such good information on snow conditions. He recognized me right away and offered a beer which I gladly accepted. He was there with the CME group. We talked for almost an hour about the trail and had some good laughs. The group is going to Marshall Pass 57 miles down the trail so I'll likely be seeing them again. He also warned me that there will probably still be some snow along Fooses Creek and the Divide at the pass. After I said goodbye I hiked another couple miles up the next mountain to where I am camped next to Silver Creek. It's a good spot and I'm using my tent tonight since there were some rain clouds earlier. Dinner was instant "Loaded Mashed" potatoes with red pepper flakes - yummy! |
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