[Day 120] Above Treeline

A day before Waterton Lake, I lost my tent stakes. Today, I left behind my spoon, the sole food consumption utensil I own, at my lunch spot. I realized my mistake when I put together dinner tonight. However, going back 14 miles for my beloved titanium spoon that accompanied my meals from Mexico to Canada was not an option. My tent stakes and spoon are the same items I nearly lost on the PCT, but were luckily recovered and returned by a hiker behind me.

Am I starting to break down? Yes — in a few ways, or so I think. For the most part — no. But, as a good engineer, I know I can not discount the few or the minor. The small losses or inefficiencies are only signs of surmounting issues.

I kicked off the day with a five-mile climb to Colorado Highway 306, which intersects the CDT at Cottonwood Pass with some 12,000 feet of elevation. Trail got good after Cottonwood Pass, with nearly 20 miles of exposed ridge walking, pass hitting, and traversing. The wind blew cold, but the direct sunlight was warming. I was in a conundrum: do I wear a second layer? I would quickly overheat and sweat in my light fleece, but minutes later I’d find myself in a few miles of 30mph wind.

The climbing was vigorous. Occasionally, grades were 500 feet per mile, often for a mile or so near the peak of the pass. By the end of the day, the trail managed 7,000 feet of gain over 27 miles. Obviously, this is nothing new for the CDT. I am curious about the metric for total gain over the past 2,900 miles. If I was to guess, I’d conservatively estimate I hiked 425,000 feet of elevation gain over the distance from Mexico to Canada. That’s in the whereabouts of 80 miles of vertical.

I took lunch about 13 miles in. I was doing dishes in a stream and distinctly remember leaving my spoon on the bridge feet from where I was washing downstream. Sadly, this is where my spoon will find a new owner.

I imagined the Collegiate West in snowscape — the trackless condition I left it in when I bailed to Collegiate East. It would have been fun to navigate, but I had my reasons for going lower. And, Collegiate East was nice as well. By no means was the east lower route easier, besides the lower average elevation.. The 3,000-foot climb of Collegiate East over the finger of Mt. Yale is one to remember. Was Collegiate West worth returning and putting in the effort to hike? I’d say so. It certainly runs pretty true to the divide line. But, if I judged the worthiness of trail against this metric, eventually I’d converge on a solution where the trail should solely consist of the divide line — a gnarly, implausible hike.

Tonight, I find myself eating my dinner with a tent stake in place of my beloved titanium spoon. Tomorrow, I’ll hop off trail, do my prep business, and head west to hopefully pick up in San Juan’s. This part of the San Juan’s is the most remote part of Colorado and the most remote county in the entire lower 48 states. There will certainly be tricky logistics and extra walking mileage involved.

Signing off,

Zeppelin / fReaK (ON a leash)