Day 143: The Hunt For Water!

September 10: During the night, I felt a few small drops of rain, so I quickly threw out my tarp like a blanket as a precaution. Rain wasn't really in the forecast, but better safe than sorry! I'm happy to report, except for the few scattered drops, nothing amounted from it.

By morning, the wind was still howling like a baby after stealing its candy. The views were still filled with smoke, but it didn't seem quite as thick as it did when I went to sleep.

The next water source was another 3.8 miles down the trail, and I had precious few drops left to get me there since skipping the previous water source yesterday afternoon. In fact, I hadn't resupplied my water since way back at Rogers Pass. I was almost completely out. In less than two hours, however, I should have plenty!

That was my mission in the morning: water. Get the water. I was quite thirsty from my rationing, and I decided to drink the last of my water about a half hour before I expected to reach the fresh water. I was going to arrive without a drop of water on me.

Oh, delicious water! This water source was also located about a quarter-mile off trail, but skipping it this time was a no-go for me. I definitely needed the water! In the back of my lizard brain, I wondered what I would do if there was no water. What if I couldn't find the spring? What if the spring had dried up since the last Guthook report? It seemed unlikely, but not impossible. Fortunately, there was a large lake several additional miles ahead and a mile off trail. That would be my Plan B if something didn't work out here, but given how thirsty I already was, I really didn't want to wait until then for water. I probably wouldn't die, but it would be pretty darned miserable.

Fortunately, it didn't come to that. I found the water without any trouble, flowing well and clear. I immediately filled my 1-liter water bottle and drank the whole thing. Awesome! Even after drinking a whole liter, I still felt thirsty, but I was too full to drink anymore. I knew it would take time for my body to absorb the liquid and the thirst to stop, but I was fine.

In the meantime, I filled up my bottles with the water I'd need on the next segment of trail, then returned to the trail and continued the day's hike.

Oh, water! How I love thee! =)

The trail climbed steeply, then followed ridge lines for much of the day before plummeting once again toward Deerborn Creek.

Once I filled up with water, I felt pretty unmotivated to keep hiking the rest of the day. I just wasn't having much fun anymore. I felt lonely and bored, and questioned my life decisions. By 4:00 in the afternoon, I seriously thought about stopping for the day, but pushed on a couple of more hours and finally stopped at around 6:00pm. But even then, I could have kept hiking--if I had really wanted to. I just felt lazy and unmotivated. Nothing was wrong, per se, but sitting around at a nice viewpoint reading a book sounded like a lot more fun to me than hiking.

Rain was in the forecast for tonight, so I did set up my tarp. But otherwise, a largely uneventful day!

I found this trail gear stashed by the trail, but never did see anyone actually doing trail work. Presumably, they'd be coming back at some point!

That lake in the distance was my Plan B in the event that I couldn't find water at the first location I tried. Fortunately, I found the water fine and didn't have to hike off-trial to get this water!

Signs of autumn! The red is thick in the underbrush!

Day 142: The Yurt Above Rogers Pass

September 9: The morning was beautiful and I slept well during the night. I slept in late, mostly so I could hike back down with Addie and Sean to Rogers Pass where they had parked their vehicle. I was accustomed to waking up earlier than they were, however, so I read my Kindle to kill the time until they were ready to get up and moving.

Twas a beautiful sunrise!

As soon as we left the protective cover of the trees, the brutal wind showed itself once again. It had not died down during the night and continued to pull at us as strongly as ever, and it would continue to do so throughout the rest of the day.

The trail dropped a long 1,300' (400 m) to Rogers Pass, which we reached after less than 3 miles according to my GPS. The group of us sat around for about two more hours just chatting and having a good old time. Not that I needed a two-hour break after hiking less than 3 miles, but this was where we would part ways. So we took a long break and sat around for the next two hours just chatting and having a good old time.

A sign in a parking lot told the story about the coldest temperature ever recorded in the contiguous United States. On January 20, 1954, a low temperature of -70 °F (-57 °C) was recorded. I couldn't even imagine temperatures that low, and I was glad I didn't have to camp in such extreme conditions! Of course, it was still summer rather than the depths of January. That would make a big difference, and I definitely wouldn't have been hiking through in the middle of January.

The coldest temperature ever recorded in the contiguous United States was recorded at this pass. A whopping -70 °F! Isn't Antarctica usually warmer than that?

 

A little before noon, we finally went our separate ways. Addie and Sean filled me up with more trail magic out of their car, including fresh water that I didn't have to pull from the creek leading up to the parking lot. I was a little sad to be parting ways, though. I really enjoyed their company.

Out of Roger Pass, the trail climbed steeply up the next mountain. It was going to be another day of very rough and rugged terrain. In all, my GPS would once again record over 10,000 feet of elevation gain and loss--all in less than 18 miles. This trail is rougher than Colorado was!

A couple of hours into my hike, I reached a yurt on the trail that was open to hikers. I went in for a quick break and it was absolutely wonderful. It make a terrific place for a quick snack out of the powerful winds. I wished I could have slept there, but since I had arrived at 1:00 in the afternoon, it was much too early for me to stop for the day. Anyhow, I hadn't even covered 10 miles yet. It was definitely way too early for me to stop for the day, but what a comfortable setup!

I found a headlamp in a portable chair. It was in the cup that was meant to hold drinks. I had little doubt it was left by a thru-hiker who probably camped here during the night and forgot to pick it up on his way out, but I had no idea who it might have been or how long ago it had been left. I thought about grabbing it, but I really didn't need the extra weight and with little chance of catching up to the owner, it seemed pointless, so I left it behind.

Yurt on the trail!

A couple of days later, I would catch up with Jazz Hands who then asked me if I happened to notice the headlamp in the yurt. "Yes! That was yours?!" It was indeed. Then I felt bad for not grabbing it. I really could have returned it to its owner! It seemed like such a long shot that I'd ever have found the owner, and I certainly didn't think it had been left there just that morning. For all I knew, it could have been there for a week or more. Oh, well.... He told me that he didn't realize it was missing until it starting getting late that night and was a bit panicked about having lost it. He often hiked at night and needed the headlamp for that. Oh... well.... Just make me feel even more guilty for not picking it up, why don't you? =)

Anyhow, I pushed onward, passing a second structure not far away, although it was decidedly less cozy than the yurt. The other structure had no windows to let in light and was barren of amenities like chairs and tables. I poked my head in to see what it looked like, but I didn't stop.

A non-yurt on the trail! This was much less cozy than the yurt, though.

Onward and onward! At Lewis and Clark Pass, I decided to skip the water source located about 1/4-mile off trail. It sounded like somewhat of a pain to get to, and I figured I could reach the next water source without stopping here. I had been undecided about whether I'd stop for water here until the moment I reached the pass. The next reliable water was another 10 miles down the trail--a distance that I knew I would not reach today. But the idea of spending a half hour or more off trail picking up water was discouraging, and I figured if I rationed my water, I could make it to the next water source just fine.

I had a few things working in my favor. For one, I still had leftover pizza from yesterday for dinner, so I didn't need water to cook a meal. And second, temperatures had been quite mild--at least after considering the wind chill--so I hadn't really been drinking very much. So with a bit of rationing, I should have no trouble skipping this source. Although in hindsight, I wished I had carried more water from Rogers Pass so I didn't have to ration the water at all. I'd definitely be a little thirsty when I did reach the next water source 10 miles away.

As the day went on, the smoke in the skies got thicker and thicker. By sunset, visibility had dropped significantly. 

Smoke in the sky was often so thick, it almost looked like fog in my photos!

Then, just before sunset, I finally stopped and set up camp on a ridgetop among some small trees that helped break the wind.  If it wasn't for all the smoke, the views might have actually been quite nice!

And thus ended another day of adventuring. Despite my slow and late start in the morning, I still managed to push out about 18 miles for the day--the vast majority of it coming after noon. I did hike much later into the evening than I usually did to help compensate for my lack of hiking in the morning, but it all turned out pretty well over all. =)

One of Addie's dogs seemed to prefer hiking with me than her! =)

Roger Pass

Inside the yurt

The smoke was so thick, I could get this photo of the sun in the middle of the day!

Day 141: A Trail Reunion! Addie Returns!

September 8: I slept well during the night, woke up early, and hit the trail running by 6:50am. The only annoying part for me was that it was still before sunrise! Why is the sun rising so late?! Argh!

I passed the campsite where Jazz Hands stopped for the night about an hour later. He was awake, but didn't seem in any particular rush to get moving quite yet. =)

I started hiking before sunrise once again. Why?! Why won't the sun come up sooner anymore?!

At Fletcher Pass, I needed to pick up some water. There was a water cache at the pass by the trail, but it only had about a half-liter of water left and I didn't expect to find anymore water for the rest of the day. I definitely needed more than that, so I trudged off-trail, down a steep slope about 20 minutes to a small creek where I could fill up with water.

Being the last known water source on the trail for the day, I also decided to cook my dinner there. Use and abuse the water while I could! Otherwise, I'd have to carry water for cooking a meal later, and who needs the extra weight?

And that's when I realized... an absolutely vital piece of equipment was missing from my pack: my groundsheet! I use it to sleep on, but I'll often use it during the day while taking a break to give me something to sit or lay on rather than directly on the ground itself which is often dirty, has bugs, mud, thorns or other issues. I went to pull out my groundsheet which I planned to sit on while cooking dinner, but I couldn't find it!

The thought that I left it behind in camp seemed ludicrous. I'd notice if I left something that big behind. I did, however, stop for a short snack break by a log, and I suspected that the ground sheet was sitting next to that log, and the log hid it from me as I left so I didn't realize it was no longer in my pack. Normally I stuffed it near the top of my pack, but I had taken it out just to get it out of the way, and I feared it simply never made it back in.

But that had happened hours earlier. The idea of backtracking in the hopes of finding it.... no! I couldn't do it!

The water cache at Fletcher Pass just didn't have enough water for me, so I trekked a mile down a steep slope, off-trail, to get water at a creek. Ugh!

But I had a thought. Although still hiking the trail, I kept in touch with my trail family, occasionally dropping a line to Addie, Pez and Evenstar. Addie had gotten off the trail way back in New Mexico, but she lived in Montana so I'd send her a message whenever I reached or passed a trail town just to let her know where I was, and she had texted me back a few days ago that she had time off of work and could come out to meet me on the trail--today! Well, this evening!

So we were planning to meet up this evening. She had asked me if there was anything I needed, but at the time, I didn't. Now, suddenly, I was in desperate need of a new groundsheet. And, as it happened, at Fletcher Pass, I got a cell phone signal. I gave Addie a call.

I told her about my predicament and asked if she could pick up a new groundsheet for me. Basically, I just wanted some Tyvek. It was relatively cheap, lightweight and durable and could probably be found in just about any hardware store. She said no problem. Awesome!

I gave her an update about my progress and my current location at Fletcher Pass. I also said that the easiest way to find me would likely be to park at Rogers Pass and start hiking southbound on the CDT until we crossed paths. I couldn't be certain precisely where I would get a signal throughout the day, but I'd keep her updated as best I could. I did give her the URL where she could track me with my SPOT device, but I'd try to text when I could as well.

With all that settled, I went ahead with cooking a dinner--although I sat directly on the grass on the ground rather than on a groundsheet.

After finishing lunch, I hiked back up to the actual pass--a rather steep and exhausting climb which took another half-hour just to get back to where I left the trail. And finally, I was on my way again.

There was water, but it was located nearly a mile off-trail down this slope. *sigh*

 

The trail continued climbing quite steeply after the pass, high into the mountains.

To the west, a wall of smoke was quickly blowing in. I could see it marching toward me, and the winds on the exposed ridges practically blew me off the trail. Holy cow! I didn't know where the wildfire was burning, but there was definitely a lot of smoke blowing toward me. It was a little odd watching it approach closer with each passing minute.

Along the high-mountain ridges, I occasionally checked my phone and when I had a signal, texted Addie with my current position. I didn't hear back immediately, though, but it could very well have been that she was out of range on the drive to the trailhead.

Late in the day, about 2.5 miles before descending to Rogers Pass, I spotted a couple of hikers with dogs heading in my direction and I immediately recognized Addie.

"Addie!" I shouted over the punishing winds. She was with Sean, her significant other, and her dogs. I was expecting them as well, but it was the first time I met any of them.

It was late in the day and time to set up camp. Addie and Sean reported that there were no good campsites in the direction they had come from, and on this exposed ridge, the wind was a real problem. A few minutes earlier, however, I passed a small grove of trees that seemed to work well as a wind break and suggested backtracking a few minutes to that location which I pointed out in the distance.

Addie seemed a bit skeptical that such a small grouping of trees could really provide much wind cover, but I had literally just hiked right through it a few minutes earlier and could definitely tell it worked well. It didn't eliminate all of the wind, but at least it was tolerable, and there were some relatively flat spots for campsites. It could work. Frankly, it was the best place for camping I had seen in miles, and if there was nothing good ahead, it was really the only option we had.

Not a lot of good places to camp on these exposed ridges in such strong winds!

So we hoofed it over there and immediately upon getting into the trees, the wind died down dramatically. "Wow!" Addie seemed amazed at the difference.

We quickly set up our camps in the area. I decided to cowboy camp since the weather overnight was expected to be fine, so it didn't take me long. Addie pulled out a long sheet of Tyvek, which I laid out as my new groundsheet. Perfect! It was so perfect that we had planned to meet up just as I needed this essential piece of equipment replaced! Somewhat ironically, if I had lost it a day earlier, I could have also easily replaced it at Dave the outfitters--although I suspect he only sold "real" groundsheets rather than the cheap Tyvek I wanted. Still, in a pinch, I definitely would have bought one.

But Addie and Sean had also brought some additional trail magic: pizza (veggie), salad, Cokes, cookies and oranges. It was a feast! I pigged out and enjoyed every minute of it. What a treat!

We camped near a nice overlook and wound up chatting until midnight, laughing all night long. I filled Addie in on all my stories since I'd seen her last, and she filled me in on her stories after we last saw each other in Silver City. Silver City seemed like a lifetime ago at this point, but it felt like we'd only been apart for a couple of days rather than several months! Sean and the dogs were nice company too, although Sean might have felt a bit left out not knowing all of the other hikers we talked about. Well, he might have known about them since I'm sure he heard stories from Addie, but he didn't know them--not on a personal level like Addie did.

But it was so much fun catching up with Addie and sharing our stories. Even at midnight, I didn't really want to stop chatting, but we did have to wake up again in the morning sometime!

The trail had been a pretty rough day for me as well. My GPS once again recorded over 10,000 feet of elevation change, but all-in-all, I absolutely loved the day. The views were great, and the company at the end of the day really helped filled my loneliness. =)

I last saw Addie about 2000 miles back in Silver City, NM! She looked pretty much the same, but apparently my beard was a shock for her. Basically, I only had a week of stubble the last time she had seen me. =)

Shortly after meeting up with Addie, I texted a photo of us to Pez--who I knew was several days ahead of me on the trail--with the caption of "look who I bumped into on the trail!" Of course, it was pre-planned in advance, but I didn't tell Pez that. Seemed funnier to let him think that we just happened to cross paths by accident. (I didn't actually say this, however--I just let him assume it.)

But anyhow, it was an awesome evening and a very satisfying day on the trail.

The sunset was really quite nice! I thought the clouds looked like they came out of a painting!

That's Fletcher Pass far below. The trail climbed quite steeply to this viewpoint!

This small cluster of trees was the only decent place to get out of the strong winds for miles in either direction! It would became our campsite for the night.

Day 140: Dead animals in the water... again!

September 7: I woke up and hit the trail at about 6:50am. It only took a few minutes for me to walk over to the water source that I skipped the evening before hoping the cattle would move away by morning, but alas, that plan didn't work. The cattle were still lingering in the area.

I really needed water, however, so now it was time to scare them off. Which I did easily enough.

But when I reached the water tank, I saw that it was almost completely dry with nothing more than an incredibly slow drip from the spring. Watching the drip, I realized it would likely take me an hour or more to collect enough water to get me to the next water source. I really didn't want to wait around for an hour or more.

There's water... but how to reach it?!

 
The last Guthook comments about the water source--less than a week old--said it was flowing well, so this turn of events was definitely unexpected. I scratched my head a bit, then noticed a small, fenced-off area nearby. I bet that was the spring that fed this water tank.

So I climbed over the fence where I found a large cap covering a hole in the ground filled with that precious liquid called water.

Well, to say it was "filled" with water might be a bit of an exaggeration. There were a couple of feet of standing water in the hole. The problem, however, was that the surface of the water was about 5 or 6 feet down the tube--well outside of my arm's reach! I also happened to noticed a dead squirrel at the bottom of the water. That had to be a terrible way to die. I imagined the squirrel got a little curious, poked its head into the tube, fell to the bottom, then eventually drowned unable to climb back out. Poor little guy.

See the dead animal at the bottom of the water? Yum!

But now he was decomposing in my water source. If I could just somehow reach the water.

Theoretically, I could just jump into the water. The hole wasn't so deep that I was afraid I'd end up like the squirrel. I could (probably) climb back out. But jumping into the water didn't really appeal to me either.

Then I hit on an idea. What if I tied a water bottle to my trekking pole and lowered it into the water? Could I fill up with water that way? I actually wasn't sure if it would work, but I figured it was worth a shot.

This was my plan for getting water out of the hole!

And it turned out to work flawlessly! When the bottle hit the water, the bottle tried to float up higher on my trekking pole, but it caught on the knobs that locked the length of the trekking pole in place which allowed me to force to the bottle under the water's surface. And when I tried to pull the bottle out, the weight of the water-filled bottle tried to slide off the end of the trekking pole, but the cups at the bottom of the pole prevented it from sliding off.

So I filled up the water bottle and pulled it out quite easily. I repeated the process a couple of times to get more water, and after I finished, I re-covered the hole with the cover and left a comment on Guthook to let people after me know that the water tank was dry but that there was still water in the spring at the source--if you didn't mind the dead squirrel in it nor the fact that it was well outside of a normal person's reach.

I didn't get a cell phone connection here, but when I did get a connection, the comment would post and everyone behind me would have that updated information. 

Later, I went back and read the Guthook comments about the water source and found someone the day after me who posted that the "chipmunk" was removed from the spring. (I guess it could have been a chipmunk. I didn't see it up close!) TwoSpeed also wrote that "There is a nice cover for the box laying beside it. Please use it to prevent more water flavoring from falling in." I'm a little curious how they got the chipmunk out, though. It seemed like the only way to get it out would be to jump into the hole, but he (she?) wrote they creatively used a trekking pole and some rope to get the water out. Perhaps they were able to lasso the chipmunk with the rope? I may never find out....

Another week later, feralhikes reported that the water is "collectible if you have long arms or an assistant to hold your feet" which also gave me a chuckle. They didn't say which method they used, but I'm not sure anyone had arms long enough just to reach the water!

Anyhow.... once I'd manage to collect enough water to get me through the day--there were no other water sources expected for about 20 miles or so--I finally got started hiking.

The day's hike was relatively uneventful. Sometimes it followed real trail. Sometimes it followed gravel roads. It was generally an easy hike, although number of ups and downs surprised me. In all, my GPS recorded about 10,000 feet of ups and downs--which was worse than most days in Colorado. What happened?! Where did all these mountains come from?!

I did run into one other thru-hiker late in the day, named Jazz Hands. Apparently, we had crossed paths on the Appalachian Trail in 2015, but I have to admit I didn't remember meeting him. We hiked the trail in opposite directions, though, and he remembered my stamp from the trail. He asked me about that last water source, and I told him my adventures about retrieving the water. He didn't realize that the spring was nearby, however, and said that he waited around over an hour collecting enough water from the slow drip. And even then, he hadn't really collected as much as he wanted--only as much as felt he really needed, and it really annoyed me how long it took to get the necessary amount of water.

Late in the day, near Flesher Pass, we passed an outfitters near the trail. It was... an unusual setup, and seemingly in the middle of nowhere. How could there be an outfitters out in the middle of this gravel road in the middle of nowhere?!

But there it was. It consisted of portable housing, a tiny place the size of a couple of shipping containers, and it had everything. One person on Guthook joked that you could literally walk in completely naked and buy absolutely everything you needed for a thru-hike, and it wasn't an exaggeration. There was a lot of high-quality goods for any thru-hiker's needs!

Dave's outfitters didn't look like much on the outside, but wow! It's a full-fledged REI on the inside!

 

The building was off-the-grid. Electricity was supplied from solar panels. I didn't really need any gear, but I did buy three cold drinks and a fig bar and charged my devices. I also cooked dinner at the picnic table in front and threw out my trash. It was a really sweet setup.

The owner of the establishment was named Dave, and Jazz Hands, him and I chatted for the better part of an hour. It was a wondering little stop.

Dave said we were more than welcome to camp there, but I wanted to get in a few more miles and pushed onward a bit more.

A couple of miles later, around 7:00pm, I found a nice, flat spot to camp on a bit of cushy grass. I would have liked to have gone a couple of more miles, but looking at the topo maps ahead, the trail only headed upward and I worried it would soon go above treeline and make it difficult to find a good place to camp out of the wind. And I was sure I wouldn't find a better place to camp than this one. So I decided, somewhat reluctantly, to finally stop for the day. All-in-all, a fine day of hiking!

The views from the high points were pretty darned nice!

Old cabin...

Did I ever share a photo of my official CDT socks? I bought them at the outfitters way back in Leadville, but they still look nice! =)