July 21st, 2024
Mile Marker: 785
Miles Hiked: 27
I woke up this morning feeling groggy and sleepy around 6 AM but Journey and I had both discussed getting up earlier today and finishing earlier in the evening. I’ve realized that I dislike getting into camp late and feeling like I need to rush everything. It’s nice to relax and chill when at camp.
Once the sun hit over the ridge, it felt easier to get up so I could take a full look at this amazing sunrise. Just incredible.
We packed up quickly and walked down to our food bags and ate some breakfast watching the sunrise. We got out by 7:20 with cool temperatures and started cruising.
We are starting to notice the roller coaster people have mentioned. The trail goes up a hill and down the hill with no switchbacks. Just straight up and down. Journey and I both agreed that it wasn’t the worst thing especially since we have such great views the whole time.
After a 9 mile water carry we ran across a lake and stream to fill up our water. There was a group of 4 ATVs that passed us and stopped at this lake, one had a couple questions for us and hollered out to us as we passed by. He seemed thoroughly impressed.
The first half of the day we walked along old forest roads which I enjoyed as it kept the path open and wide.
Journey downloaded some audio books and we started listening to Outlive by Peter Attia, it’s all about the science and art of longevity. Both of us found ourselves really enjoying listening to this and hiking.
Around noon we found a good lunch spot in some trees near water and washed off our feet and ate as much as we could.
After lunch we cruised up for a while and got out on epic big views. The mountains around us are huge and amazing.
Even though the climbs are hard, the views are so worth it.
When we are on top of these climbs we notice we start to lose trail. Meaning, we will follow a path for a while and suddenly it will fade out and we can’t see where it goes anymore. One of us will have to pull out our phone and look at our app or search for a post in the distance to know where to go.
Eventually, the whole ridge and going down the mountain was like this. It makes for some slow moving. Additionally the biting flies have started and are making us go quite insane as nothing can stop them. So while we slowly go up a climb, try to find trail, we also have to swat the flies away from the back of our legs. We claimed it was a classic CDT day. Tough climbs with annoying bugs and disappearing trail. Ain’t nothing like it.
We crossed two NOBOs today and the 2nd one just celebrated his 78th birthday. Can you believe it?? I was shocked. He was moving slow but dang, he is still out here getting his triple crown! He said he did both PCT and AT in one go but that he has section hiked the CDT. He discussed how different the CDT culture is and asked about the path forward.
Journey and I talked about the CDT culture afterwards, I think Journey nailed it… a shared experience of individual perseverance. The trail is a lot of people out on a solo adventure and/or couples who stay to themselves. There isn’t a big group that travels together like you see on other trails. And all of us have had big struggles while out here but still persevere everyday to make it through.
About a few miles from where we planned to camp we came across a massive amount of cows singing. As soon as we stepped out they all started belting and I was shocked at all the cows that were there and that kept flooding out of the forest. My goodness where are they all coming from!?
We kept talking as we walked by them and thankfully the trail didn’t make us go right through them. Instead we went around to the right and walked away.
We made it to our campsite a little after 7. The earliest in what feels like a while. It has a nice stream and open views.
Hopefully we can get some sleep as these next two days will continue to be a lot of elevation.
Iz and Oz
Izzy + Ozzy 