August 7th, 2024
Mile Marker: 1164.6
Miles Hiked: 15
Oh how lovely it was to sleep in this morning. I initially woke up around 6 AM but with the heavy fog, cold temps, and condensation, I easily fell back asleep.
Journey and I went in and out of sleep for a while, trying to wait for the fog to lift and the sunlight to shine through. Close to 9 AM we decided to get up and make breakfast. The fog was lingering for a long time but just starting to break up.
I ate my normal oatmeal and coffee but found myself still very hungry. It’s as if only town meals can really fill me up any more.
After breakfast we moved our tent out of the shade and set out all our belongings, everything needed to get nice and dry. Us thru hikers call this a yard sale.
We messed around with our gear and fixed a couple small holes in our tent. We felt like we needed to prepare everything for more storms coming in the future.
I worked on some blogs and before we knew it, it was noon and we decided we should eat lunch since Tia and Grady would be arriving soon.
As we had almost finished packing up our yard sale and having our packs put together a car comes by and Tia and Grady popped out.
I was so thrilled. It almost felt unreal to have these two meet us out on trail in the middle of no where. Tia gave Journey his new sun hoodie and me my new trekking poles Black Diamond set me up with. I finally have two poles again! It’s been almost 2 months with only one. Sheesh! The best trail angels!!
Around one we set out; me in the lead then Tia, Grady, and Journey. I was so pumped.
Today’s terrain was going to be relatively gradual which was great for all of us.
The first part of our hike led us along the green river lakes that had these massive mountains in the background.
It was incredible. The trail took us closer and closer to the mountain ranges and after each corner it felt like we were seeing a whole new range.
We found a good pace and continued that way for most of the day.
The glacier melt had the river and lakes a stunning turquoise blue that made such a contrast with the green trees.
I was loving today. I found parts of myself wanting to go faster and almost feeling like I needed to be doing more miles but I constantly reminded myself that I didn’t, I had no where else I needed to be.
It was a good reminder to be present, to be on trail focused in this moment.
How lucky am I to have our friends come out and hike with us? Most people on trail don’t get that and this time I really realize how amazing Tia and Grady are. Always down for whatever, just wanting to be part of the experience. You don’t get friends like these two often. 🥹
I loved seeing them figure out their own puzzle piece of crossing a river on rocks or down trees. It’s always a neat experience and a reminder to me of how far I have come. I realized today that I’m no newb to the CDT anymore, although sometimes it feels like I just started. The truth is, we are almost half way done. How wild!
The mountains kept getting better the further back into them we went. I’m finding myself very excited for these next couple of days.
We decided we would stop around 7 PM for camp and when we arrived at the camp spot discussed on FarOut we realized we were in the middle of a bunch of dead trees. No way, we cannot camp here.
Sigh.
I felt frustrated and bad for Tia and Grady, we definitely didn’t want a repeat of the PCT where we hiked entirely too much. We wanted this time to be less miles and more time together. However, we didn’t have any other option but to continue on.
So continue on we did. We went another 1.6 to a place that had multiple comments about the tent site, it felt like we had a better chance.
Tia and Grady trooped it out and we made it to camp around 8 PM. Definitely later than I like but not terrible.
We set up tents and also realized someone took a dump without digging a hole or packing out their toilet paper right next to a tree in the campsite. I don’t understand how people do that. I could go on a rant but I’ll refrain. 🤦🏽♀️
We went down by the river to make some dinner and then hung bear bags and are snug in our tents.
It’s a pretty cool feeling knowing we are all experiencing this together. 🥰
Hoping for some restful sleep and good weather tomorrow for some higher elevation climbs. EEK!
Iz and Oz
Izzy + Ozzy 