SUMMARY: The top priority for me this morning was get new trek poles (the old ones were really rickety) and find a new fanny pack, because the zippers were giving out on the old one. Then I had a quick look at the kayakers getting ready to launch into the rushing, muddy-brown San Juan River before Bill and I headed out to hitch a ride to Wolf Creek Pass.

We ended up squished into a little car with Titan, another thruhiker, and soon we were back up on the CDT, and soon after that, into lots of snow—almost 100% covering the trail. We mostly followed footprints, with frequent looks at maps.

Part of the time we were climbing over rocks on a mountainside above the trail. Scary! Had a hard time finding a campsite—finally got set up on a grassy “island” in a sea of snow and snowmelt.

DETAILS:  It sure was nice to “sleep in” till 6:30 this morning; we got up and headed straight for the First Inn’s coffee and cinnamon roll breakfast.  Yum!  But that was only the first round.  We put on our jackets and walked out into a very cold and cloudy morning, down the street to the Junction restaurant, where we made like hobbits and had a second breakfast.  We are trying very hard to stay ahead of the calorie deficit problem.  Suffer!

But then I had to get serious.  My trek poles were dead.  They had travelled with me for the whole PCT, twice, and I should have replaced them before tackling the CDT.  Fixit had been keeping them going, all patched together with wire bits and bobby pins, but it was obvious that they would not last much longer.  I also needed a new fannypack–again, the old one had done two PCT trips, and the zipper was in bad shape and threatening to fail altogether.  Not good.  So after the second breakfast, we headed for a nearby sporting goods store, where I was able to get new trek poles.  But no luck on the fannypack.  None of them were suitable.  The other sporting goods store was not due to open for awhile, so we went back to First Inn to load up our packs and get ready to go.  I also had some more time to read the Bible, which was a good thing, because I was thinking some more about what we were headed into and was very uneasy.  I read Psalm 46 again and also Psalm 89.  Conclusion: God is faithful, He is mighty and most of all He loves me.  I closed the Bible and told God, “OK, I do trust You.  Here we go!”

Fixit and I put on our packs and walked over to the second sporting goods store.  Technically, it was supposed to be open at that point, but there was no sign of life.  We decided to wait a bit.  Fixit said he just wanted to sit and rest, so I left my pack with him and walked a little way down the street to watch the kayakers getting ready to put in at the San Juan River.  They were busy blowing up their inflatable kayaks, right next to the rushing, deep, muddy brown water.  I also met Titan, a CDT hiker on his way to hitch back up to the trail at Wolf Creek Pass.  When I got back, the store was open and YES!  They had a fannypack that was perfect–small and lightweight and just big enough to hold everything it needed to hold.  And then I had a thought–how about replacing the umbrella I lost while I was postholing in the snow?  But no luck with that, even though the very kind clerk phoned around to see if any other store had any umbrellas at all.  Not only that, but she told us that the owner of the store is also a CDT trail angel who often gives hikers rides back up to Wolf Creek Pass, and she phoned the owner to see if the owner could give US a ride.  The response was, “Can’t do it right now, but tell them to go to the highway intersection and try to hitch, and I will come along when I can–if they are still there I’ll give them a ride.”  So the clerk told us exactly where to go near the intersection to have the best chance of getting a ride up to the Pass.

So we followed her instructions,  went to the Hwy. 160/Hwy. 84 junction and crossed over to the 160 side.  Two CDT hikers ( Titan and his friend Squirrel) were already there, and said “Nobody is stopping for us.”  Well, they were two big thruhiker guys (especially Titan, who very much deserves his name) so I volunteered to be the one to stick my thumb out and try to get us a ride, since I am a girl and look a bit less fearsome.  Car after car sped by, some waving apologetically, until along came a girl who is a friend of Titan’s.  She pulled over, and to our total amazement, Titan and Squirrel insisted that Fixit and I should be the first to ride up to the Pass.  “But you were here first,” we said.  “That wouldn’t be fair!”  Titan said, “But you guys are old and we wouldn’t feel right about hogging a ride and leaving you here.”  He and Squirrel insisted, so Fixit and I took our packs and started squeezing into the girl’s little car.  Just then, another car came along and stopped.  He had room to take one person.  So in the end, Titan, Fixit and I made like sardines and squeezed into Titan’s friend’s car.  It turned out that she works up at the Wolf Creek Pass ski area, and has hiked the whole PCT and part of the CDT, so she was very happy to help us all out.

The ride up to the Pass was beautiful–at first it was forest and meadows, then the road began a dramatic, twisting climb up to the top, where once again, there was plenty of snow, and happy kids and families having fun by the parking lot, with snowmen, snowball fights, etc. All the thruhikers “saddled up” and headed for the CDT.  There were 6 young guys plus Fixit and I.   The six zipped right up the trail and were soon out of sight, while Fixit and I did our best, and actually caught up with one of the young guys, Uberdude.  He was having a hard time with a bad cough (due to the altitude–all of us are having cough problems to one degree or another).

At first the trail was actually a TRAIL and a lot of fun to walk on, but soon it was back into 100% snow.  Knowing that there were now 5 people recently ahead of us, we simply followed footprints, but kept a weather eye on the maps.  Occasionally there would be a brief break in the snow, and we’d actually spot a bit of trail tread.  (I cheered loudly each time!  I hate being lost!)  The other good thing was that the snow was fine for walking on even without snowshoes, and we were making good progress, though of course not as fast as walking on trail tread.

But then oh no–the fast young guys must have had a disagreement about which way to go, because their footprints split up and headed out in several different directions.  We stopped and looked hard at the maps, then chose which footprints to follow.  Turned out we made the RIGHT choice, whew!  The route was basically circling around the head of a large river valley, and again, we did have occasional glimpses of trail tread.  Overhead, the clouds were gathering, getting darker and darker till they were almost a blue-black, rumbling with thunder and occasionally spitting a bit of rain.  At noon we stopped to eat dinner, sitting on a little “island” in the middle of the snow, wearing full raingear because it was so cold and windy and wet.

After dinner, Fixit decided, “I’ve had it with walking on the snow.  Let’s go up a bit to where it’s more bare mountainside, and walk on the rocks instead.”  Well, I totally suck at walking on rocks.  But Fixit hates walking on afternoon snow where postholing becomes a pain.  So all I could do was pray and ask God for help, and do my best to creep along on the rocks.  When 7 pm arrived (time to camp), the only place we could see that might be camp-able was down in the valley below, which meant a long downhill through the snow.  But we made it, and found a small sort-of-flat island of only slightly damp grass in the midst of a sea of marsh, mud and snowmelt.  We know that the actual trail is somewhere nearby, buried in the snow.   As best I can figure, despite a very late start and difficult conditions, we still made 10 miles, and we have a very snug camp here on the “island.”