SUMMARY:  Well, we had two new experiences on the Divide today.

1. This morning, till 11:00am, we were in a cloud that had settled over the mountains overnight. Felt like a summer day back home!
2. The Divide changed from being a broad grassy or forested ridge to being very rocky and narrow, with a cliff on one side and a steep dropoff on the other.

We even got to climb a “knife edge” type ridge. The weather is much cooler today, which made an ideal day for hiking. The trail in the afternoon took us way down into a very pretty valley, then over a ridge into another one. Wildflowers! Springs! So pretty!

DETAILS:  Even though our get-up time is now 5:40, it was still very dark when we were ready to start hiking.  I could hardly see the trail.  But after a few minutes of hiking, we discovered WHY–it was because we were IN a cloud/fog, in the forest.  Everything was misty, and there was a cold wind blowing.  We finally stopped to eat breakfast (shiver, shiver, brrrr) and hoped for a nice big PUD to climb so that we could get warm!

Eventually we were out of the forest, and oh boy–the Divide had a sheer cliff on one side and a very steep downslope on the other.  And instead of grassy ground, it’s more like a rockpile–impossible to make a trail on, so we were back to “follow the rock cairns” in a bitter cold wind on a very narrow ridge with the big dropoff right next to us.  There were a few very determined, rugged trees clinging to the rocks.

And then surprise! We met Medicare Pastor and Rockstar again!  They are SOBO-iing this section of the CDT!  It was fun to talk to them, but then we really needed to move on.  We found a warm, sunny hollow, out of the wind, where we could have lunch, then it was back to steep climbing up another knife-edge ridge.  The wind continued to be bitter cold, and we were wearing our down jackets even on the uphill!  But the fog/cloud was slowly clearing away and we had more and more blue sky.  Wow, what a scene!  This whole area is so rugged and rocky and impressive!

Finally the CDT headed down, way down, into a very pretty green valley, with springs and lakes and wildflowers.  The trail followed the valley for awhile, then up we went again, over a ridge, and down the other side.  That’s where we are camped now, in a grove of fir trees.  Our feet are sore from the very rocky trail today, but wow, it was so awesome!