CT Day 9 - 25 milesI kinda cant believe we did 25 miles today, especially since yesterday we only di
CT Day 9 - 25 milesI kinda cant believe we did 25 miles today, especially since yesterday we only did 15. We woke up at 4:30 this morning and started hiking in the dark to go over Searle & Kokomo Pass. The sunrise above treeline is always gorgeous, and this one was especially beautiful. We hiked for 6 miles above the trees with the most stunning view of the surrounding peaks. Yesterday we crossed the 10 Mile range, today we cross the Elk range. After cresting Kokomo Pass, we descended for what seemed like forever, until we passed by a waterfall and ended up on a dirt road coming from Leadville. We continued hiking, crossed highway 24, then Tennessee Pass, and climbed a bit into the Holy Cross Wilderness. The miles went by pretty quickly until the very end, when the last 4 miles to camp seemed to stretch on forever. I plugged my headphones into my ears and trudged onward while listening to podcasts. It’s amazing how much something so simple can distract you from the pain in your feet and make the time pass by quicker.We set up camp in the trees near a meadow flanked on all sides by the rugged and prominent cliff sides that make up the Holy Cross Wilderness. I’ve heard people talk about how beautiful this area of Colorado is, but I’d never seen it myself until now. It’s quite stunning. Just after crawling into the tent after our longest day (by far) yet, it started to rain and thunder. There seems to be a pattern of thunderstorms every night around sunset. This one was loud and busy and long. The rain turned to small hail, and the small hail turned to bigger hail, which kept getting bigger and louder and scarier. It piled up around the edges of our tent and made us question if our tent could survive the ambush of ice pellets. Nate and I cuddled in the tent, hoping and praying for it to stop. Finally, all at once, it stopped. Then it started up again 10 minutes later. The lightning was so close you could feel the ground rumble as it struck. The hail started up again. I closed my eyes and blocked my ears and for some reason that made it all feel less scary. The storm lasted for hours. I didn’t sleep much at all. Have I mentioned how much I hate these storms?? -- source link
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