Wednesday, 14 August 2013
Steamboat Springs was the perfect last stop of Colorado. We were lucky enough to catch the Carolina Chocolate Drops live for free - a bluegrass band we have been listening too all trail long, and had a relaxing day off at Damsels house who Virgo, Cactus and I walked with on the PCT last year. We hitched out of town in the afternoon and walked a few miles in the rain to camp. It rained most of the night and would stay that way for the next few days.
The trail for the last section of Colorado still had some steepish climbs and ridge walking but was far tamer than the previous sections of CO. We camped on a ridge on the edge of a cliff on our second night, and used my tarp as a wind break break for the 6 of us. We looked out over the plains below, the last grand view of Colorado. It rained a lot, and at times on the ridge we were blasted with a cold easterly wind. The misty tundra ridges reminded me of home, and I couldn't help but compare the wet route finding above tree line to tramping and fieldwork in the Southern Alps. With the rain, it meant that mushrooms were popping up all around and we collected some Porchini mushrooms for dinner. We found an open sided picnic shelter off a dirt road which also had a fire pit, and we roasted the mushrooms coated in olive oil, salt and pepper and they were by far the best mushrooms i have ever eaten in my life.
We reached the Colorado/Wyoming border at the end of the third day and celebrated by sitting down. It was a pretty exhausting day.
We pushed to the Battle Pass the next day to hitch to Encampment and were fortunate enough to be able to stay at Par's cabin - a local fishing guide. Our fellow CDT hiker Clutch stayed with him a couple of weeks back, and Virgo was lucky enough to run into him in town. We were thankful to have such a great place to stay and made the most of the wide screen tv and comfy sofas for the night and headed back out to the trail the next day. It was a great first stop in Wyoming, and the perfect start to a new state.
Encampment. Mile 1450
