High and Cold

by Gillian Larson | posted: June 26, 2018
still snow at the highest peaks

It was super cold overnight, so there were layers of ice on the horses’ water buckets in the morning, but the sun hit us first thing on our east-facing slope to help us thaw out.

I packed up camp and got on trail with 28 miles to cover today; this is the last section of trail in the San Juan mountains that is still part of CT and that I covered last year. After 20 miles, I left the CT, which continues on to Durango, and I was now on new trail on the CDT that I hadn’t traveled before.

I was supposed to camp at a lake, but the mosquitoes had been so bad at some stream crossings that I decided to avoid the lake and camped a half-mile early at a stream where there was some grass. It turned out to be a good decision because when I passed the lake later the next day, there was no grass at all. I outfitted the horses in their anti-mosquito netting and blankets and fly masks and some DEET for the night and that helps them rest and not constantly fight the bloodsuckers.

#2018CDT


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