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