I broke camp in my tiny grassy spot between the logs and started hiking. I didn’t sleep all that well – too many grass clumps underneath and a slight slope kept me slipping around all night. The trail immediately started going up. And up, and up and up. I think the trail ascended close to 3500 feet, but combined with all the ups and downs I think it was close to a 5000 foot day. This slowed me down quite a bit and I only did 22 miles.
Elk bow hunting season is in full swing. I see a lot of hunters and I’ve been impressed with how friendly they have all been. Lots of people from Kentucky and Tennessee it seems.
As I climbed towards Lost Ranger Peak (at almost 12000 feet) I saw fewer people and then none except for a lone horseman with some ragged clothes blowing in the wind. He slowly walked his horse up the slope towards Lost Ranger Peak and then disappeared in the distance. I don’t think he ever saw me as I sat on a rock a ways off the trail. I’m not sure if he was a hunter or a CDT hiker or what, but he looked lonely and a little spooky with his tattered clothes flapping away.
A front is coming through with insane winds strong enough to constantly blow me off the trail. I used my trekking poles a lot to compensate for the wind. The clouds went flying by overhead and the views were spectacular.
After following a beautiful high ridge for several miles, the trail dropped down the west side to get around Mt Ethel. There are a lot of huge boulders and scattered forests and talus slopes through here. The rest of the day was spent winding back and forth over the divide – sometimes traversing slopes along the west, sometimes on the east, and sometimes right on top of it. There was a lot of hiking to regain the divide at a saddle, then going down the other side around a peak, then back up to the next saddle and so on. All in all it was beautiful but exhausting.
The trail descended to Buffalo Pass where I encountered several hunters once again. There is way too much going on here with ATV’s and dirt bikes all over so I continued past the pass and up the other side. I am now on two-track which the hunters patrol on their ATV’s looking for elk. I’m camped at the edge of a small meadow a hundred yards from the trail/road. I have 15 miles to go to Rabbit Ears pass and my hitch into Steamboat Springs. I wanted to be closer but it got dark on me and this looked like a good spot. I found water nearby even though the comments in Guthooks said there wasn’t any. I just went downhill a little and there it was.
Driver just went by a few minutes ago. We talked for 5 minutes before he continued on, wanting to get closer to the highway. I met Driver at the Bear Trap Cafe in Riverside. He had dinner with Gaucho and me. Nice guy.