I woke up this morning from my camp at 12,000 feet near a small unnamed pond.  I heard some noises down by the water and looked out my tent to see a couple of elk. One was in the water pawing at something and splashing away. The other was watching from the shore. Occasionally they would jump around together and seemed quite happy.

It was very cold and the wind blew all night (like it always seems to do in Colorado).  It was very cloudy all day and I saw from the weather report that a front was coming through. It was supposed to get all the way down to 16 degrees tonight (I later found out that it was 13 degrees in Chama that night).  I decided to try to do the 24 miles to Chama and try to get a warm room there, so I booked it.

The wind was absolutely insane!  Most of the day was along an exposed ridge above 12,000 feet with the clouds scudding by just above me. Every now and then a lower cloud would fly past and I would be enveloped in a fog bank.  The wind was so strong it would blow me two or three steps sideways constantly.  I started making my own path on the lee side of the ridge when I could.  I’ve never experienced wind like this.  My water bottles were freezing in my pack, and since I was up on a ridge there were no water sources.  I started to worry about running out.

I later found out that this was the same ridge where MoonShine had to be evacuated by helicopter earlier in the year (there is a video about this).  I also learned that Driver had to be rescued when he tried to bail off this same ridge earlier in the year.  Near the end of the day the trail finally started descending.  After a going down a couple thousand feet there was a sign for the way I had just come saying “Dangerous Trail”.  No shit!  I think this was one of the scariest places on the entire trail.  The wind and cold and isolation were very worrisome.

At one point I somehow managed to get off the trail. I stayed on the ridge when the trail made a small switchback to avoid a steep section. I stubbornly tried to continue instead of going back up the ridge but it became too overgrown and steep. I then had to contour backwards through fallen trees, nettles, and very steep rocky slopes. This set me back a good hour, which was frustrating because I really wanted to get to the highway to try hitching before dark.

At 5 miles from Cumbres pass I called Barb on Inreach to see if she could get me a room at the Y hotel.  She also thoughtfully tracked down a super cool trail angel named Ralph who picked me up 10 minutes after I reached the highway and delivered me to the Y hotel. Barb and Ralph are awesome and I’m very grateful to both! 

The Y-hotel was only $40 and you get what you pay for.  One of the shower tiles stuck to the bottom of my foot and pulled loose.  When I went to remove it, a different one stuck to my other foot.  The ceiling looked like it was going to collapse and the floor of the bathroom reminded me of the Mystery House where all the walls are built at funny angles to throw off your sense of which direction “up” is.  But the bed was clean and the heater worked so I was happy.  It sure beats freezing in a tent at 13 degrees!