September 3rd
Segment 22 & 23
Our alarms were set for 4:30 but I hit the snooze button and fell back to sleep. Jodie reminded me it’s time to get up. Today had been looming on the horizon since the beginning. Today we cross the highest point on the Colorado Trail, 13,271 feet. We’re both having trouble breathing at the high altitudes and Jodie’s had it much worse than me.
We hiked through a meadow and had breakfast near a spring. We met Badger and saw High Life again. He’s still on trail with Kate in spite of both of their injuries. We filtered water at the spring and visited with Salamander and Shelby, friends hiking the CT together.
We hiked on were finally confronted with our first big climb. It was steep. We sat and had a snack and stared at it. We watched some CDT hikers blow past us and up and over the top like it was nothing.
Then went Salamander and Shelby. Then us. It was slow going. We got to a switchback that was so washed out we had to free climb up rocks. It was so steep and we were so high up on the edge of what felt like a cliff. We got past it and sat for moment.
We summited and were confronted with another downhill and another pass to climb. The weather played with us. The clouds rolled and threatened rain and moved on, then more clouds rolled in. Sometimes it sprinkled. The wind blew. We’d be all bundled up and the sun would come out and then we’d be too hot. Then it would be cold again and the wind kept blowing.
We approached another pass. Right On and Jeeves breezed past us. We summited again only to climb back down the other side. We sat and had lunch and stared at the next mountain. This was it, this was what had been in front of for hundreds of miles. We climbed through the wind and the threat of rain. The top was like a wide gentle grassy hilltop. I could see a sign as we got close to the top, “I see it!” I shouted towards Jodie. We made it!
What a monumental mile stone! We were never quite sure we would get this far, and only together we could!
There were so many moments when we thought this trip was over, and now we were here! It was a tearfully joyful moment. We took a bunch of photos, checked in on the Garmin, and texted our families.
We climbed down and hiked on. I reached for my water bottle and it was gone! The elastic of my rain cover pushes on the water bottle pockets. I was just going to drop my pack and see if it wasn’t too far back when a man came walking around the corner with it strapped to his chest belt! He delivered back to me, I was so grateful and for the second time that I had lost something on trail it was brought to me. It was my America’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride water bottle from Lake Tahoe. I felt so loved by God and good deeds of human kindness. The trail has again provided. As is often heard amung hikers.
We entered a beautiful valley with a creek far below and green meadows and beaver dammed ponds. We had a few miles to go to find water. We refilled our waters at another beautiful mountain stream bubbling down the mountain and cooked our hot dinners.
Camping spots looked slim on the side of this steep valley, but there was one noted close by just down the hill by a group of trees. We made our way down and set up camp while the sun was shining, what a treat. Not too much longer and Ruthless showed up! We love her! She came down to join us. She had hiked all the way from the highway this morning, amazing! We visited and did our chores. We saw a lone moose in the valley below. Then we all crawled into our cozy beds to blog, all 3 of us.
It was dark and I’ve been using my little solar light to see the keyboard. We heard a ladies voice asking if she could join us. Ruthless heard her right away, I was buried under my hat and hood. We all welcomed her warmley. Her trail name is Hummer. She said she has been praying to find a campsite and saw my little light like a beacon in the dark. All these connections and friendships seems so God driven, so connected. Love it.!
Jodie’s blog bikehikerepeat.com