Thursday, September 12, 2013

September 11, 2013

September 11, 2013
The Knife to the Weminuche Wilderness Boundary
33 miles

Again I awoke to the sound of rain on my tent. It was exactly the sound I did not want to hear. I rolled over and went back to sleep hoping it would be better when I woke back up. It wasn't. I knew I needed to get at least halfway to the pass today so at 7:45 despite the weather I was up with all my soggy clothes on and hiking. 

The weather for the morning was much the same as yesterday, but a bit milder. In fact, there were a few times the sky brightened, and along with it my hopes, before darkening again and returning to rain. 

Around noon things really did start to improve as the sun actually peaked out from behind the clouds and gave me back my shadow! It was off and on with the clouds and sun and rain for a while until the rain actually stopped and the sun won the day. It was glorious! I have never been so happy to see the sun. For the first time in two days my clothes dried out and it was grand. The hiking in the afternoon was pretty mellow, first a little up, then a little down. I was definitely pushing the pace as much as I could to get as close to the highway as possible. I'm somewhat sad to say that I didn't actually get many views the past couple days due to the weather and staring at the ground while hiking as fast as I could manage, but I guess I'll just have to put this on my list of places to come back to in the future. 

Tonight I am less than 3 miles from the pass and can actually hear some vehicles down below. Normally I wouldn't like the sound, but it is quite comforting knowing that I am so close and will be in town tomorrow. I have had to ration and stretch my food I make it last an extra day so I am eager to eat a giant breakfast once in Pagosa. 

4 comments:

  1. man the weminuche kicked my ass too. seriously some of the nastiest weather i've ever walked through. even got some snow. still glad i did it and didn't creede cutoff.

    i'm in chama. saw cascadia prints through the south san juans and thought it might of been you

    huck

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Probably were mine! Not too many other crazy people out there during that weather. You going to catch up, or what?

      I'm probably doing the Gila River route south of Pie town, but sticking to the Bear Creek route other than that. Hope to run into you again before the end.

      Stagg

      Delete
  2. So glad you will have this blog to look back on years from now. You'll be able to say- if I made it through weminuche, I can make it through (fill in the blank) too! Sounds like incredible mental and physical pain! And yet you are amazingly resilient! Keep up the good work!

    Libby

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Libby! That's exactly how I feel about the experience in the Weminuche. Now it's time to flip the switch from too much water to minimal amounts. Hard to believe it's all the same trail sometimes.
      Alex

      Delete