August 27, 2013

August 27, 2013

Bill Moore Lake to Grays Peak TH

33 miles

Today started out just as I had hoped with clear blue skies and plentiful sunshine. It also turned out to be a day of ups and downs, literally. The first miles of the day took me from the basin where the lake was located up along side Breckenridge Peak and then directly over Mt Flora at 13,132'. Then after a short stint on the ridge, the trail descended to Berthoud Pass (11,300'). Of course the trail then went back up to Stanley Mtn, then dropped 1000', before climbing as it wound its way around up and down along the divide to an unnamed peak at 13,215', then dropped to around 10,300' at the Herman Gulch Trailhead. After a 6 mile jaunt along a road, I finally made it to camp at the Grays Peak Trailhead just before it started raining at 7:30. 

Fortunately I was able to take advantage of the sun this morning and dried out all my gear. Hopefully it will stay that way tonight, but there is some pretty serious rain accompanied by thunder and lightning once again. As long as it clears up by morning I will be A-OK with the evening rain. 

Also of interest (to me at least) I have been thinking a lot about food, but not in the usual thru-hiker manner. I finished listening to  "In Defense of Food" by Michael Pollan yesterday and it has become more clear to me that the calories I consume while on trail can really not be classified as food, at least not in the way that Pollan defines food. Instead, I am merely providing fuel for my engine to continue hiking a little further south each day, one mile at a time. Slightly depressing, but the circumstance just makes me appreciate 'real food' even more when I have the opportunity (usually in town) to enjoy it. I also seem to be a little shy of calories this section (oops) so that isn't making all this high elevation business any easier. Tomorrow, in fact, I will be hitting the highest point on the trail, Grays Peak, at an elevation of 14, 270'.