7/15 – US Route 50/Poncha Springs   Miles Today: 26.7 Total Miles: 60.4

What a rough, rugged day. My mood swings were all over the board as today was a series of highs and lows. But first, some random thoughts.

I retract my earlier statement about the lack of trail markings on the CT. It is in fact very well marked, just not in the manner that I am used to. In addition, the trail maintainers have done an excellent job posting the trail when it intersects a road, better than I have seen before actually. This makes a big difference and their efforts are appreciated.

Also, the easiest job on the planet is being a weatherman for the state of Colorado. “Clear in the AM, hot with clouds developing in the afternoon. Chance of thunderstorms, clearing out at night.” That’s it, there is the weather for EVERY DAY out here.

As for today, things started off well enough with an enjoyable, scenic road walk down to the town of Mt Princeton Hot Springs. From there, the trail climbed back out of the valley with some spectacular views of Mt Princeton and Chalk Cliffs. While talking a break on top of a knoll, I spied a pair of evil eyes in the cliffs.. or an owl depending on the way you look at it.

My plan at this point was to traverse over a few miles to the Mt Shavano trailhead, another 14Ker. I figured that a 3.5 mile hike up would tucker me out for the day. However, I had arrived at the side trail a bit too late in the day, and the afternoon T-storms had already arrived. Not wanting to set up camp at 1:30 in the afternoon by myself, I chose to move on down the trail.

This is where my emotions started to roll. With the exception of Yale, the trail so far has been rather boring to be honest, and I had not seen the views that I was expecting. Also, I have hardly seen anyone on the trail, save for roads and trailheads. Not having anything cool to stop at, or anyone to talk to, I instead choose to keep hiking… and hiking… and hiking…

And it was during this latter part of the day that I really got lonely. Yup, big bad me was wandering around the Colorado wilderness feeling all alone. I guess its that I usually have views, or people, or SHELTERS; something to distract me, to break up the day. But in this case, I just had miles and miles of rolling trail and obstructed views.

That, and the afternoon T-storms had turned into the early evening T-storms. It was 4 PM and I was hiking only because I was bored and stopping meant getting wet. So I kept going, right past the last campsite for this section, past the nasty bog crossing, past the truly awful trail down the powerlines… I just kept walking, right to the road that lead into town. After all, what better to cure a case of loneliness better than a phone to call home and some TV?

Anyway, I missed my maildrop in town by 15 minutes! I’ll have to wait until 8AM tomorrow to get my large package tomorrow. After that, its up, up, up with a ton of new weight, since the next section of trail is over 100 miles with no towns nearby. This should make for an interesting 3000 foot climb. Well, I got to watch some TV and rest my aching body after an unexpectedly long day today. Now to complete the cycle with a good night of sleep.

-Chomp

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