July 29 - Somewhere on a ridge   Miles Today: 18.8 Total Miles: 248.9

Mother Nature is at it once again. She isn’t going to let me finish this trail without a fight, that’s for sure.

Last night it rained hard, and didn’t stop until sometime around 3 AM. A good, solid cloud cover rolled in and hung out for the duration. This was no west-coast storm, but more of a soaking, lasting rain that I expect out of an east-coast storm. I pulled everything close inside my tent to try to keep it dry, with some success.

If that wasn’t bad enough, I woke up to a full cloud cover this morning, a first this trip. Not only did everything get wet last night, but it remained soaked this morning. Packing wet gear is nasty, and carrying wet gear over a 1000 foot climb is hard work.

Fortunately, the hiking today was almost as interesting and unique as yesterday, and that kept my mind off the extra weight in my pack. Once again, I spent more time on red clay than I spent off of it. I also got some great views of Lizard Head, a very unique mountain with a stone cylinder topping off the summit. The trail wound its way up and down, generally heading for Blackhawk Pass. The mountains that I passed through were similar to yesterday; covered in red clay, contrasted with green spruce and white rocks. This is some amazing stuff for sure. I was excited to see that when I reached Blackhawk Pass, the sun was out and I was able to somewhat dry my gear.

On the way down, I ran into a large work crew from the Colorado Trail Foundation. There must have been 30 people doing some amazing trail work. They even built pools to trap water for thirsty backpackers. I thanked them all as I passed and was able to chat with quite a few of them along the way.

Down at the road, they had a full camp setup. I was invited to stay with them for dinner, but I had miles to hike, so I took some fresh water, dropped off my trash and headed south.

A few minutes after I left was when the storms started to kick in again. The clouds had been with me all day, but now they were starting to grumble. I held out my hopes for a while, but just before I traversed a rather exposed ridge, the rain and hail started to fall. I quickly found a suitable place to set up my tent and dove in.

The storms came hard, but only lasted for about an hour or so. However, the spot I found was nice and I was already comfy, so I have no plans on moving. I came up a few miles short of my goal today, but no big deal. I have a big climb tomorrow and I would rather do it with a day less of food. Also, while the rain has stopped, there are still plenty of clouds grumbling loudly in the area. Given my experience so far, I have no problems waiting until morning to move on.

- Chomp

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