Tuesday, July 13, 2004
Not Red and Not Purple
07/13/04
Apple Pie and I were hiking together and followed the CDT signs. This led us to diverge from both the red and purple routes on our maps. However, we didn't know about the divergence until we were well into it. Instead of either route, we went up and over Thunderbolt Mountain. The trail was manageable, with one steep and very vague section. At the top of that section we came across CDT signs, so we continued on. I spied an elk a little later.
Since we were not on either of the mapped routes, it meant that Spur was probably not on the same path, but Apple Pie reviewed the maps and discovered a way to make our route converge with both the colored routes.
We passed by a lovely lake, hiked on a bit more, and when I arrived at the intersection, Apple Pie was talking with Spur and reported that they'd arrived at the intersection at the same time. Pretty cool.
When hikers get separated, there's always catching up that needs to be done, even if the separation is just for a few hours. We'll chat about where we were and what we saw, and report about any other details. It's funny, even the shortest separation can require the length of the separation to get caught up.
Many miles and landscapes passed when we arrived at the obvious dinner spot: a big tree cutting place for wheeled campers. We even had log seats with backs.
The rain began as we left dinner, and Apple Pie and I started into the Indian/Pakistani couple. We had to stop because we were laughing so hard. I was doubled over in hysterics over her comic timing. Poor Spur just hiked along thinking who knows what. At some point Ganesh (me) came up with the idea of DownUnderWare, or perhaps it was DownUnderWhere because it was spoken, and therefore indiscernible.
We leapfrogged with the Otter all day, finally passing his home for the night tucked away in the trees. Just after that, we moved under large power transmission lines.
As the sun set we were walking up grassy hillsides, and, toward the top, the cows were jittery. So we got to see the drama of cows with calves freaked out of their minds and kicking up dust in the horizontal evening light.
Our hike continued, leaving the horizontal light to fall flat and letting the darkness creep around us as we pushed forward along the dirt roads. Champion Pass, our evening destination, put us in a good position for our goal of getting to into Anaconda the next day. We'd never done 29 miles in a day on the CDT, but the pull of town was strong.
At some point during the day we passed through Leadville, an ex-ghost town. I tried to imagine what it would be like for someone moving to Leadville 100 years ago. I bet it was not a destination for a family.
The last note about today is that I had bad, smelly gas all day. Just what you wanted to know.
