Sunday, Aug 24, 2025
27.3 miles, 4921′ gain
I was awake at 6am, and out by 6:30am. The day was long and difficult. I climbed all the way up to 11,000′, which was quite slow going and exhausting. There were threatening clouds for most of the day, with some small showers. I heard pikas, and saw a bunch of things I’ve taken to calling ‘mountain chickens’ (maybe they’re peafowl, Ptarmigan, or something else).
At a Battle Pass with a paved road crossing (leads to Encampment), I met Shaggy and Peacock (both thruhikers that now volunteer with the CDTA) after they spent the weekend doing CDT trail work. They had coolers with soda, so they gave me 3-4 sodas and took my trash. After so little human contact, it was nice to talk with other hikers. Before I met them at the parking lot, a random truck stopped to give me 8 oz of water.
This day was harder than the last 2, with a lot of blowdowns to climb over. The trail was much harder to follow, with some sharp PUDs (pointless ups and downs), and longer (12mi) water carries. I did get to see the section of trail work that Shaggy and Peacock’s crew did over the weekend, and appreciated how much labor went into it.
I finally stopped around 7:45pm and was asleep by 9pm, camped just before a dirt road trailhead/turnaround. I had a little view of a big lake. Thankfully, there were only a few sprinkles overnight, despite the very threatening clouds.
Transcending Mountains 