DESTINATION Colorado TH550 to 560 Wellington Lake CT - #3 1 Photoset
2015-06-30 | |
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| Backpack | 16.70 Miles |
2,975 AEG |
| | Backpack | 16.70 Miles | | | |
| 2,975 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | At 5:00 AM my alarm rings, me and Aaron are up 10 minutes later pulling down camp. Today feels like a good day. The elevation profile for section 3 looks virtually flat and at the end of the segment I would get a food drop from my dad.
After a quick breakfast, we finished packing and were off on the trail again. The morning was cool as we made our way through a thick forest of Ponderosa pine, and as the sun woke up, the forest was lit with a golden hue. We strolled effortlessly along the trail. We passed several thru hikers along the trail who were also waking up for the day, everyone seemed in good spirits.
There was a lot of water to be found along this section, which was a big relief after the dry stretch in segment 2. At water sources we would often come upon other thru hikers filling up, and one couple we would end up leap frogging with for the next few days.
As we continued along the trail, we would pop out of the forest every so often and get a view of the Kenosha Mountains and Lost Creek Wilderness, where we were headed next. It finally felt like we were entering the mountains. The forest would alternate between thick greenery with the occasional patch of aspens near water sources, and dry Ponderosa dominated landscapes between them.
It was getting hot again as we reached the end of segment 3. We reached the last water source of the segment and filled our bottles as we talked with a couple of hikers who were resting at the stream. They had started a week or so earlier but had to take some time off trail due to injury. They weren't sure if they were going to make it all the way to Durango, but they were going to try and make it as far as they could this summer.
We reached the end of the segment soon after, found some shade, and rested while we waited for my dad to bring in a food drop so I could resupply for the next couple of days. An occasional rumble was heard in the distance, a storm was making its way through the area but it never hit us. My dad arrived some time later with my food resupply boxes (and some pizza!) that I would use to put together another few days of rations. A couple of hikers came down the hill from segment 3 just in time to snatch the last piece of pizza. Sarah and Annie were from Maryland and were on a section hike from Denver to Breckenridge.
After I finished grabbing all the food I would need for the next few days, we were off into Segment 4. The segment begins with an easy climb away from the road, then as you merge with an old logging road and enter Lost Creek Wilderness, the trail becomes moderately steep.
Not long after merging with the logging road, but before entering Lost Creek Wilderness, we passed Sarah and Annie. Water supplies was running low for everyone and we were all looking forward to the next stream. After some more climbing, I pulled out my GPS to see how close we were to where the stream was said to be in the databook and discovered we had passed it. This had us all slightly worried that it was dry, but we decided to trudged on up the hill and found it shortly after.
The four of us rested near the stream, filled our bottles, and got to know each other better. Sarah and Annie decided that they were ready to stop for the day, but me and Aaron decided to try and make it up the hill further to the next water source in order to make the steeper climb the next day more tolerable. We loaded our packs with water in case we didn't make the next source and continued up the trail.
Packing liters of water turned out to be in vain, because the trail soon turned into a muddy mess as a dozen or so unlisted streams crossed the trail. This was an oasis compared to segment 2. We eventually reached the next listed water source at mile 4.5 and saw the couple we had met near the end of segment 3 getting ready to lay down for the night. We found another camping spot nearby, set up our tents on the uneven ground, and eat dinner.
Just was we finished dinner, it began to sprinkle and we crawled into our tents. |
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