15-05-13.   Day 32.     Oh My – Mark Trail CDT

The Continental Divide Trail

Mark Trail 2015 CDT

 

The forecast was for storms and snow. The rain stopped at 1:00 am and no snow. Actually it was warm. We were hiking on the FS95 at 5:37 am. As we walked the mud caked to the bottom of our shoes. I would step forward and slide back 1 inch. After the mud would pile up, clumps would fall off to start the whole process again.

We had breakfast at the Los Pinos Trail Head (CDT) and we were happy to be done with the mud. We climbed to 10,000 ft noticing beautiful snow along the trail. By the time we reached 10,500 ft the drifts were 2 feet deep. Alex and Wagon Wheel (The Boys) were breaking trail for the senior generation..

At lunch our boots were damp. Some might even say they were wet. I thanked the boys for a great job leading.

As I surveyed the meadow, I could see the trail markers in the middle of shimmering ICE COLD lake of water. No… Can’t be. Well Be… I danced from clump of snow to clump of snow trying to avoid the water, when I gave up and started to run. The water went from 1 inch to 2 inch to ankle and then calf deep…..Oh That’s Cold. As if that wasn’t enough, the trail was under water off and on for a a few miles….. I would wring out my socks only to come to another meadow crossing. We crossed San Pedro Peaks and started down the north side. The snow faded away and……..  The blow downs began. NO WAY…….Yes Way. Blow Downs as far as you can imagine. .

When we arrived at the Cecilia Springs we had our fill of another special day on the CDT.

Cecilia Spring.   16.5 Miles

I never found the spring..

And my camera broke…