15-08-05.    Day 116.     Rain – Mark Trail CDT

Hiking the Continental Divide Trail
Mark Trail CDT 2015

Mr squirrel was not happy that I was sleeping in his neighborhood. He waited till 10:00 pm to let me know. I yelled, through a few sticks with no success in shutting him up. I got a few big sticks and my headlamp. I think he got the message and didn’t hear from him the rest of the night…

I overslept till 5:45 since Flop and the birds have moved on. Hiking by 6:15, since I was cowboy camping, it was easy to pack up.     I stopped at 8:30 am for coffee and breakfast. Pop-tart that Bront sent in my last box, a hard boiled egg I made in town, and coffee…  It was my first morning alone since leaving Creede in June. Kinda nice but different.

By 10:00 am it started raining. As time went on it got colder so I shoved food in my mouth and put on the Outdoor Research full rain suit. I tried to stop for lunch but got cold so I put some snacks (Thanks Smurf and Bront) in my hip belt pocket and hiked on. After four hours it let up and the sun tried to come out without success.

Since there was another section of no water for the next 15 miles, I stopped by Surprise lake to make dinner. I loaded up with three and a half liters of water. The evening hike was in a burn area. As far as I could see there were dead burnt trees……Could you harvest and replant?????. At 8:00 pm I made it to the side trail to Hope Lake and camped.

Side Trail to Hope,  24 Miles

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