Goodbye CO
It was an exciting day. After a sound night of sleep after a delicious steak dinner I treated myself too, I was up and ready to roll. The diner across the street opened at 7a, and I rolled up watching them unlock the door.
I enjoyed a leisurely breakfast, but by 7:45 I was on my way out to the edge of town, where I’d get a hitch to the forest service road that would bring me back to the trail.
Posted up on the side of the roads I began throwing out the thumb. A little wholes after I saw a lady on the phone driving passed looking at me, and 10 mins later a sheriffs truck is turning the corner. Great. Again?
They roll by, and I wave, they wave back and continue on their way. Not a care in the world. Wahoo! Maybe 5-10 mins later, a fell in a pickup stops and offers me a ride up. He’s actually going to a young kids camp hike up a nearby peak. A fellow hiker himself, he did the Colorado Trail, and also sectioned it earlier than the thru.
Plopped on the side of the road up the way, I push on. It’s kinda ambiguous how many miles it is to the trail from there, but most is on an easy to follow dirt road. A little was on a smaller dirt bike/atv trail. At one point I swear I saw a wolf print. It was massive... as I turned the corner and popped out of the trees, there was a huge flock of sheep down the way with their shepherd on a horse and three dogs (include one black and white border collie like my moms, Bella!). I got distracted and missed a turn off, but just bush whacked back to the main road I was supposed to be on with ease.
About 3.5-4 hours later, I hit the CDT again, woo! About 5.6 miles (okay, okay, exactly) from that point was the Wyoming border. A few bumps, but no massive climbs. I was excited to be out there and finishing Colorado. I almost ran. I was going as quick as I could for sure. Eventually, there it is. The Wyoming state line. And with a single step, I said goodbye to Colorado. As beautiful and amazing as it was, I’m not planning on stepping foot back there for at least a min until the body and mind fully recoups!
The first few miles into Wyoming weren’t really all that different. Still bumps of inclines, a few steep climbs, but luckily short. The biggest moment, however, was a mile or so into Wyoming I hit 1500 miles. Half way. Everything I have to do is less than what I’ve already done, and now the count down can begin! Of course, 1500 more miles is nothing to joke bout. But at least after today’s bigger climb (1000 feet or so) I’m mostly done with anything substantial until I get to the Cirques, if I decide to do the WinD route. It will be beautiful, but definitely a crawl of a pace again.
I found a nice little stream overlooking the mountains around. It’s been raining a bit, but ended up doing about 28 miles. Happy with that progress, even with a couple decent inclines. I’m 92 miles from Rawlings now, and I’m intending to do 30+ each day to get into town three days from now. The flats about to begin, so here comes the mile crusher.
