Colorado Trail, Segment 4, Day 2

Day 2--June 22, 2013

We got up around 8:00 am and started packing and breaking down our camp.  We had peanut butter and jelly on whole wheat bagels for breakfast--quick and easy.  I was very surprised I had no appetite.  We left camp around 10:00 am and hiked downhill.  Beautiful! 

When we crossed the wilderness boundary at mile 8.2, we were very confused.  We saw no water, and the data book said there should be some.  This is where the two guys from the evening before were headed.  Bear Chaser said she planned to camp here too.  There was no place to put a tent due to the steep slope, and there was no water.  What did we miss?

An hour or so after breaking camp, we arrived at Brookside McCurdy--where we had planned to camp the previous evening.  What a beautiful spot!  We need to come back here to camp later in the summer!  We filtered water and refilled our water bottles and took care of our personal needs.  As we arrived we saw a man and his son as they approached us from behind.  The man was definitely in a hurry and didn't take the time to chat with us.  As we rested, we saw two other couples set off on day hikes and saw two men with backpacks head toward the campground for lunch in the shade.

We started through Long Gulch--it is true to its name...LONG!  This section was long, hot, and hard to use our poles because the trail was very narrow.  After about 45 minutes we met three friendly people:  Wobbles like a Weeble, Clomps like a Dinosaur, and Breathes like a Porn Star.  They were very friendly and wanted to chat with us.  As we left them, the fourth in their party arrived...Brett.  He was suffering from leg cramps like I had the previous day.  Sarah and I discussed later where this group planned to camp.  They, too, were headed for mile 8.2 and the wilderness boundary where we saw no water and no campsite.  We regretted not sharing our discovery with them.

After a couple of hours we stopped for lunch in the shade of a tree.  We saw a guy training with a day pack.  We saw a couple of bicyclists twice (going both directions).  After lunch we saw the guy that was training return.  He was doing the entire section as a day hike in preparation for thru-hiking the CT later this summer.  He had hiked a big trail in Minnesota last year.

Our campsite on night #2.  We sat on a log to make our meals, put on our boots, etc.

We wanted to camp at about mile 14.5 where the data book said there were great campsites, but we didn't quite make it.  I would guess we probably stopped at about mile 13.5 and dry camped.  We stopped around 6:00 pm.  I washed my socks and laid down for a nap.  Sarah made dinner--Chicken Enchiladas, played solitaire, and wrote in her journal.  We were both asleep before 9:00 pm.  We were tired!