Colorado Trail, Segments 4 & 5, Day 3

Day 3--June 23, 2013


We had a light breakfast and left camp around 9:45 am.  Beautiful hiking!  We saw the great campsites that had been our goal the previous day. 

Sarah points out a CT confidence marker on the gate at the end of Long Gulch. We wanted to camp in this area.

A view from the outcrops where we called Rob and the Averys

At around mile 14.6 near some rock outcrops, we got cell service and called Rob to see if he would meet us at the end of the segment so we could off load our excess food.  He could not, so we called the Averys.  They agreed.  As we were communicating, we met a man who was thru-hiking from Illinois.  We talked about his food and his plan.  The hike down was great!

We saw this sign and continued along the Colorado Trail.  Sarah stopped me a bit later and said we needed to go back because we needed to take another short trail to the trailhead to meet Chris and Kathryn.  There was a sign that said "Long Gulch Trailhead."  So thru-hikers actually would never see the trailhead because this sign has them continue over the bridge.  Kind of confusing!

We got to Long Gulch Trailhead with a bit of confusion.  We actually passed it and had to backtrack. 



Long Gulch where we had lunch with Chris and Kathryn

Once there, we sorted through our food and decided what to keep and what to send home.  We also sent home some equipment that we didn't need.  We ate lunch with Chris and Kathryn, and when they departed we packed up to begin Segment 5.

We entered the Lost Creek Wilderness again.  When we started in Segment 4 we were in the Lost Creek Wilderness.  We left it on Saturday morning at mile 8.2.  Now we re-entered it on Sunday afternoon.  No bikes!  YEA!!!

Segment 5 started with a climb, but not as bad as Segment 4.  Along the way we smelled smoke and tried to do some research on Channel 9.  We also tried to reach out via text or phone.

We got to our chosen destination at mile 2.9 near a stream.  We set up camp in a great location because it was flat! 


Views from our campsite toward the stream

Our campsite on night #3

As we were setting up the tent, we saw a mother and daughter hiking with another man about 7:00 pm.  They were trying to get to the Rock Creek Trailhead to camp.  We got in the tent due to the mosquitoes and played cards.  Then it rained and thundered.  There was lots of lightening.  Wonderful!  We slept 12 hours!  This was probably my favorite campsite of our trip, minus the mosquitoes.