23.4 miles hiked, camping @ 11293ft

This morning I decide to have a bougie breakfast to match our bougie campsite, so I actually heat water for my oatmeal instead of cold soaking it – oh the luxury! Probably due to the water heating and subsequent coffee drinking it’s a late-ish start at 730am.

 We pass by some rv campers at the lake .2 miles from our site and start our first uphill of the day. It’s about 4 miles to the top, then we drop down a little into a meadow before climbing up to 11988 ft over what I think is the last proper mountain pass on the CT – blackhawk pass. A little lunch at the top while we enjoy the views on either side before dropping down steeply into tall grass and wildflowers on the other side. This is all very beautiful until we realise we’ve entered biting-fly hell. There are flies everywhere, and they are mean bitey flies that leave giant welts and make you scratch like a meth addict. We hike fast and can’t stop. No more breaks today!

Zoom zoom.

We stop briefly a couple of times but it is horrible, so I grab whatever bars I can, fill my pockets with the snacks and resign myself to 5ish hours on the run.

Finally at camp around 6pm, the flies have faded away and we are able to eat dinner without twirling around like whirling dervishes.

Amazingly in the tent nice and early, having marched out a satisfying 23.3 miles. No need for extra miles as we have till Saturday to get to Durango. Two easy hiking days coming up then we’ve finished the CT!