This morning we need to resupply then head out, so walk to the post office so I can collect my box. I’d called the PO in Derby Montana to forward my box from there (as we changed plans and came to Colorado) but evidently the rotten people returned it to sender instead of forwarding it! Bah! So no beautifully prepared box for me. Instead we walk to safeway and confuse ourselves with how many bars and packets and containers of things we need. We each look at our baskets – “does this look like enough?”. I can’t tell you the number of times those words are uttered by hikers to each other. “Does my food bag feel like 4 days?” ” How many serves of X should I take for 5 days?” No one ever knows. I never get it right.

I make a sign on the tyvek and it’s not too long before we nab a hitch back to Monarch Pass.

We see Marty just arrived at the pass and trying to get a hitch to town – the awesome ladies who picked us up offer him a ride to just outside of town. We say goodbye, head into the little store to buy a postcard (me) and some chips (Grizzly) before heading out under the gondolas and onto the trail.

We are hiking along a ridge today, with views out across the valley and to distant mountains. The sky is clouding over as we are expecting – the forecast for the next 10 days is afternoon rain and or thunderstorms every single day. Welcome to monsoon season in Colorado.

The rain starts up and we high tail it to a little shelter that is on our maps. It’s just a little 3 sided lean-to which is perfect for hiding out. I spread the tyvek on the dirt ground and we explode our food bags to eat some of the weight away.  I enjoy reading the names of CT and CDT hikers extending back into the 80s written all over the walls. There are 4 ladies here who are hiking the CT together. I’m so excited that these friends, in their mid-late 60s, are all doing this together. Badasses. And excited about the part where they have their tents set up at 230pm…so nice and chilled. Although I wouldn’t know what to do with myself if that happened everyday.

Out into the drizzle we hike. We are now within the forest and the lovely views are gone. We arrive at Marshall Pass, which may have been a good camping site with awesome flat ground and a (gasp!) pit toilet, but it is too early. Boo!

We hike another 2 miles before the rain gets the better of us and we set up in a non-bougie campsite. Yuck it is quite the struggle to set up a tent and get inside without bringing a litre of water in with us.

Finally our day is done, have some hot ramen in our bellies and we fall asleep dreaming of blue skies in the morning.