Day 25 Dry Creek to Browns Creek

Monday, July 28, 2014

Mileage: 14.3 miles (completed last 7 of Segment 13 and first 7 of Segment 14)

Elevation: 9,500 ft down to 8,900 ft and up again to 9,500 ft

The sound of the deflating air mattress once again was the alarm clock of the morning. Pippy was a bit quicker this morning to arise from her cocoon as it was a warmer than usual morning. We had our tea, ate our wonderfully, delicious, oaty mushy oatmeal, and were off! 

Pippy wanted a portrait with her giant red, "Watermelon"

Zippy's "I'm ready and I'm not stopping" stance. She can go for miles on the trail without stopping, kinda like a bull. Pippy needs to stop like every 20 mins to eat because 20 mins after that...she's starving again! It's probably because Pippy is like a gazelle and Zippy must run to catch up with her. 

See, here's the gazelle sprinting up the trail. We trekked along through the forest for the first couple of miles until the trail transitioned on a paved road and we followed that for the next 6 miles.

Long, hot, no shoulder road heading down into the next valley. 

Despite the straight, boring asphalt to follow...the views were magnificent and there were even some metal containers along the way just for us to set our camera on self-timer. 

Pippy looking at the view below of the Mt. Princeton Hot Springs resort. We decided to bypass a stop here as it was a hot day, too resorty, full of people, and it would've threw off our hiking groove! 

We traversed along the main, boring, hot, scary fast car road into the valley surrounded by these huge, white bouldery mountains. We decided that our faces should be carved in to the rocks to commemorate the first mother-daughter team from Hawaii to hike the Colorado Trail. 

But, then we thought that it wouldn't be a good idea as it would alter the natural and historical beauty of these mountains.

So beautiful..

Finally, we left the asphalt road behind and diverged onto a pretty, quiet, and peaceful country road full of cute summer cottages and fishermen fishing for trout in the neighboring stream. We felt like we were in France strolling along one of the old roads in the countryside...

Pippy's "I'm so sxcicted to be off the main road!!!" stance 

Zippy's "I'm going to copy Pippy" stance

We followed this road for the next mile and a half until we reached the Chalk Creek Trailhead, which was the starting point for Segment 14. We crossed the stream, filled up our water for the 7 mile stretch of no water, and hit the trail again. 

We didn't get too far on the trail before coming to a trail register...

Pippy analyzing the dates and lists of the past hikers. We found a handful of our friends names in there that we've met along the way. Go friends! Were right behind you!!

A thousand feet climb later, we were on the top of a knoll and enjoyed a great view. 

Mt. Princeton on the right and the side of Mount Antero on the left

We descended into the next meadow over and spotted this little unknown flying creature having a treat from a flower 

Anyone know what it is? We have no idea....never have seen it before. Pippy thinks it's a cross between humming bird/butterfly/wasp. 

Up the hill from here, we saw what looked like two white, square-shaped  rocks next to a tree. As we got closer, we realized it was another "Trail Magic" box full of goodies for CT hikers left by fellow alma maters who hiked the CT last year. Unfortunately, by the time we got there, there was only bags of dehydrated black beans, oats, and bandaids that fellow hikers had traded and left behind. As you all know, we've had our fair share of these so we left those alone. There was one handy accessory that we found useful: a lotion bar, perfect for our dry dinosaur skin. Despite the slim pickings, It was still a wonderful treat to stop upon and uplifted our spirits! 

But ahh yesss, nature has a way of shifting things up just when you think you're having a perfect, blue sky day. It brings in not one, but two huge thunderstorms full of booming thunder and scary lightening bolts from two different directions. Just when we thought we were clear from one, another one comes in front of us out of nowhere!

It's almost like a fog from a scary movie...it just snakes its way in and surrounds you. 

Tip #1 when stuck in a thunderstorm: stay far away from big boulders like this one

Tip #2: stay low under a small tree grove  and away from anything metal, electronic, or water. 

Phew! Our tactics worked and we made it to our camp for the night safely. We had to MacGiver our tent set-up as it was still raining, but we figured out how to keep the inside dry by draping the rain fly over it as we popped it up. 

Finally, nice and cozy in our tent away from the rain, we began our ritual, nightly process of blowing up our air mattresses, laying out our sleeping bags, and changing into our warm jammies.

Tomorrow, we'll be heading the 14 more miles to the trailhead and will hitch a ride to the town of Salida to pick up our next resupply box!