A Final Descent

September 8th

We both got up and going early. I liked how Dan got going in the morning. It matched my style. Some people like to sleep in or linger over a cup of coffee. Dan, fortunately, liked to get down to business.

Met solo southbound Colorado Trail hiker. In the small world category, he also was on Ski Patrol and knew Wash Pot. We hiked with him for ahile, but then he shot ahead.

From the blog entries, I may give the impression everything is either uphill or downhill. Not true, we came across an area with some beautiful mountain lakes. We ate lunch at a small one just west of Galena Lake.

I cannot recall whether Dan was looking at something or vomiting.

After all the rain, mushrooms came out in style. My phone is on top to give scale. No, I did not eat any.

Unfortunately, there was a huge descent ahead. It was a drop of 1,500 feet to the trailhead near Turquoise Lake. We agreed that the bottom may be a good spot to call it a day.

At the very bottom, we managed to make a stealth campsite and have a good sized fire. We agreed that we would hike solo over the next two days. I needed to get going on my itinerary if I was to avoid snow in southern Colorado. Dan was cool with this. Plus, I took a lot of comfort seeing how strong he was with backpacking skills.

We celebrated as best we could. I ate two dinners: my last and one of Dan’s extras. The night was perfect and I cowboy camped so I could get going quickly in the morning. Plus, Dan got his trail name: T-bone. Not an inconsequential achievement.