000 Anneliese’s Continental Divide Trail Pages Page Three - Today’s Date is 27 May 2002

My CDT Hike 2002

May 9 - Nice Hiking in the San Pedro Wilderness 00 During the night there were actually about 30 raindrops that fell on my tent. I got up around 6 AM and packed up. Doing all my chores and being ready to take off takes me about an hour. As I mentioned the day before the trail is littered with downfall which if not cleared within the next couple of years could make the trail disappear very quickly. As I hiked on, the trees made way to reddish rock formations and open alpine meadow. There are many lingering patches of snow and I almost considered melting snow for water since I was pretty much out. But old snow never looks too appealing, so I just continued hiking. The temperature this morning was about 40 degrees, it was windy but sunny. I reached a point where trail was not very obvious but there was some very distinct erosion control that had been done. The trail veers into the woods to the right at that point. I finally met up with Ron at 9 AM. He had marked points with his GPS and put blue and white ribbons on trail junctions. As I continued hiking I encountered lots of CDT posts giving the direction of the trail, almost too many in fact! (I took a photo of one at that point).

00 The first little stream I came to I pumped water and re-hydrated myself. There were lots of obvious signs of elk presence, although I had not actually seen any. However, there were very small yellow and white wildflowers. I was now hiking across mostly open meadow with forested islands. As I was crossing a stream I noticed two backpackers on a trail on the other side. As there was a trail junction I waited (hiker courtesy) and as they came closer I recognized them as the couple I met in the restaurant in Cuba. What a chance meeting! They were out doing a circuit hike. I moved on and got to a place with a sign "Pedro Park". The trail had sort of disappeared shortly before but there was a very distinct trail headed toward a wooded area on the far southwest side. I followed the trail but it ended at the edge of the forest - another game trail. Back to the sign to have another look around, check the map, guide book and GPS. It appears I was two miles from my next waypoint. While doing all this my couple, Bruce and Jennifer showed up. I told them I was lost and they too had not found a cabin that was shown on their map. We took our packs off for a break and Bruce looked around and found the continuation of our trail. In the meantime I had put down my hiking sticks somewhere and realized they were missing. After a search and retracing my steps I found them.

00 Again I parted from my friends, we now also exchanged addresses, and continued hiking through lovely meadows and forest. Where yesterday was very dry and with no signs of water anywhere, today was the complete opposite. The meadows were green and there were little streams and some marshy, spongy areas. I only saw 3 elk but I am certain there are lots of them. After another one or two intersections the CDT started a steep downhill toward the Southern end of the San Pedro Wilderness. The trail parallels a drainage with many big deciduous trees, some spring wildflowers, dainty orange red columbine, white and purple violets and even Amanita mascara mushrooms, just like the photo in the guidebook on page 281.

00 I saw a "horny toad", had also seen a turkey fly off right as I started out in the morning, and noticed two or three-inch fish in a stream along the trail. It really was nice to be hiking on a trail but this was to be short lived as at the end of the wilderness it is a road walk into Cuba. Ron had come with my car and I put my pack in the car. Only carrying a bottle of water I hiked the road into town. I was very glad to get to the Del Prado Restaurant at about 6:30 PM where Ron and I had a well deserved dinner. This completed segment 24 in the guide book. After dinner we drove back to my starting point and the plan was to hike the next segment as a dayhike. We drove to the trailhead off Rte 96 and there were forest closure notices posted. We drove to where we had planned to camp and found the same closure notices. What were we to do? The motels in Cuba had no rooms and there was nothing else close by. We drove to the Coyote Ranger Station and ended up camping near the parking lot for the night. I didn't pitch my tent but just put my sleeping bag on top of the tarp, and I really had a pretty good night's sleep.

May 10 - We are Kicked Out of New Mexico 00 I got up at the crack of dawn and I took the time to catch up on my journal. Yesterday I also met Marian, a 54 year-old British woman, who plans to do the CDT this season. She hiked the PCT 25 years ago and I was impressed. She said that in Southern CA she would get lost daily! I am sure we'll see her again somewhere on the trail. Journal-writing was finished At 8 AM so then Ron and I went at the Ranger Station and inquired about a permit - I considered the prospect of getting one dim. As we expected they were only available to lease owners or ranchers who had livestock in the area. Ron talked with Evelyn about the trail access and trail condition. I called CDTA and talked with Kirsten about trail conditions and the fact that the info in the guide book was incorrect. Ron talked with her and gave her very detailed information. She will mail us CDT markers to Chama. Since we could not hike through the next segment we drove to Chama and Cumbres Pass to check on the snow conditions in Colorado. It looked very promising at Cumbres Pass but when we drove to Pagosa Springs and spoke with the Wilderness Ranger for the area from there to Wolf Creek Pass he was not very encouraging. We then decided to drive back to Castle Rock and determine what to do next.

May 11-12 - Curly Joins Us at Castle Rock 00 Today (Saturday) I went to REI and returned the Sierra tent and bought an REI "Clipper" which can be used with only the poles and fly. (The Sierra had proven to be too small and also somewhat inconvenient to set up.) I also bought a fleece jacket at EMS, plus some additional tent stakes. Curly called on Saturday and Ron and I invited her to go hiking with us in Wyoming. She called back on Sunday and said that she would, and I picked her up at Bailey. Her friends drove her from Buena Vista to meet me at Bailey. We had dinner with Phil and Rob.

May 13 - We Arrive in Wyoming 00 Ron, Curly, and I left home at 6 AM to drive to Lander, Wyoming. Beautiful day. Both Ron and I drove separately so we would have two cars to aid in shuttling. We stopped at the BLM office and Ray Hanson spent hours with us going in detail over the maps and water sources. Kimberly from the CDTA had called Ray to let him know we were coming. Ron is intending to note down any CDT markers that are down or problems with the GPS coordinates. We drove approximately 25 miles on an unpaved road toward Big Sandy Lodge before a snowbank stopped us. We then hiked two miles south and made camp in a forested area. A BLM guy came to check on us because we hadn't come back. Curly and I had a spinach roll with feta and salami. We saw huge bearpaw prints on the road.

May 14 - A Twenty-Mile Day 00 The temperature was freezing during the night. We packed up and got ready to go. Doing the five-mile shuttle, we hiked about 20 miles today (Ron parked at the north end and I drove about five miles to the south end, we hiked and passed each other. Then I drove down to the south end of the next segment, and we again hiked and passed each other going to the cars). We intended to camp at the ending of the final segment but it was terribly windy and totally exposed, so we drove to Atlantic City and ended up camping near there. We had a tiny thunderstorm with a little rain. The crescent moon with Venus was visible at sunset, and we saw lots of pronghorn antelope, a river otter, mule deer, and lots of patches of Phlox.

May 15 - We Meet Up with Fiddlehead, Pieps, and Joyce 00 We packed up and drove back to a rest area at Hwy 28 to fill up on water and talk about our route. Ron noticed that County Road 74 and 21 ran almost parallel to the CDT route we had discussed with Ray. By using these roads we could continue our five-mile shuttle and wouldn't have to leave our cars unattended for several days. Curly and I started to hike but at Mile 3.4, we noticed Ron's car had its hood up and was parked next to a van. The hood being up turned out to be a hoax, but belonging to the van were the "Triple Crown in One Season" hikers Fiddlehead, Pieps, and also Joyce who was presently shuttling their van. They too had come to Wyoming to give the snow in Colorado time to melt. They invited us in the van and gave us homemade potato soup and cream sodas. We spent some time with them and then continued the shuttle. Late in the afternoon in the area of the Oregon Buttes it got really windy. While we were scouting for a place to camp, the van came back and we camped together, attempting to be as much out of the wind as possible. Joyce prepared a pasta dinner and we were invited to share their meal. Their van is equipped with everything they need and we were grateful for their hospitality. We hiked 16.3 miles.

May 16 - Wild Horses; Ron Splits 00 It was a pretty cold night - frost was on the tent and poles in the morning. We had hot tea with the van people and then said goodbye and wished them well. We hiked 20 miles today. It's hard to describe the views but they were spectacular. Clouds were building all day over the mountains to the north. We saw herds of wild horses. It was awesome to see them - at first curious about us, and then taking off - that's when I wished I had a video camera with the ability to record their sounds. We camped at a dip in the landscape which was void of trees but was just covered with sagebrush. We could see 25 miles in every direction. We had two minor thunderstorms with just a little bit of rain. 00 After dinner Ron came to my car and asked to have my car keys. He then removed his own key from the ring and said he was leaving. When Curly asked Ron what time we should expect him in the morning, he said to not wait for him and that he was leaving for Rawlins, Wyoming! In other words, he would not be back. Curly and I were dumbfounded! There were no earlier indications of Ron's discontent. Starting tomorrow morning, it was to be just Curly and I.

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