5th September
18.2 miles
Rainy field (2353.2) to Ridgecamp (2371.4)
I woke to the sound of soft raindrops on my tent, or so I thought at the time. I opened my eyes and unwrapped myself from my warm sleeping bag. I opened my tent vestibule to witness a sea of white. It was snowing and it looked like it had been snowing for a while. It wasn’t totally unexpected. The weather forecast had predicted it.
I went about my normal breakfast routine before deciding I was in no rush to head off and become uncomfortably cold and wet. Like hitting the snooze button I wrapped myself back in my sleeping bag and dozed off.
Lucky and Rampage were similarly not in a rush to expose themselves to the elements. It continued snowing until around 11am. That’s when we made a move out of our warm sleeping bags and into the six inches of snow covered ground.
Cold feet, cold hands and a cold body greeted us for most of the day. The snow or rain didn’t return but the day stayed cold.
One thing about hiking in the cold and snow. I needed to move fast to stay warm by generating body heat. I also didn’t need to drink much water in comparison to a normal day. I think I drank less than one litre in the 18 miles today. Despite the snow there were no rivers, springs or lakes near the trail. A trail Angel has left water for hikers, thank you.
Camp was in a bare patch surrounded by snow. My sleeping bag is still a little danp from the wet snow. We all suffered the same thing. It sometimes happens when camping in cold snowy weather that the sleeping bag gets damp. I aired it out as best I could before getting inside. It lifted up nicely and was warm again. Although it seemed like it would be a cold night.
Next – Day 142 To Lincoln
Everything you need to know about hiking the CDT:
Complete Guide to Hiking the Continental Divide Trail
CDT Resupply Guide
CDT Gear List
Oh man, that does look cold! Brrr! Still at 98 degrees here in this part of Texas.
Wish it was 98 degrees here, I’m much more comfortable with extreme heat than extreme cold
Totally Amazing…. Tough Journey. With Admiration and Encouragement.
Thank you, I agree, this has been much tougher both mentally and physically than I thought. Not long to go now.
Is it a race to the finish before the weather gets worse ?
No race at the moment. Although I will plan on hiking during the good weather windows to minimise the risk of getting caught in any really bad weather. Not long now.