Day 93

Day 93 (cdt 18): 23 miles + 1 bonus mile for being a goofball

I got going for the day and took the mount Taylor alternate to get some water. The actual CDT skrts around the mountain at lower elevations but there is an alternate route to summit it. There was no water on the actual trail so I took this alternate to get some water and then was probably going to go back to the lower trail. When I got to the alleged water source the pipe was not flowing and the stagnant water looked pretty gross so I decided to abstain.

This kinda put me in a f*ck it mood and I just decided to summit mount Taylor and also hoped there would be water later in the alternate.

I’m not sure if the altitude at 11,000 feet was getting to me or if I just haven’t had really big climbs in a while but I wasn’t moving too fast going up. But once I got up there it was great. The huge wind gusts stopped at the summit and the view was fantastic.

Going down the mountain was a much different story. Going up, there was a little bit of snow and ice remaining but not much. But on the way down it was a more shaded side of the mountain and the rest of the day was full of postholing fun and sloshing around in mud. It took me much longer to get down from 11,000 feet than it should have. To add to the enjoyment, I took the wrong trail for a while and ended up walking about a mile until I realized. Instead of walking back I just climbed up 500 feet on the side of the mountain to reconnect with the actual trail.

I did find a water source late in the day after wandering around off trail to find it. The tank the water was flowing in was all algae and the pipe it was flowing from was coated with algae or some sort of plant on the inside. I had to load up. This’ll be my first time using aqua tabs out of pure disgust. Looking at the map, it could be about 20 miles to my next water source which would be a half mile off trail. I like the CDT but I’m about over this water scarcity.

Song of the day: knock knock-angerfist