Day 97

Day 97 (cdt 22): 15 miles

Sheesh! What a terrible day. It started out fine. I left Cuba later than I had hoped (around 8:30) but was making good time after i got going.

When I got up to higher elevations things took a turn. There is a ton of snow up here and it was just a postholing palooza. After going 2-3 miles per hour uphill, when I got to around 9,500 feet My speed was around .5 mph. This was even worse postholing than Vermont. I would consistently drop to above my knees and sometimes above my waist and it would be a struggle to get out. Both my legs are bloodied up along with probably a lot more micro cuts cause they hurt. I probably fell down forward or backward at least 25 times today from postholing. It was just miserable.

At one point it looked like the snow was all melted at a higher elevation from sun exposure so I headed up there to try to be able to walk somewhat normally and reconnect with the trail but there was only a small melted area and I just ended up getting far off trail.

Saw my first natural water source since the gila. It would just be cool if I didn’t have to consistently cross melt streams and posthole into ice cold water beneath snow. Today I also had to try to cross fallen trees covered in heavy snow quite a bit to cross streams or just try to avoid postholing and you wouldn’t think it’d be hard to predict where the tree is under the snow but I stepped onto nothing quite a bit.

I’ve got about 9 more miles before I drop back down in elevation. Hopefully it’ll be a little more packed in the morning from the cold night temperatures although I doubt it. Tomorrow will probably just be the sequel of The Slow and the Spiteful.

Song of the day: band of gold-Don cherry