Timing was the theme for the next couple days on the Colorado Trail. Moosie and I left the Twin Lakes area the morning of the 25th. Soon we were climbing through some lush, tall forest in Little Willis Gulch, gradually making our way towards Hope Pass. Obviously, the higher we climbed, the colder it became. The later we hiked, the greater risk of getting caught in storms became. Sometimes on the Colorado Trail, we could time our high elevation hiking to hit it before the storms. Other times, we had to just embrace what came our way at the time.
Just beneath Hope Pass, we walked through some big spruce forest. The beetle kill had not arrived to this area yet. Storm clouds threatened, and Moosie and I had to make the call to get up and over the pass before the lightning arrived. Just as we reached the pass, we had time for a quick photo and then the downpours and thunder and lightning arrived. We quickly began our descent in the cold, driving rain. It was an uncomfortable afternoon hiking wet, but that night a hot dinner and hot chocolate were just what the doctor ordered. Moosie and I had to eat inside our tents before the next batch of heavy rain arrived after sunset.
The next day was more of the same. This time, we had Lake Anne Pass to worry about. We wanted to get up and over that one before the daily thunderstorms arrived. The morning was damp, we arrived just below the pass around lunchtime. There was a small snowfield still remaining at the very top. Moosie and I watched a couple of hikers cautiously hike across the steep snowfield while eating our lunch several hundred feet below. After finishing our lunch, we began our ascent and watched the clouds carefully. Several north bounders and one south bounder also passed through at this time and we watched each one maneuver the snowfield. One south bounder slipped and fell completely on his back and thankfully did not slide down into the rocks below the snowfield. By the time Moosie and I reached the top, we hiked across the snow with mangled footholds from the other hikers. Thankfully, we made it across safely and enjoyed the incredible views from the top. It appeared that the rain was also going to hold off temporarily.
After enjoying a nice afternoon of hiking, Moosie and I found a campsite in a meadow along Texas Creek. That evening we were treated to an incredible light show, a great sunset, followed by a crescent moon flanked by giant cumulus clouds flashing with lightning as the sky darkened and the stars came out.
The next morning, we woke up in the wet meadow and had several miles to hike to reach Cottonwood Pass, where we were hoping to hitch a ride 20 miles down the mountain to the town of Buena Vista. This next seven or eight miles of trail was going to be new trail for Moosie and I, as the CDT was rerouted here. The first several miles were tough, as we had to navigate around dozens of blow downs, trees that had fallen across the trail. Once we reached the higher elevations and the trees began to thin out, we hiked into one of the most beautiful areas of the entire trail in my opinion. We enjoyed bright, crisp sunshine, white fluffy clouds, and magnificent mountain views. The rocks were bright, almost Sierra like. Again, Moosie and I were concerned about thunder storms as we approached Cottonwood Pass, but they did not materialize once we reached the pass. We were presented with a different dilemma however. The road over Cottonwood Pass was closed, and had been for several years. This was not the case when we hiked the CDT in 2013. This meant there was no traffic driving over the mountain, which also meant no hitching options to get to Buena Vista. There was a small parking area at the pass where folks from Buena Vista could drive up and see the area. There were a handful of cars in the lot and a couple of people standing around. The first couple I approached and asked for a ride down the mountain declined, and said they were only going part way down. Moosie asked another elderly couple from South Carolina if we could get a ride with them and thankfully they agreed, otherwise we would have been SOL for the day.
The kind couple drove us down to Buena Vista and even arranged a ride for us back to the pass the next day with a friend of theirs if we needed it. Moosie and I were glad to be out of the rain, and to resupply for the next stretch of trail...
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