Cumbres Pass (780.0) to 789.4

Back on trail!

I got a ride back to the trailhead at Cumbres Pass after a hearty breakfast at Fina’s Diner in Chama. I was able to start at 11:20, a little later than I would have liked, but it worked out well.

The trail starts here right next to the scenic railway, and sure enough the train came by just as I started. Close up shots this time.

As always after a town stop, the trail climbs. Nothing was overly steep, but it was a steady climb most of the way to my campsite. I was pleasantly surprised to handle it well. But it was still obvious I was at high elevation and wasn’t getting as much oxygen per breath.

Not long after starting , I ran across a hiker going southbound I had met in Chama. I found out he was backtracking on the trail to take a lower altitude alternate after reaching about 15 miles past Cumbres Pass. He said the problem was the rapid snowmelt with the current warmer temperatures. The remaining snow was slushy and the trail was either muddy or running with water. OK. We parted and I continued. Not long after that, another hiker was doing the same thing, who I had talked to several times. He was returning to Chama for the same reasons and had reached the same point when turning around. He had video of a section of trail that looked like a large stream from early this morning. The time of the video was significant. A strategy hikers use to handle snowfields is to get up early in the morning to hike them because they have refrozen overnight. However, the temperatures have not been reaching freezing the last several nights, so the melt has accelerated.

Two hikers bailing. It was not a good motivator. I took a break to consider my options. And pray. Yes, prayer is meant for ‘little’ things like this as well. I also asked for the opinion of Feral when I had some coverage. What I decided was to continue. I had packed extra food for this section because the snow conditions had slowed others down. I also decided to camp a little before the area where the two hikers said they started encountering the worst problems. That would pu me only 10 miles in, but again that could work out with my food plan. I would get up a little early, not for snow conditions but to get extra hiking hours in. I set a goal of 17 miles tomorrow to a spot with a dry campsite. It might be a long wet day.

Back to today’s hike. There were some blow downs, but nothing extensive. In fact I ran across a local trail volunteer using a chainsaw to clear several blowdowns. He had ridden a mountain bike to get there. I also saw two other mountain bikers. I had heard Colorado had lots of people’s into fitness and outdoor activities, but I wasn’t expecting to see it so soon.

The views today were fantastic. And the first waterfall was seen. I could see another one way in the distance in one view. And I am at both the highest point so far on the CDT and the highest campsite so far; 11,500 feet. It only gets higher.