I woke up at 4 a.m. and it was raining once again. GRRR! So I slept another hour and got up at 5 a.m. It wasn’t raining, but my tent was soaked, along with my sleeping quilt and other items. My tent was so wet that I couldn’t even get it in its bag; I had to stuff it into a garbage bag and strap it to my pack.
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Got on the trail just before 7 a.m., but I doubted I could make it to the trailhead in time for the 4:30 p.m. shuttle. Still, all I could do was try.
Leaving La Garita Wilderness Behind
I only had a short distance to the saddle. The views at the top were gorgeous. From here, the trail pitched downhill and I made good time. For a while, anyway. For the next several hours the trail wound steeply uphill, followed by long downhills. Yet any gains I made on the downhills were erased by the uphills. Rats. But the scenery was spectacular.
Sometime around noon or early afternoon I hit a ridge where it was SUPER windy. A woman passed me and disappeared over the ridge – right as I slipped on the gravel and the wind knocked me over. Normally, I have my safety whistle attached on my pack strap, but I’d put it away because it was on the same carabiner as my Garmin, which I didn’t want to get wet.
I screamed, “Help!” several times, but the woman didn’t hear. Eventually I was able to scootch myself back onto the ridge and drag my backpack over the top, where I could get it back on. I didn’t realize until later that my rain cover had come off, so that was lost.
More Misery
The rest of the day went downhill quickly. Besides falling and losing my rain cover, I dropped my phone and battery in a creek while scooping water, which stopped the phone from charging; my shoes kept untying; I knocked over a bottle of just-filtered water when some dirt bikes went past; and more. It was so frustrating!
Most of the afternoon I was racing across a very windy, open plain to get to the final 2 miles (3.2 km), where the trail pitched downhill to the trailhead. At one point, a hiker named Sam was passing me. I asked him to help me get to Lake City if I missed the shuttle and couldn’t hitch in. He agreed, but said it was supposed to be very easy to hitch.
Day Winds Down
While still racing across the exposed area (it was about 6 miles / 9.7 km), it began to rain. Of course. Thankfully, it wasn’t too bad. I finally reached the last 2 miles, which I’d assumed would be an easy dirt path, as most of the trail today was nice. Nope. It was super rocky and slow going. I fell once, as it was muddy from the rain and dirt bikes.
It also began to hail when I was nearing the trailhead. Natch. The one 
good thing – Sam and the woman who had passed me, Liz, were there. They’d had no luck hitching.
To make a long story short, Sam knew a hiker who’d made it to Lake City, and that hiker had a friend with a truck. So the guys drove out to pick us up. They even brought beer! We squished into the truck, then waited another 20 minutes because two more hikers were nearing.
So long, La Garita Wilderness! At least for now.
Lake City at Last!
We finally got to Lake City exhausted, wet and chilled. Liz and Sam had no reservations, so Sam stayed with his friends and I invited Liz to stay with me. Sam’s friends and I had reservations at this same group of cabins, so it worked out perfectly.
While we missed the free church hiker dinner, Liz and I were more than happy to head out to dinner at a restaurant across the alley. What a crazy day.
Snowshoe
Today’s Miles: 19.1 (30.7 km)
CDT Miles to Date: 578.9 (931.7 km)
CDT Miles to Go: 2,521.1 (4,057.3 km)
