Today I was going to enjoy another slackpacking day – yay! The forecast called for possible showers at 8 a.m., but then nice for the rest of the day. Perfect!
My plan was to head southbound on the CDT to pick up the mileage I’d missed after getting off the trail due to hypothermia. That meant I’d do an out-and-back, covering the same miles (counting what I hiked yesterday), but repeating most of that. Not ideal, but you do what you have to do to stay safe.
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Heading Southbound from Copper Mountain
The day began cloudy and cool. Since the CDT and Silverthorne Alternate are detoured around Copper Mountain due to construction at the resort, I thought it would be easiest to take some of the resort’s other trails up to the CDT. It looked easy enough on the FarOut app. Wrong!
The trail started out well-marked, but then devolved. I lost it at one point and had to bushwhack through sopping wet vegetation to get back on. I was soaked from the waist down.
After that, though, the trail was just lovely. It unwound uphill all morning, but nothing too steep or too rocky. I passed burbling creeks, tiny lakes and some great campsites.
Noontime Fun
I met a man on the CT near noon. He was looking for Jane’s Cottage, I believe (or some similar name). It was just up ahead and he ducked in. I kept hiking.
I climbed up to the pass, where I saw marmots, I think, and other wildlife. There were some huge cairns there. I ate a great lunch (a big sandwich I’d bought in town), then 
turned around and headed back to Copper Mountain.
I saw the man who went to the cottage. He said it was amazing – a full kitchen, bedrooms, bathrooms and even an outdoor sauna! If only I could have found that on the day I was drenched.
Sun, then Storms
The sun popped out for a while, and I began to dry out. I passed several more hikers, two of whom had taken the Silverthorne Alternate. They said it was quite steep, and at one point you had to cross a very narrow path on scree. I hate those! They also said it was supposed to pour at 3 p.m. WHAT?!
I couldn’t quite believe that. The skies were sunny, and the last forecast I saw was for clear skies the rest of the day. When I was about 1 mile (.8 km) from the resort, it began to hail, then POURED. I got soaking wet.
Thank goodness I could go to my hotel room and take a hot shower, then wash my clothes. I’m so tired of this rain! I know Colorado really needs it, but couldn’t it just rain at night?!
Snowshoe
Today’s Miles: 16.2 (26.1 km)
CDT Miles to Date: 922.5 (1,484.6 km)
CDT Miles to Go: 2,177.5 (3,504.4 km)
