Day #43 (100)-Hunting for high peaks. Miles hiked: 32.1

I was going to cowboy camp last night, but made a split second decision to throw up my tarp just in case. Good thing because the rain rolled in at 2 am and stuck around until daybreak. Also…another flat tire, but thanks Jess for the KT tape.

It was still spitting rain when I started hiking, but it certainly wasn’t enough to keep the hunters off trail. Time to wear the blaze orange so I don’t look like an elk.

While much of the CDT can feel very solitary, trails in this area are truly “multi-use” which gives much more opportunity to run into different folks out recreating.

The first half of the day was mainly ATV trails, but it changed character significantly when it was time to climb up into the Mount Zirkel Wilderness.

This entailed a huge climb well over 3k feet that definitely got my little heart rate up. Seven or so miles in, I truly broke through treeline only to see 1500 more feet of mountain to climb up.

As tired as I was, I put on my favorite hype playlist and climbed up anyway into the last sunset of CDT 2023.

But Colorado wasn’t done with me yet. I reached Lone Ranger peak at dark and had just started down the other side when the finale storm arrived. There was wind, lightning, rain, sleet, and hail…and a snow field! In the dark! Needlsss to say I broke into a run to descend down to treeline for some shelter. The spot I found was far from flat, but I hunkered down and let the CDT have her way. Goodnight from 11,500 ft of elevation!