Pagosa Springs to Lake City (6/21-26): 114.3 miles - Weminuche Wilderness
We left Pagosa Springs not wanting to leave: packs were heavy with 6 nights of food, we were missing comforts of home and we were nervous about the weather we would be battling high in the mountains. A beautiful sunset made it easier to be back on trail.
The 2nd night was the beginning of a long stretch of cold rain - cold enough to not want to continue hiking, but finding out if we stopped, we’d only be getting colder. We woke up to find our gear wet, and were praying that sun would come out later in the day. The eeriness of that morning felt like we had so long to go: the valleys were filled with fog, everything was cold and wet. But as we began hiking, 2 bull moose on trail reminded us just how incredible this adventure was.
We continued on in 12,000+ ft. elevation. Some moments we were up so high I felt I could reach out to the clouds. Other days we looked down into the valley to see all the down pines (from beetle kill), where trees looked like little toothpicks - almost as if the mountains were waiting for someone to come along to play endless games of “Pick Up Sticks”.
Sun came in pockets where we would take 30 minutes to dry out our gear, pack it up in our liners, and 5 minutes later….more rain.
By night 6 we had 18 miles left till town. We could either push through the next day and arrive in town late or break those 18 miles up to arrive in town in 2 days. That next day, we completed those 18 miles by 2:30pm! We stuck out our thumbs on the highway, and a minute later got waved over by an Oklahoma family to hop in the tailgate of their truck for the 30 minute hitch into Lake City. Our clothes were soaked, our toes felt frozen and we wanted so badly to be out of the rain, but a ride is a ride! So we took it.
Other segment highlights:
- We saw 7 moose in total, 2 being calves!
- Saw a herd of 30-40 elk
- So many signs of mountain lions
- Drank water from the headwaters of the Rio Grande River
- Stayed in a cabin on the hill
- Got hailed on 9 times
- Conjoined with the CT Trail and reached the trails highest point!
- Survived 😉
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