CT 7.7.15 Day 5

Miles today: 13.6

Miles from Denver:71.7

Days on the trail:5

Approximate elevation gain: 1858

I got about one or two hours of sleep. Not last night, but this morning between the hours of 6-9am. It seemed like it never stopped raining and I was extremely paranoid about bears all night. It's kind of weird, because any research I have done on black bears suggests that they are kind of like skiddish dogs and easy to scare away. Despite that, they have a ferocious appetite and will do a lot to get some high calorie food, which is the only kind of food we are carrying. We hung a bear bag, but I felt like I might have heard grunting or big paws walking around us. I think I had a panic attack last night, because I was so anxious about dying from a bear.

We resolved to spend the night in town, hitching a ride into Jefferson four miles away to grab our resupply box and hitching another ride to Fairplay 16 more miles away to get a hotel. My driving force for the afternoon of hiking was a pizza with pepperoni, onions, green peppers, sausage and mushroom with extra sauce, and extra cheese. We left our camp at 11:30 am. It was absolutely painful to put on damp pants, a wet backpack and the knowledge that my one and only rain coat was soaking wet. I had to pack my backpack differently based on the wetness factor of each item. Thank God I still had my long underwear, fuzzy jacket and hat dry. Otherwise, I started out miserable.  Oh, and we left with just a half liter of water between the two of us with no promise of a creek nearby. In a word: screwed. 

In order to make it to Jefferson by 6pm when the general store closed, we had to hike fast. This a pleasant day does not make. We thankfully found water sooner than expected. That took a half hour. Time is now 12:00 and we still have 12 miles to hike. Up ahead were beautiful vistas covered in a doom that goes by the name of ugly storm cloud. Eventually, rain hit hard. We had to take refuge under a couple of trees for about 20 minutes. We each picked a tree about 50 or 60 feet away from each other so that if one of us happens to be hit by lightening, hopefully the other can be of service. (I know, super morbid and scary). We timed a lot of lightening strikes to be within a mile of us. I hate moments like that. To pass the time, I ate some gorp. Its hard to get enough calories on rainy days, so I was doing my best.

WATER!!!!

Eventually, it was time to move on. It was still nasty out and lightening was still a threat so we kept our distance from each other and walked like their was a fire under our behinds. We exited Lost Creek Wilderness at mile 6.6 and the trail began and uphill climb as the rain waned a little. We met Gene and Ray at the middle of a hill with a beautiful view where Ray would camp for the night. It continued to sprinkle for the rest of the hike. Our boots, socks, feet were soaked and we still had 8 miles to go. Bugger. I wanted to enjoy the beauty of the outdoors, and have the best day ever but all I could focus on was pizza and putting one foot in front of the other. We hiked separated for most of the remaining miles and my mind went numb trying to forget about how much pain my feet were in. My legs were strong carrying me up each hill and incline and my knees have stopped complaining about going downhill. 

You can't tell yet, but its about to get real bad, fast.

I have become quite emotional on this hike. The other day, I was talking about the movie Shrek and how he says, "Better out than in, I always say" and how I thought it was so romantic that Fiona chose to be more masculine in ogre form for love and in a later movie you hear her saying, "Better out than in..." and then I started sobbing uncontrollably. Was I happy? Or happy for them? For crying out loud, they are fictional characters! Maybe its a lack of social interaction. I don't know. I've also been excessively happy, and joyful. One night we were reading some of Bill Bryson's "A Walk in the Woods" and we were both laughing so hard at times we could hardly breathe. I haven't gotten super low or depressed, just excessively happy and crying a lot.

For the last three miles I could see the expanse that was Jefferson and Fairplay and heard cars and trucks in the distance on the highway. It was all there, just laughing at me. The miles NEVER end. By the end of it, I saw a couple with a dog and became overwhelmed with happiness that I started to cry (again). When we crossed the street to start hitch hiking, I cried when people passed us by. Then I cried when someone decided to help us out. This car with 4 people and tons of gear rearranged everything so that the two of us could fit in while two of them stayed behind for the 4 mile road trip to Fairplay. Guess who it was? The Texans! Texans are so nice and hospitable. I love them. From Jefferson to Fairplay a nice young guy in a pickup truck stopped for us. He looked very familiar and I couldn't place him. Eventually, I realized he looked a lot like grown up August Booth/Pinocchio from Once Upon a Time.