CDT Day 10 – Leadore

Date: 6/23/20

Daily Miles: 13

Total Miles: 188

We decided to get up early today even though we had a short day into Leadore. We were all anxious for the comforts of town.

We awoke to another beautiful morning…perfect temperature and blue skies. Although we started with wind shirts and mittens, they didn’t last long as we started climbing right away.

We had a very gradual climb up to our highest point so far, Elk Mountain. It was such a pleasant walk, that we wondered if it was just really easy or if we are finally getting our trail legs. At the top, we turned on our cell phones and called the owner of the motel in Leadore to arrange to get picked up at the trailhead which is about 16 miles outside of Leadore.

We arranged the pick up to give us 4 1/2 hours to walk the remaining 10 miles to the trailhead. We figured it would be no problem if we stayed focused. The trail heading down from the high point was just as great as the trail up to the high point…nice and gradual with excellent views in every direction.

Several miles into the descent, the trail turned into a jeep track again. It seems like we have been walking a lot of miles on jeep tracks lately. One drawback to walking these tracks is that you can see them so far out in the distance (since we are mostly walking in tree-less areas) and it feels like they are never ending.

We made it down to the trailhead with half an hour to spare. Luckily, the motel owner was early too and we only waited for him for five minutes. Then we were in his truck and headed for town. Yeah!