CDT Day 42 – Squaw Creek

Date: 7/31/20

Daily Miles: 23

Total Miles: 739

This morning started out with a climb, as so many mornings do. We tend to go as far down in elevation as we can for sleeping, as that is where we are most likely to find trees for hanging. That usually means that we are going to be heading back up first thing in the morning. That works out pretty good, because the climb can warm us up first thing in the morning.

The trail was pretty nice as we climbed up to a ridge which had a feature called “The Window”. It was a rectangle missing from a fin of rock on the crest of a ridge. It looked more like a missing tooth, but it was pretty cool and actually we were able to see it over a seven hour span of time today.

Since leaving the Colorado Trail yesterday, we didn’t really expect to see any other hikers. But yesterday, we saw a group of three and today we saw two pairs of hikers. The couples today were each out for a week of exploring in the Weminuche Wilderness. The scenery today was pretty awesome, so surely they’ll have good time.

The weather again today was really clear and beautiful. It seems like the cold weather is definitely gone and the intense sun has settled it. Because we are walking above tree line for so much of the day, we are exposed to the sun and can’t really find any relief. Our faces tend to really get fatigued from all the sun. We do keep our faces pretty protected with hats, bandanas and sunscreen, but we can still feel the sun.

We had to go a bit further today in order to get back down into trees for camping. It feel like we are hiking in trees so little lately, we kind of forget about them until we see them again. We’re just used to walking through bushes or grass for most of the day. Two of us are hanging over the trail tonight…something we can consider again since we left the CT.