CDT Day 43 – Knife Edge

Date: 8/1/20

Daily Miles: 19

Total Miles: 758

We had a really nice temperature last night for sleeping. The wind died down before we went to sleep, so it was pretty calm. And we were camped a bit up from a meadow, so we were out of the damp cold.

Last night, when we had looked at the elevation profile for today’s miles, it looked a lot different than what we had been walking. The first part of the day looked normal, with big climbs and descents. But then the rest of the miles looked like the small teeth on a saw…lots of tiny ups and downs. We weren’t sure if the trail depicted in the elevation profile was going to be easy or hard.

The day started with a big climb and we eventually got to a Knife Edge…basically a narrow trail where there is a big drop off on both sides of the trail. We weren’t really sure what to expect, but it was quite short and it was over before we knew it. It was pretty cool to look over both sides of the trail to the valleys on both sides.

After the Knife Edge, we started in on the tiny ups and downs we had seen on the elevation profile last night. Most of the climbs and descents were ok, but there was a lot of trail today that was steep with loose rock…definitely not a favorite. It was pretty easy to slip, and our heels are still a little tender.

The day had started out clear, but the clouds rolled in by lunchtime. We got a few storm clouds passing over us…the first brought really strong winds and a little rain, the second brought rain. Luckily neither lasted long and we were able to dry out quickly.

We saw a lot more people on the trail today than we expected…nine backpackers! Some were just out for a few days and some were section hiking the CDT. We have been surprised that we are seeing just as many people on this section of trail as we would see on the CT.

We made it to camp by 6:30pm and we all put up our tarps since there were grey clouds in the sky. We’ve heard some thunder as we set up camp, but so far we haven’t seen any raindrops.