CDT Day 44 – Piedra Pass

Date: 8/2/20

Daily Miles: 17

Total Miles: 775

The rain came as we were going to sleep last night. It is nice to be laying snug in our sleeping bags and listening to the rain on our tarps. The rain is pleasant, but mostly when we can just listen to it…not be walking in it.

The day started with us taking a wrong turn just a minute from our camp. Luckily the mistake was noticed right away, but even when we walked back to the junction, it was almost impossible to see…no wonder we missed it.

We had a big climb in the morning, but we all agreed it was such a pleasant incline that it was really enjoyable. The views continue to be vast and amazing in this area. When you are above tree line and can see for miles, all you see is more mountains…it really feels like you are far from the world.

The rains seem to have reverted back to their typical summer schedule of blowing in in the early afternoon. We had put up a tarp for lunch, since the sky was looking ominous, but there was no rain while we ate. When we packed up, the sky looked so dark, we decided to wait a bit and then it started to rain. We watched a bit more of our movie “Jeremiah Johnson” while we waited out the rain.

Once it let up, we started hiking and the rain came back. We could see our trail ahead as it was completely exposed near a dark thunder cloud. We decided to wait in the trees until the storm had passed by…watching the lightning and hearing the thunder.

Eventually, the storm passed and we continued on our way. We tried to keep a quick pace as we covered the miles of exposed trail. We figured that another storm cloud could easy come by again.

The rest of the afternoon was just more rolling ups and downs. We passed by a camp of a large family which looked pretty settled in. They had multiple horses and tents…looked like they were planning to be there for awhile.

We stopped just after 5pm for dinner. We hoped to go a bit further after dinner, but the rain started in and we just looked for the first possible camp spot. We did get to see a beautiful and really big rainbow when the rain let up.

We had to put up our tarps first, since it was raining, but we are all nice and toasty in our hammocks now. The rain continues pretty steadily, which we enjoy listening to. Hopefully tomorrow the weather will be clear.