CDT Day 7 – Buffalo Spring

Date: 6/20/20

Daily Miles: 21

Total Miles: 130

The celebrations continued today with SweetPea’s birthday. She got presents of chocolate during the day and got to decide where we stopped for the day (it was an early stop 🙂).

The temperature was perfect for sleeping last night. It was so still when we got up and the sky was blue, so we had high hopes for the day. We had decided to get up a half hour early this morning to give us more flexibility with campsites this evening, as we would be going through a lot of tree-less sections today.

We started the day with a climb to the high point of the day. The climb wasn’t too terrible, even without switchbacks. The uphills are still pretty slow-going for us, but each day we get a little better. Hopefully soon enough we will be in good enough shape that the climbs don’t faze us.

As we climbed, we came across another small herd of elk who were grazing on the mountainside. Once again these guys were not spooked by us. They seemed more curious than anything. They hung around for awhile as we climbed closer to them and then they eventually ran off.

The hiking today was actually pretty pleasant. There was a good amount of trail or dirt road walking which was nice. Of course that was interspersed with muddy sections and cross-country, ankle-rolling terrain. But, all-in-all it was good walking.

The past two days seemed to have the same pattern…the sky is blue in the morning and there is no wind. As the day progresses, the sky becomes grey and a cold wind picks up. We even get just a few sprinkles. But is doesn’t seem to materialize into anything for us. We do end up putting up our tarps at night, just to be cautious.

We stopped for dinner around 5pm on top of a ridge. It was a bit breezy, but then became very pleasant. It was nice to stop for a longer break at the top of a climb. After dinner we walked for less than a mile before finding a nice spot for hanging. SweetPea decided to call it a day, even though it was only 6pm. If we kept going, it could be another four and a half miles before we were back in the trees and able to find a spot for camping. Having an early end to the day, sounded much better to her.

Tomorrow we have another day where we will be up in elevation and out of the trees for most of the day. As we look at the map, it shows that we make a quick dip down into trees in 21 miles, so we are going to aim for that. Otherwise we would need to walk another five miles to get to a another chance for hanging.