Mileage: 30 miles (634.4-664.4)
3:57 am: Eeeeackkkkkkk ... PHLUMP! I woke up with a start. My first thought was that it was a bear crashing through the woods. My heart was pounding. Eeeeeeeeek .... CRASH! It was a tree falling what must have been within 100 yards of where we were sleeping. What was strange was that there was no wind whatsoever. The tree just fell. It shook me up some and it took me awhile to fall back asleep. Perhaps it was Nature's reminder that anything can happen at anytime and we are powerless to stop it.
I awoke for a second time with a start. This time it had started to drizzle and I didn't have my tent setup. The spruce we were camped under offered some protection but my sleeping bag would have gotten wet if I didn't immediately jump out and stuff it away into it's dry sack. I managed to get the rest of my stuff in my bag and crouched further under the tree to eat my granola while I watched the rain steadily saturate the already soggy meadow.
I was cold so I broke camp quickly and said I'd wait for Karma and Restless up trail. It cleared up for my morning ascent, but by 8am the freezing rain started. At first, I just kept going without my rain jacket, but then I started getting cold. I put on my down jacket and rain coat on the outside as I began going downhill.
By mid-morning I had reached Hopewell Lake Campground and I thought it'd be a good spot to wait for the guys. It started getting colder so I made a fire in one of the pits to keep warm. After an hour the blizzard started. Huge flakes of snow whipped down and blew in all directions. Even with the fire I was getting cold again so I had to keep moving without finding the guys.
It snowed the rest of the day, except for a brief window in the late afternoon when the sun peaked through. I had just made a steep ascent onto a ridge overlooking the whole valley, so I has some incredible views. I saw Elk far below grazing to their hearts content. I watched them for awhile, but they ran off when they noticed me at least a mile away (not to mention 400 ft above them). It made slogging through the snow and sleet and mud totally worth it. Just that 39 minutes of clear view of the valley below.
I also ran into a squirrel earlier in the day. He just sat about 8 feet up in an Aspen staring at me with a fir cone in his mouth. The snow seemed to give him courage, like he knew I was the visitor and this was his home. Later on some Elk gave me the same feeling. They just looked up at me and then went back to eating, only running off when I got within 50 yards, a much smaller buffer than usual. It was as if it was a security blanket of snow and the animals knew I was doing my best survive, just like them.
I had been following Commando's tracks all day and could tell I was getting closer to him as the day wore on. I had decided I was going to stop at the Lagunitas Lakes Campground at 10,500 ft. The snow was still swirling so I figure I could make camp inside the privy to stay warm.
As I rounded out the last mile up an old, muddy forest road I saw a ranger cabin all boarded up. Right when I was about to turn away, the window opened up and a voice said, "is that Lt. Dan?" (Sidenote: if I haven't mentioned it yet, my trail name is 'Lt. Dan' from Forrest Gump ... long story, but basically because Forrest says to Lt. Dan 'you've got magic legs' when he gets prosthetics ... and the guys who gave it to me first met me after I did a 34.5 mile day).
I gleefully replied, 'yes!' and realized I must have caught Commando holed up in the cabin. Sure enough, I followed his tracks and he had found a broken window to climb through. I was very relieved and he helped me get my stuff inside before I climbed through.
Twenty minutes later Karma appeared in the window and we greeted him cheerfully. Restless had decided to take an easier day, so we just hope he found a good camp spot. We all cooked dinner, grateful for our good fortune and not having to all cram in the privy with the accompanying smells. We made a plan to hike the final 23 miles to Chama the next day, all going to sleep feeling much better with safety in numbers. And also that we weren't still out in the storm.
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