Mileage: 26.2 miles (1267.9-1294.1)
I got up around 6:00am and started around 6:30am from the trailhead with only my orange dry bag looped onto my belt, which was slung around my shoulder. I had water and a bit of food. I felt so light and free without my pack.
I was doing the Rocky Mountain National Park loop, which would allow me to begin and end in Grand Lake, getting to take advantage of having a hot meal and a bed two nights in a row. It was part of the official CDT but most hikers don't do it as there's a shortcut that cuts it out. But I figured I'm only a few miles from the park so why not enjoy it.
The walk started out pretty flat along a sandy jeep road through some meadows and up through a river valley. It gently ascended past horse camps and people camps, all of which were by wilderness permit only. I couldn't have camped legally in the park if I'd wanted to. It was too crowded for me anyways.
It was a beautiful cloudless day as I wound my way up the switchbacks and into the high country. Waterfalls rushed alongside the trail, some tall and steep, while others were more like oil slicks running on flatter, nearly horizontal rocks. As I skipped along I met a group of three women and a man a couple hundred feet below treeline. They were pretty amazed I'd walked from Mexico and that I was doing the loop in a half day, while most (including them) were doing it in three or four, with fully loaded packs. Partly because they thought I looked hungry and partly because they were eager to lighten their load, they gave me some snacks which I started eating immediately.
Once I topped the ridge there were some pretty awesome 360 degree views, and though it was similar to other parts of my walk, I understood why it was a National Park. To my south and east I saw Long's Peak, RMNP's only 14'er jutting out abruptly from the rock.
As I started jogging along the ridge and heading down from Ptarmigan point I met a guy who hiked the Appalachian Traul and his girlfriend, and they gave me a snickers and honey stinger waffle and we hung out for a bit on top of the ridge. We enjoyed bathing in the sunlight until a few passing clouds drizzled on us and we decided to go our separate ways. I was struck by how easy it was to connect with another thru-hiker, someone who despite the distance of time and geography just understood exactly what I was doing.
As I descended quickly I noticed a herd of at least 100 elk in a high meadow to the west. I passed lots of folks with big packs who all asked me what the hell I was doing - most people up there were taking 3-4 days what I'd do in 8 hours.
The trail was really gentle on way down, not even having switchbacks as it slowly descended back to the valley below. I ran a lot of the way down, enjoying the high of being so weightless. Coming down even further I saw a Bull Moose 30 feet away in Big Meadow. He barely noticed me as he continued grazing, his huge spread of antlers somehow not getting in his way. There was tons of water and I even dunked my head in a cold, rushing stream to cool off. The trail continued following Big Meadow until it veered off into woods towards the visitors cente.
After I gawked at the circus inside, complete with crying babies, raucous kids, and entitled sounding grown-ups I got the heck out of there to the comparative peace of the parking lot. Immediately after I walked out a bus pulled up and what do you know it was headed back to Grand Lake! I had no money but the driver let me get the $3 from my room, $2 of which I had to borrow from U-turn when I realized I was short on cash.
We ate Mexican for dinner again and afterwards I could barely walk. I fell asleep watching Risky Business, Tom Cruise's first big movie, feeling like my day was just a wonderfully pleasant dream, flitting through my mind.
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