CDT Days 60 & 61: back to the road

Day 60: Cochetopa Creek to mile 1034.6: 22.3 miles

Day 61: mile 1034.6 to Tank Seven Creek: 22.4 miles

Total miles: 904.2

We woke up by our spot by the creek, and it was the most water we’d see all day. The trail went through the Cochetopa Hills, which unbeknownst to us before we entered is very dry and very flat. Despite a relatively short climb in the morning, the rest of the day was spent walking across a flat, open expanse on dirt roads. It felt very similar to New Mexico, and for the first time in a long time it actually was hot outside.

We ran into three pairs of Colorado Trail hikers, the later of which told us they’d run into over 30 CDT hikers in the last two days. We’ve seen about eight the day before, but didn’t see any this day. The Colorado Trail and CDT have been overlapping for about 100 miles now, and six is the most Colorado Trail hikers we’ve seen.

To pass the time we talked about Piglet’s room back in Maine. We’ve settled on a few furniture arrangements to make it baby ready, and I’m really looking forward to when we get back home to start the process. While most of our hikes are marked by certain milestones along the trail, this hike seems to be marked more by my pregnancy milestones than hiking ones. I was more excited to get to 18 weeks than entering Colorado. Much like week on the trail brings new scenery, each week of pregnancy brings something new. Apparently Piglet is currently the size of a mango and weighs in at about half a pound.

This week Piglet really seems to be tiring me out. The following morning I woke up tired. I didn’t sleep that well, and struggled as we started the first of many climbs that day. I know I’ve been writing a lot lately about the struggles I’ve been having out here, but it is still a joy to get up every morning and do two of my favorite things: spend time with Garrett and hike. That certainly helps me push through the day.

At lunch we met Early Grey, but didn’t see anyone else throughout the day. We had an unusually long dry stretch for being back in the mountains, 12 whole miles. As conditions dry up, I hope we don’t have to get used to this; we’ve been spoiled having water every 3-5 miles.

Despite feeling tired, we hiked over 22 miles to find a quiet spot by a stream. The next day we had about the same distance to cover to get to Monarch Pass where we planned to hitch into town. We had enough food to spend another night in the woods, so we decided to sleep on it to see how we felt in the morning.