Leg 10: Creede to Molas Pass

Stats:
Distance: 10 legs, 24 segments, 51 days, 412 miles
Best food: broccoli bacon soup, peaches
Wildlife sightings: marmots and picas, of course; sheep; a horse

Day 47:

We expect rain and lots of it, for the next 5 days, and possibly forevermore.

This first day out, we didn’t get soaked like we were afraid we would. There were some sprinkles, but rain jackets and pants kept us dry and our packs stayed dry on the inside too.

We walked on top of a mesa with amazing views, even with the clouds. When we reached the end of the flat top, we came into a flock of sheep with a horsebacked shepherd. They were a good distance away (so we didn’t threaten the guard dogs — whew); we just got to admire the pastoral view over lunch.

Into a patch of forest to camp, we got the tent up and flied and dinner made and eaten before any real rain began.

Day 48:

The forecast said 100% rain today, with thunderstorms after noon. We got up and were out of camp by 7:30. And were greeted by the sun!

We started the long climb up to 13,259 ft, the highest point on the Trail. We watched clouds drift all around us, but were miraculously dry almost all morning!
Just at the final ascent to the high point, we walked into a cloud and the sky had a little temper tantrum on us. (No lightning though.)

Apropos the rest of our trip, we took our photo at the top in the rain with very little visibility. But we started coming down in elevation right away, and the rain cleared, and the air got warmer.

We started up valley toward our next 13,000 ft saddle, expecting to pitch our tent somewhere in the willows while the afternoon thunderstorms raged. Instead, blue sky peeked through and we just kept walking!

We can’t believe we made it all the way to Cataract Lake, our pie in the sky campsite for today. Dry, fed, and warm, we lounged in the tent during the brief rainfall until we fell asleep.

Day 49:

We woke up chilly (at 12,300 ft), but quickly warmed up as we climbed out the gulch.

The sun never really broke through the clouds, and we oscillated between warm when climbing and cool when descending. And our rain jackets were always at the ready, with clouds moving all around us, but it was too hot to wear them on the ups and changed too often to want to take them on and off all the time.

But we never got rained on! Miracle of miracles! Climbing out of Maggie Gulch, we heard our first thunder clap, but the wind must have pushed it to our east, like all the other storm clouds we witnessed.

Our lunch spot was over the last of the really beefy passes, at the headwaters of the Rio Grande. How cool is that?!

Beyond Stony Pass, we set our sights on the lowest elevation point and got ourselves into a notch where our tent was protected from the wind. And nary a drop of rain fell.

Day 50:

Day 50! Whoa! Must be about time to wrap this sucker up.

We woke up excited this morning, knowing that we would be covering the same ground as we did on our backpack last summer. It was super fun and gratifying to reach a spot and say, “That’s the spot where we …!”

We finished our walk on the top of the world, saluted the alpine tundra, then plunged down down down down down next to Elk Creek.

Over the course of the 4,000-ft descent, we rediscovered the dramatic river of blood (actually iron), found a secret waterfall, strolled through the newly cleared avalanche fields, and reached our last big mark before the finish.

Cheers ensued when we came out onto the railroad tracks and saw the Animas — our river! It feels finally like we’re actually going to finish, like we’re walking in our home turf toward our home ground.

We pitched the tent between the river and the tracks and fell asleep, excited to climb up the last 3 miles to Molas Pass tomorrow.

Day 51:

We woke up excited to climb up to friendly faces! We had reservations at a camp ground right on the trail, and arrangements to meet Baca Sue and our besties.

We barely got a mile off the bottom when we turned a corner and there was Kenny and Zoey! He was carrying treats and just hearing another voice on the trail made the last couple miles fly by!

At the campground, we were gifted showers, fire wood, drinks, quesadillas, clean clothes, conversation … everything we could dream of!

Pad Thai and s’mores and games and just basking in love later, we are looking forward to home in just a few days!