In Chocolate I Trust — Adventures With Samson-The-Bear

On 9/14 I did 17 miles to Lake Ann. On 9/15 I did 24.1 to South Cotton Wood Creek. On 9/16 I did 26.4 miles to the base of Bald Mountain. On 9/17 I did 9.3 miles to Salida.

Listen to "Seasons" by Future Island as I meander through the mountains hoping to beat the upcoming seasonal changes.

After resting up in Twin Lakes (ie eating chips and drinking beer) I pushed out of town early. I had two relatively high passes to do that day, Hope Pass and Lake Ann Pass which are both at 12,500 feet. It was a blue bird day without a cloud in sight and I was feeling good even though I had my toughest day on trail the day before. When I got up to Hope Pass I sat down to enjoy the view and have lunch. At the pass I met two new thru hikers Giggles and Tiny Pants. I ended up hiking with them the rest of the day and they convinced me to stop short of Lake Ann Pass and camp at the lake where Joe Dirte was. The 4 of us camped together that night and it was great to have the company and share stories; it was the most people I had camped with since Glacier.

This next section of trail from Twin Lakes to Salida is an elevation roller coaster. The views are spectacular but there is almost no ridge walking, just up and down. I go from the valley floor up a saddle or peak back down to the valley. Unfortunately a storm front has moved in and is keeping me on my toes. I'll hike through any storm until it starts to thunder and lightning. At night I am not just planning where to camp in a safe spot for the next day but also planning bail out points incase the storms get nasty. The weather is changing fast in the mountains and I'm as prepared as I can be.

On the 17th I hitched down Monarch pass to Salida for a resupply. I have driven over Monarch Pass several times on my way out to Gunnison. Last year when I was driving over it I knew I would probably be hiking the CDT the following year and tried to picture what it would be like to cross it on foot. It felt really surreal to reach the pass on foot, I had planned on being on it in mid June but with the flip I'm now on it in Mid September and I'm estatic. I got a relatively quick hitch into town and set off doing my town chores. I wanted to stay in town but at this point in the hike I want to spend as much time in the mountains before the weather turns so I hitched back out in the afternoon. Before I went back on trail I stopped into the hostel to see which hikers were in town. I saw a bunch of hikers whon I hadn't seen in awhile and drank a few beers with them. Several were planning to zero so I had to start saying my final goodbyes. With only 300 miles left on trail the likelyhood of people catching up diminishes. It was great to say my goodbyes but really felt weird. A lot can happen in 300 miles but its going to go in a blink of an eye.