Day 03 to Silver Peak

Rain last night delayed our start as we took advantage of the rising sun and east facing camp site to dry the tent. Our tent is single walled, light weight and spacious but it has no floor and tends to trap condensation so gets wet easily. After a while I quit trying to dry it in the morning if wet, opting instead to spread it out later in the day to dry. This and other techniques helped us shorten our morning routine though one hour was typical.

We spent the morning above timberline traversing the flanks of 13ners (mountains over 13000 feet above sea level) The CDT in Colorado is a very high trail, averaging close to 11000 feet in its quest to stay close to the geographic divide. The San Juan section is even higher, averaging well over 11000 feet, with the trail in many places staying right on the divide. I was worried we have trouble acclimating so for the first week we took Diamox. It must of worked because neither of us got altitude sickness.

Mid day we met two day hikers coming from Crater Lake. Thunderstorms moved in and we all raced down to the relative safety of treeline at Elwood Pass. In our haste we missed the CDT turn to the left and ended up a mile off course on the road over the pass. This was our biggest navigation goof of the trip and easily rectified with a 15 minute walk down the road to regain the CDT. Other times we'd misplace the trail, especially when the tread would disappear, but find it minutes later. I want to say this was because of our exceptional navigation skills but I attribute it more to good maps, good signage and moving at a 2-3 mph hiker's pace. Biking last year in New Mexico we'd missed a few intersections and gotten more off course. I never felt lost (ie lost implying not knowing where we were) more misplaced (ie knowing where we were though not being where we wanted to be). I had brought my GPS but made a goal to try and not use it.

That afternoon we followed an old stock trail from Elwood Pass over Summit and Bonito Passes. The weather stayed turbulent with a light rain as we passed high ponds and marshes alive with the chorus of frogs The clouds parted just as the sun went down. We camped on a high knoll with views down to Wolf Creek Pass, tomorrows destination.

new plants seen- miner's candle, queen ann lace, monk's hood, subalpine spirea, scouler willow, broadleaf bluebell, Engleman's aster, hairy golden aster, subalpine daisy, Canada goldenrod, river beauty, siberian chives, white geranium

animals identified- golden eagle, black fly, brown-capped rosy-finch, colorado chipmunk, elk, yellow bellied marmot, western chorus frog