Day 07 to North Fork Los Pinos River

mileage 18.5 elevation gain 3600 feet

"How to make Cassi go faster? Hike uphill." -Tony

Coyotes welcomed the start of a new day with a raucous chorus. We started ours with a traverse along the narrow arete known as the Knife Edge. Trail crews had been at work because it was not nearly as intimidating as it sounded. We stayed above tree line all day crossing passes, hopping creeks and drinking from waterfalls.

Cassi hiked the big climbs as fast as ever despite her bum knee. "It only hurts when I go downhill" she said speeding past me. Traversing under sheer volcanic cliffs stained red from high concentrations of iron oxide, we heard some rocks falling. 100 feet above us a heard of bighorn sheep adroitly jumped from ledge to ledge. We saw only 2 people the whole day.

At dusk we decided to stop as ominous thunderheads rolled in from the east. Soon a large electrical storm commenced, lighting up the night sky for hours. We were glad to be tucked away in our tent, warm and well fed, enjoying Nature's pyrotechnics.