Day 10 to above CT Friends Yurt

Thunder was our 5:30am alarm. This was the first morning we woke to stormy skies. We packed up quickly and were on the trail by sunrise. The weather teased us all day with bits of rain and hail but never anything serious which was fortunate. We were above 12000 feet all day in the high alpine with no hope for shelter other than what we carried. Needless to say the scenery was fantastic.

This was our biggest mileage day yet and it felt good. Cassi's knee was improving. We both had an assortment of blisters on our feet but nothing unmanegable. We were getting into the grove of long distance hiking. We saw lots of Colorado Trail (CT) through hikers. We were traveling south to north while most CT hikers do the opposite (starting in Denver and finishing in Durango) They just kept coming at us. It was nice to share info on what was ahead on the trail, water sources, etc. Because we were on the geographic divide, we were often above the water flowing in creeks and streams below us. One couple, who went by the trail names Duke La'Orange and Wolfie, had previously hiked the Appalachian Trail (AT) and were fun to talk to. Their packs were even smaller than ours. Another group of 3 guys were on the opposite end of the spectrum. Their packs were enormous. In addition they carried rifles and grizzly bear spray. They had run out of water and were looking for a place to camp. We showed them on our map (apparently despite all their stuff they had no map) the most likely spot and wished them luck.

Beside CT hikers we saw no other large mammals but did have some close encounters with smaller wildlife. We passed huge colonies of pikas and marmots. I was amazed how unperturbed many of the animals were to our presence. We almost had to nudge one marmot off the trail so we could pass.

Milestones for the day: We passed through the abandoned mining district of Carson. A rutted 4wd road and a few decaying log structures were all that was left of the former boom town. We also climbed over Coney Saddle, at 13200 feet it was the highest point on the CT but not the CDT. That honor goes to Gray's Peak which was weeks away. Last milestone: a view of lake San Cristobal and Lake City, our first town stop and destination for tomorrow.

Eventually we descended to spruce forest and called it a day. It was our first time camping below tree line in a week.

new plants seen- alpine aster, alpine avens

animals identified- vole, least chipmunk, snowshoe hare, pika, yellowbellied marmot, white-tailed ptarmigan