Day 11 to Spring Creek Pass

Town Day. There is something almost magical about those two words to a long distance hiker. It made us walk faster and with a spring in our steps. Of course the fact that haven eaten all our food our packs were 10 pounds lighter helped too. We were planning a Nero day in Lake City. A Zero day is when you laze around and don't make any forward progress in your trip. A Nero is a Nearly Zero day where you only travel a short distance.

The 9 miles sped by. We passed the platform where in winter a yurt is erected to provide shelter for backcountry skiers. We climbed to Jarosa Mesa. A shepard with his dog was leading his large flock of sheep to high pasture. The trail disappeared so we followed cairns over rocky ground to the stock road. Following the dirt road we arrived at Spring Creek Pass and State Highway 149, our first paved road in a week.

Originally we had thought of hitching a ride south to Creede since we'd never been there before. A few weeks before our trip I heard of a hiker hostel north in Lake City. We had visited Lake City on our CT mt bike trip (as the photos suggest) but we decided to go back. The hitch was not easy. Cars, mainly driven by tourists, zoomed by not even slowly down for Cassi. " Wow, if a cute girl can't get a ride we are going to have trouble". It was Beckham who saved the day. Cinda, a Lake City transplant from Plano Texas, took pity on our dirty worn-out dog so she stopped. She was an ex vet tech and was driving back with her own dog who'd just been neutered.

Cinda dropped us right at the Raven's Roost Hostel. It was only 11:30am. We met the proprietors- Lucky and Amy Jo, former CDT hikers who had settled down in Lake City to raise a family. The set up was great- showers, a kitchen, a hiker box full of discarded trail food that we picked through, bikes to get around town without having to walk, even town clothes we could wear while we washed our dirty hiking clothes. Our needs were simple and the hostel fulfilled them all. We did all the usual town chores: phone calls to loved ones, food shopping, bounce box (which we mail ahead of us containing items we did not need while hiking but did need in town or for the next section).

Hiker hunger had not truly set. We had left over food in our packs so ate that for lunch. Even at dinner we did not gorge ourselves though we did follow it with ice cream. Lake City is a nice place and we enjoyed exploring its historic downtown.

We shared the hostel with Chris, trail name Cyclops, a CT hiker who was recuperating from an ankle injury. Lots of long distance hikers adopt trail names. We felt no burning desire to do the same though Cassi suggested we use alpine flower names. Beckham was Daisy (a shortening of his nickname Pup-si-day-si) She then christened me Old Man of the Mt . I retaliated calling her Thistle. But I digress. There was also a large group from Grand Junction staying at the hostel and day hiking near by 14ners. They were very curious about our exploits and asked us lots of questions including "What is the hardest part?" As we sat soaking our feet in Epson salts, lancing blisters, duct taping tattered shoes, putting in new insoles- the answer was obvious. "Taking care of your feet."

Cassi had a bed inside but the Grand Junctioners had filled up the men's bunk room. OK with me. We were in the low lands at 9000 feet so the night was warm. The soft grass of Lucky and Amy Jo's back yard was a perfect place to pitch a tent and fall blissfully asleep.

new plants seen- haircup moss, silver lupine

animals identified- raven, pine siskin