Day 15 to Windy Peak

More walking on the divide today though at a low elevation. We stayed between 10 and 11,000 feet mainly along rocky forested ridges. There was lots of up and down but little of the fantastic views to which we'd grown accustom. I remembered this section from our CT mountain bike. It was as tough on foot as it had been on bike. Again, we encountered only a few people, 5 backpackers and 1 mt biker, all traveling the CT to Durango. We were making good time. In fact we were on track to finish this section in 5 days instead of 6. That was good because hiker hunger was kicking in. We were glad to have an extra day of food to augment our calorie intake. With an extra day Cassi proposed we not stop at Berthoud Pass at the end of the trip as planned but keep walking to Fraser. Maybe. Maybe.

From the top of Sargent's Mesa we could see the Sangres and Dunes to the southeast and the Sawatch and Collegiate ranges (where we were heading) to the northeast. Rain, lightning and clouds greeted us on our short foray above treeline but the heavy precipitation held off until we made camp. Lighting a cook fire wasn't easy but we managed a hot meal before turning in for the night.

new plants seen- lodgepole pine, kinnikkinnik

animals identified- Colorado chipmunk, golden mantled ground squirrel, Abert's squirrel, mule deer, Clark's nutcracker, American crow