Day 29 to Devils Thumb Trailhead

Last days on a trip like this are hard to experience and even more difficult to write about. The bitter sweet feelings wash over you in waves, a great sense of accomplishment tempered by a desire to not be finished. The promise of warmth- friends, family, hot showers, home cooked food- is balanced against the cold beauty of the mountains. For me after 4 weeks I feel more like a mountain.

Enough whining, let's get to the facts. Barring the haze this was the most spectacular day of the whole trip. We climbed five 13ners- Flora, Eva, Parry, Bancroft and James- on knife edge traverses. We crossed historic Rogers then Rollins Passes where native Americans then wagons and finally trains crossed the divide into the Fraser Valley. We traveled in two wilderness areas, James Peak and Indian Peaks, above more glacier carved lakes than I can name. Eventually we ended under Devils Thumb, a granite monolith where 8 years ago Cassi, Mila and I backpacking had our first encounter with the divide.

When we reached the trailhead we were surprised. Helen, Bob and Mika were not waiting for us. We paused for a moment then did what came naturally. We started walking. Two miles down the road Helen met us. She had gotten turned around with all the new roads in this area. I tried to help her as we drove down towards Fraser but I got confused too. It was the only time on the trip that we used a GPS.