Day 9 Brown's Creek to Monarch Crest

This AM we continued our long traverse along the eastern flank of the Collegiate range. John had been battling chronic knee problems. For John, patella femoral syndrome had cut short a previous bike tour along the Pacific coast. When we arrived at Angel of Shavano trailhead John told us he had to bow out and take a few days rest. We all felt down. How could we loss our finest mechanic and good-will-ambassador? John softened the blow by dishing out his extra food which we quietly devoured.

We planned to reunite in 4 days in Lake City. He took the Forest Service (FS) road to the highway and we continued down trail. After crossing hwy 50 we quit traversing and began the long climb to above treeline. We followed a beautiful trail up Foose's Creek topped by the steepest hike-a-bike yet and then we were there: 12000 ft, straddling the Continental Divide which we were to hug closely for the next 100 miles. We took off down the famous Monarch Crest trail and I managed an endo (a few scrapes and bruised ego) in a deeply rutted section made worse by motorcycle traffic. I didn't know they were allowed here. They and cows are a bane to trails. Another mile put us at a gorgeous meadow with a funny lean-to shelter in the tress. Preferring the sun and soft grass we pitched our tent instead. Our trip mascot, Ducky(see photo) tried to fill John's shoes. Not as entertaining but at least she did not snore.