INTO LAKE CITY
CDT Day 134: 4.5 miles /7 km
CDT SOBO: Mile 2031.0 – 2935.5
Wednesday August 27, 2019
Snow Mesa Campsite (12,250′) – Spring Creek Pass/Highway 149 (10,900′)
My prayers were partly answered. It was bitterly cold but there was hardly any wind when we started to break camp this morning. I was awake a few hours before we needed to pack up. I made a coffee and watched the night sky immersed in the absolute stillness and silence. Being out in the open we were camped under a canopy of stars and a sliver of a crescent moon. There is nothing like the enormity of the star studded night sky to make you feel infinitesimally small and insignificant. Its moments like these that fill me with awe and wonder and an enormous gratitude for the privilege to live this life.
We had a short hike this morning before reaching Highway 149 where we hoped to hitch into Lake City. As we hiked away from our campsite the imminent sunrise was lighting up the sky behind us. Such a brilliant sight with nothing in the way. The suns rays soon started to light up the distant mountains ahead of us. It was all so beautiful. The Snow Mesa ended up being so much more then I had anticipated.
The mesa ended abruptly in a steep tallus gully which we descended before reaching some pine trees.
We got to the Highway around 7.30 and in the next hour 3 cars had gone by, no luck. Another hiker soon joined us, Zig Zag from New Zealand who was hiking the Colorado Trail. Another half hour and no city bound cars.
But we soon got lucky when a car loaded with hikers pulled into the trailhead carpark. We got a ride into town with Silver Seeker, a CT hiker from Texas who had his car with him and was section hiking the CT. Such luck!
Lake City is a very small town in a valley surrounded by towering mountain peaks. Silver Seeker dropped us off in the middle of town and Zig Zag went to stay at a hostel where Silver Seeker was also staying. We got a cabin nearby at the Town Square Inn. By 10am we were happily indoors.
The usual town chores followed and the afternoon was spent finishing the blog updates and photo edits while Hammer had a snooze. There is no AT&T service in town at all and by mid-afternoon the whole town lost connection to the outside world. The motel owner thought the phone tower may have gone down and service may be restored in 2 to 4 hours. So a few administrative tasks couldn’t get done and I couldn’t upload the blog. After dinner, we caught up with some hikers staying at the hostel next door. It was great to meet up with southbound through-hiker Bearsock whom we last saw in the Bob Marshall Wilderness on Day 67 in mid-June. Still hiking happy and healthy.
Back in our room, internet service was still out so I fell asleep. (PS: Service was restored just before 9pm. Hammer stayed awake so he could contact family back home.)