Day 111- Another Day on the Divide

Friday August 03, 2018

Cow Corral (2226.3) to West of Tepee Mountain(2254.5) 28.2 Miles 

Total Miles: 1970 

Elevation: 8,543 feet

Last night was a weird night. I was pretty chilled when I went to sleep. It was almost eleven by the time I finished writing my blog. The wind was really strong. I woke up at 2:30 and it had warmed up considerably. I actually had to take layers off. I woke up again at 4:30 and had to put clothes back on because the temperature had dropped again. When I finally got up at 5:30 it had warmed up again slightly. Straws, Piñata, and I were camped in close quarters. I had to be creative when I went to go dig my hole so that I had a little bit of privacy. We were all packed up and ready to go at the same time, so we hiked out together. After two crazy days of walking on the divide with lots of little ups and downs my legs were really tired. My mental condition wasn’t much better. I was tired of seeing the same exact terrain yet again. Straws and Piñata seemed to be feeling it as well. Our first couple of miles came much slower than normal. I really thought that we would get into a groove, but we never did. Thevtrail was hard to follow for the first three or four miles, making route finding a challenge. Straws seems to be better at finding the trail than Piñata or I, so we let her take the lead. 

We really wanted to get in thirty miles today, but when we had already taken tow breaks in less than five miles and in two hours it became pretty obvious that wouldn’t happen. We started the morning off with a decent climb. The rest of the day was spent hiking up 700-800 feet at a time, then losing the elevation, only to gain it all back again. It was almost exactly like the first day out of Lima, with the exception that we had even more elevation change. I thought about listening to an audiobook or podcast, but hanging out with Straws and Piñata was way more entertaining. Most of the day was spent talking about what found we wanted to eat. It was a fun and torturous conversation. 

Up and down the same terrain for the last 90 miles

Once again following a fence line on The Continental Divide

More of the same

Mostly intact cow skull

The miles really dragged on forever today. I really looked forward to taking a break from the second or last break was over with. We were fortunate to not have to carry water for more than eight miles at a time. Today was one of the first days that my hunger was out of control. On our first break I could have eaten all of my snacks for the entire day. I even had three extra snacks today because I was moving faster than I had planned on. Even with the extra food I was starving. Straws and Piñata cook a hot meal for their lunch. I just eat snacks all day. I think on the next stretch I’m going to try packing out fresh bread, cheese, and maybe peanut butter, and jelly. I need something more substantial. What I used to consider six days of food is lasting me four days. 

Lake Morrison

The toughest part of the day was after lunch. All three of us were very lethargic. Of course this is when we started the toughest part of the day. We had climbs of  thirteen hundred, nine hundred, and eight hundred feet back to back. Every climb took a little longer than the last. To make matters even more interesting the wind realky picked up. I was staggering all over the trail like a drunk person. It was even more exhausting work. The only thing that kept me going was the thought of eating a double dinner. I had two packets of ramen to look forward to for dinner. 

Rare flat section

Triple wide trail. It was perfect for the three of us to hike side by side on 

We found s nice sheltered spot out of the wind to camp at. I ate my double ramen, a bag of flamin hot Cheetos, a dark chocolate sea salt and almond candy bar, a bag of famous Amous cookies, and a snickers. I was still hungry. I hope to get an early start tomorrow so I can make it into town by noon. I really hope the next section is better than this last one. 

“Nothing great is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig. I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.”

- Epictetus