We were up early (6:30 AM) - Ty is our alarm - he is the only one with a watch and is assigned wake up duty. The temperature in the morning is around 40. Rick is the cook (which means in charge of boiling water) so he is at the stove getting water ready for Coffee and Hot Chocolate. Breakfast is Oat meat - that will be breakfast every day. We break camp and are on the trail at 8:30 AM.
This will be a long and hard day, as we must cross two passes. We ascend West Maroon Pass reaching 12,500 ft.
We then drop down to around 11,000 ft. and then head back up to Frigid Air Pass at 12,384 ft.
This pass is much steeper and more rugged than West Maroon but not as sustained.
From the Frigid Air we descended about 1,600 ft. into Fravert Basin - What is most striking is the display of wild flowers - hard to describe.
On the saddle between the two passes, we meet "Mississippi". He has driven to Colorado to drop his wife off at the Democratic convention in Denver. He is hiking the "Circuit" alone. Like the Backpackers.com group we leap frog with him over the next couple of days.
On the saddle between the two passes, we meet "Mississippi". He has driven to Colorado to drop his wife off at the Democratic convention in Denver. He is hiking the "Circuit" alone. Like the Backpackers.com group we leap frog with him over the next couple of days.
We decide to hike a couple of more miles and cross The North Fork of the Chrystal River.
Despite our Topo Maps and GPS, we miss the turn to the river. This is not really our fault. There is a horse camp in the area and they have created many trails - more traveled than the one we need to follow. "Mississippi" also misses the turn - he bushwhacks and luckily, after crossing the river finds the trail on the other side. (We report this situation to the Ranger station when we check out from the hike.) However, after a short diversion we find the correct trail and cross the river. At this crossing, we need to change into our Teva's and water shoes, as the river is too high to cross in our hiking boots.
We make camp in a clearing on the riverbank at around 4:00 PM and have traveled a long and hard 8 miles.
We fix dinner - and drink desert and are in bed again around 8:30 PM.
Ty takes off his boots and realizes the "pain" he has been feeling is a good-sized blister. A delicate procedure involving Moleskin and duct tape is performed and we hope for the best over the next two days of hiking.
At around midnight (just a guess), we are treated to major thunder and lightning storms. They seem to last several hours. It was really something listening to the thunder role through the valleys. The tent does not leak!
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