SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS, CO
At about midnight last night, I am pretty sure I heard someone hiking up the trail. That’s nutty! Even with a full moon, this trail is too treacherous to hike at night
I also head elk squealing down in the valley. Their cries echoed through the mountains
Over the past month I have noticed shortness of breath. Sometimes its like I forget to breath and have to make several big gasps to recover. I am surprised this is still happening after all this time at high elevation
Another surprise is a little blister on my left heal. I thought my feet were calloused enough to be immune to this. A little mole skin and some Vaseline will help.
The morning climbs were big. The weather is again great but cooler.
After lunch I got to hike along the knife edge. It is a ledge along a mountain and a long way down. Before I got to the tricky part I slipped on some lose rock and fell. I didn’t want that to happen on the more precarious section, so I was more methodical going forward. It turned out to be not that scary, but I imagine trying this section in ice and snow would be harrowing.
The afternoon brought intermittent rain. I put off wearing my rain gear as long as possible, but it got too wet to go without them.
I was ready to find water and camp toward evening, but I was not finding water sources. My GPS showed a lake on trail that must have dried up because I never saw it. Eventually I found a running stream with a trickle of good water, but no good place to camp. I filled up with water and continued on down the mountains to a decent camp site.
Things are rather soggy, but hopefully tomorrow will be a dry day