LAKE CITY, CO
It was a cold morning, below freezing. When I got out of my frosted tent I was treated to a magnificent sunrise.
I detected the sound of flowing water, which turned out to be beneath the rocks in what I thought was a dry creek. I could have had full water bottles and cooked dinner last night, and it was right next to me. Heck!
It took a while to warm up, but when it did it got plenty warm. By the end of the day I saw 95 degF on my thermometer.
I had a big climb up to a lunch spot, from where I made calls to the hostel to arrange a ride for 4:30. Then it was a long mostly flat hike across open range down to Spring Creek Pass. On the way down to the road I found some amazing trail magic; a cooler full of beer on ice. HeHo!
I got down to the pass at 3:30 and tried hitching. By 5:00 I had no takers on a lightly traveled road and nobody from the hostel came. I was about ready to start walking 20 miles to Lake City when a pickup that had passed me came back and picked me up. He was working for a guy from Austin who had a ranch here and was making a creek on his property fishable. He drove pretty fast and aggressively while using his cell phone to show me pictures of his work. A little scary, but I got to town.
In the evening Memphis, ED, and Veggie showed up and we went to dinner at a saloon. We all plan to hit the trail for the San Juans tomorrow.