Continental Divide Trail #25: Beauty & a Map Mishap

Dion Pagonis, who with Andrea Rego and Buddy Backpacker hiked to Wolf Creek Pass with Og, commented on my previous blog post: “From my point of view, we were holding onto our dear lives through the most physically demanding rigorous escape off alpine hell. Thank goodness you know how to spin a story! Now all we did was just walk across a lot of snow.”  LOL! So now I know that Og (aka Porter) downplays danger so as not to terrify me! Anyway, here’s Og continuing north from Spring Creek Pass.


The trail is gorgeous, though, even in rain.


I hike in with Og at each trailhead then hike out solo to drive to the next trail town. At the next trailhead several days later I hike in to meet him, then we drive to town for his resupply.3a


Og starts hiking most mornings by 6 a.m.


Amber was dismayed to see that Og burnt a hole in his next day’s map while cooking dinner on his alcohol stove.


Og’s 8 oz. tarp protected him from high winds on an exposed ridge in the south San Juan Mountains.  


Hope you all had a happy Fourth of July!

8 comments on “Continental Divide Trail #25: Beauty & a Map Mishap

    • Thanks so much, Frank! And as a follow-up to your recent technical question about the 80-lb. pack, right after I responded, Porter met a football player doing a short segment of the trail with his buddy, each carrying a 90-lb. pack, which is insane! When he heard Porter was carrying a base weight of 8 lbs. plus food and water, he said he’d be terrified to be out there with less than he had. Yikes. Wilderness skills are far better to have than more stuff.

    • The mountains do indeed invite one further, Julianne! I’m hiking further in on the CDT after I drop off Porter at a new trailhead, today a good long hike in the Holy Cross Wilderness. Absolutely stunning! Hope you’re getting in some good hiking yourself!

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