Wednesday, July 20, 2011

July 15, 2011

Today we woke up early and were on the trail by 6:15am so we could get in the 7 miles to Ebbetts Pass by 9am when I was planning to meet with David.  It was more up and down than I was expecting and took a while, but it was beautiful and I made it with time to spare.  





When I got to Hwy 4 (Ebbetts Pass) I ran into Doug, Fritz, and Shepherd.  Doug was setting up trail magic just as I was arriving, while Fritz and Shepherd were preparing to hike the section between Ebbetts Pass and Carson Pass.  Shepherd is also a trail angel who supplied us with food near Silverwood Lake many miles ago.

A few minutes later David pulled up with goodies in tow and ready to hike.  There were peaches, apricots, pineapple, strawberries, homemade brownies courtesy of Janet, and Gatorade.  After spending a little time at the roadside, we headed off to start the section.

It was a beautiful day, and after following a few misleading footprints on the snow getting slightly off course, we found the trail and were able to follow it for most of the day with little interference from the snow.


We were, however, able to do a little glissading, a first for David, and made use of microspikes during a short snow-covered hillside traverse.  The rest of the day was characterized primarily by expansive wildflower meadows with striking views of mountains just beyond their edges.  It was great that David was able to get a fairly all-inclusive experience of what it's like to be a thru-hiker.









We made it 13 miles from Ebbett's Pass and decided to call it for the day to prevent us from camping in what looked to be a marshy, wet, and potentially mosquito infested area just up ahead.  It was quite a nice day, hopefully tomorrow will be the same!

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