Day: 046
Date: Friday, 21 June 2024
Start: Cochetopa Creek
Finish: Monchego Creek
Daily Kilometres: 36.1
GPX Track: Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos
Total Kilometres: 1370.2
Weather: After raining most of the night, the morning was dry and partly sunny, while the afternoon was a mix of thunderstorms with rain/hail and some sunny periods.
Accommodation: Tent
Nutrition:
Breakfast: Pop tarts/snack
Lunch: Trail mix & snacks
Dinner: Rehydrated meals.
Aches: Dave - very tired and the usual niggles; Julie - nothing reported.
Highlight: None really.
Lowlight: Setting up camp in the rain.
Pictures: Click here
Map and Position: Click here for Google Map
Journal:
After a very wet night we were fortunate that the rain had stopped by 5am when we began to pack up and we were hiking by soon after 6am.
The entire morning was spent following Cochetopa Creek downstream in a long valley. Because of the night's rain, the trail was sodden with mud and some parts under water. We soon both had wet feet. Although the mountains either side were not as high as yesterday, they were still impressive while along the valley floor the creek rushed, fed by flooding tributaries. We had heard that moose were frequently seen in the valley but, despite regularly looking around, we never saw any. Just a few deer.
Around lunchtime we had to ford the swollen Cochetopa Creek which we managed although the water was very cold.
During the afternoon there were frequent storms, occasional rain and it got quite cold. The trail took us away from the creek and we climbed through some forest and crossed grassy high plains.
Around 6pm, with thunder sounding, we found a tent site off the trail and put the tent up as quickly as possible. Rain arrived and intensified and we ended up eating in the tent with gear everywhere. The last forecast we saw was yesterday morning at Creede and it said the rain should stop tomorrow. We hope so.
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