Day 056 - Continental Divide Trail - Bald Eagle Mountain to Jones Gulch

Day: 056

Date: Monday, 01 July 2024

Start:  Bald Eagle Mountain

Finish:  Jones Gulch

Daily Kilometres:  34.3

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos

Total Kilometres:  1647.0

Weather:  Cold and rainy morning, warmer and partly cloudy in the afternoon.

Accommodation:  Tent

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Pop tarts/ Muesli 

  Lunch:  Snacks

  Dinner:  Rehydrated meals 

Aches:  Dave - the usual niggles and a sore back; Julie - nothing reported.

Highlight:  Nothing in particular.

Lowlight:  It rained a lot overnight and started raining again while we were packing up this morning, meaning that everything got a bit damp and the tent was quite wet.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

The alarm went off at 5am, but it was raining quite steadily so we gave ourselves an extra 30 minutes sleep in the hope the rain would stop.  It had stopped by the time we emerged from our tent at 6am, but started again soon afterwards and it was miserable packing up.

When we started hiking at 6:30am, the trail was wet and boggy and the vegetation also wet.  Disappointingly, the trail was not as easy as yesterday, with lots of rocks, and our progress was slow.  It was hard to be enthusiastic in the miserable conditions, and it stayed that way for most of the morning as we passed through pine forest in the Holy Cross Wilderness and climbed over two passes at around 11500’, the second of which had some snow to negotiate, but nothing dangerous.  The views continued to be spectacular with some very rugged peaks near the trail, and a number of alpine ponds.

The weather cleared up a bit in the afternoon, with occasional sun, but also the occasional light shower, and our mood lifted a little.  We met quite a few overnight hikers today, most also complaining about the morning’s weather, and a couple of trail-runners.

Late in the day, we took a short roadwalk alternate that went past an old service station where someone maintained a cupboard with drinks and snacks for passing hikers and cyclists, and we had our last break for the day, grateful for the generosity.

Around 6:30pm, we found a very nice campsite by the trail and managed to dry out the tent while we had dinner by the light of the setting sun.  As per usual, it seems, not long after we went to bed a thunderstorm came through accompanied by heavy rain.  Looks like a wet tent again in the morning.