Day 066 - Continental Divide Trail - Trout Creek to Poison Ridge.

Day: 066

Date: Thursday, 11 July 2024

Start:  Trout Creek

Finish:  Poison Ridge

Daily Kilometres:  31.6

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

Total Kilometres:  1921.3

Weather:  Cold early then warm and sunny.

Accommodation:  Tent 

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Pop tarts 

  Lunch:  Snacks

  Dinner:  Rehydrated meals.

Aches:  Dave - exhausted and the usual niggles; Julie - nothing reported.

Highlight:  The 360° views from the top of Parkview Mountain (12296’) were spectacular.

Lowlight:  Nothing in particular.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

Tough day, for Dave.

We were hiking by soon after 6am, but the trail was difficult, badly eroded and cut up by trail bikes which were apparently permitted on the trail.  They had gouged out a deep narrow trench, often filled with loose rocks, that was difficult to walk in, making it hard work.  The area had been burnt out by a wildfire a few years ago which also detracted from the mood.

After 2.5 hours of dealing with that, we crossed a highway at Willow Creek Pass (9629’) and began the long ascent up Parkview Mountain.  Initially, the climb was just steady but, above the treeline, it was steep and interminable.  The motto of the Continental Divide Trail is “embrace the brutality”, and the climb was brutal, for Dave, at least.  The altitude and pack didn't help, and he had to stop and catch his breath every 100m or so on the steepest parts.  The worst part was that most of the time you could see the trail switchbacking far above you.  What was a 73-y-o doing here?!

Anyway, we finally reached the summit around 1pm and took a lunch break admiring the view.  You could see a long way in all directions, including into Wyoming to the north, our next state.  Dave was picking up Wyoming radio stations as we hiked.

The ascent of Parkview Mountain was followed by a steep descent, then we followed the ridge of the Rabbit Ears Range westward with good views all the way.  The trail then worked its way around Haystack Mountain through a wildfire-ravaged area with lots of trees down across the trail, which was time and energy consuming.

We kept hiking until about 6:30pm when we reached a treeless saddle on Poison Ridge (10620’) and found a tent site with a fabulous view and called it a day.  We hadn't got as far as we liked, but there had been no easy trail today.

The mosquitoes here are horrendous and we can hear them buzzing outside the tent as the blog is written.