Day 71 – 7/2/13 – 15* mi (1208.4)

The hostel had a strict 10am checkout policy, so naturally that’s exactly when we got our butts out the door and on the trail. Due to a fire closure, we had to skip the official CDT loop through Rocky Mountain National Park. Instead, we followed some dirt roads west out of Grand Lake, passing the Rocky Mountain NP visitor center, a bunch of clear cut beetle kill forest, a momma and calf moose, and after much climbing finally got back on some real trail.

A bunch of the alternates we took today were, once upon a time, the official trail, and some markers are still in place. Our maps only show the approximate routes of the alternates, meaning we waste a bunch of time figuring out where the heck we should be going.

We ended the day with a great ridge walk. Ninja and Sweetfish caught up around 6pm and all 7 of us are camped together tonight just after rejoining the official CDT.

My feet are still a problem, cracking and bleeding in the creases where the toes meet the ball of the foot. I used Silly Chili’s super glue on them to try to hold the skin together. It helped a little I think. I don’t know what else to do.

*guessing on this since it was mostly alternate routes today.