July 21, 2017
We had an early morning start today to make sure we got across Snow Mesa and back to the treeline before any potential thunderstorms rolled in.
Once again, the trail offered amazing views throughout the whole day.
Colorado Trail: Segment 21
Continuing along Segment 21 from where we left of the day before just at the headwaters of East Mineral Creek, we had about 12.8 miles to ride today. The trail gains two saddles then climbs up to Snow Mesa which spans over four miles of the trail. There are some rocky drainages the trail drops down into as you travel across Snow Mesa.
As we were riding, we could see rain clouds surrounding us, and eventually started to hear thunder. Thankfully, we made it to the treeline before any storms rolled in.
The last two miles of this segment is downhill. The Segment ends at Spring Creek Pass Trailhead which is right off of CO HWY 149. Camping is not permitted at the trailhead, so we camped across from it on the other side of the highway.
We settled down, set up camp, and grazed the horses. It rained a little bit on us, but not much.
Devan’s father met us at around 4:00 PM. He was there to support us for the remainder of the trail. He brought a resupply, picked up more grain for our horses, and brought us a lot of food and snacks! We sat down and enjoyed burgers and fries. We also got word that our pizza Trail Angel, Michael was driving all the way out to bring us some more pizza this evening. I believe he spent 6 or 8 hours driving! Like what?! Just to bring us pizza! We were so thankful he was willing to do this for our group. And yes, trail hunger had us hungry enough to eat multiple burgers with still room for pizza tonight.
We were all excited to see our friends Michelle and Pierre again! They were visiting from South Africa to thru-hike the Colorado Trail, and we met them back on Day 10. They had unfortunately gotten stuck in a storm on Snow Mesa, so their hike today was not the best.
As we were resupplying, we noticed that we had a lot of extra dinners – those “gourmet” freeze-dried dinners. So we offered them to our friends and hikers that we saw on trail that day.
It was getting late, so we were unsure if Michael was still driving out to meet us with pizza. He had told us he would be there, and eventually he pulled up with a few pizzas and drinks! A huge thank you from all of us to Michael for coming all the way out for a second time just to boost our morale on trail.
We invited our friends to join us for dinner. We shared stories and laughed and laughed. It was a great moment to have on trail.
The next segment we will reach the highest point of the Colorado Trail at at 13,271 ft. We needed to start early tomorrow morning to attempt to avoid any potential thunderstorms.
