Day 26 – And Again With the Rain

This weather has been the opposite of what it should be. We are getting rain early in the day, no thunderstorms, and rain at night.

Gray All Day

When John woke up at 4 am and peeked outside, he was excited to see the starts and a clear sky. But by the time we actually got up at 7 am the clouds had rolled in. We couldn’t go further than 6 miles today, so we were in no hurry to leave camp. There doesn’t seem to be any camping near San Luis other than “very rocky and exposed”, so we are camped about 1.5 miles away. All morning we walked under a gray sky with spots of blue- but never actually over where we were.

One Really Big Uphill

While our hike today had several uphill spots, there was one really big climb. We gained over 1000 ft of elevation over just 1.5 mile of trail. The trail here in the La Garita Wilderness has not been my favorite. While the above tree line views are awesome, the climbs are not. The trail goes straight up the hills and is often a washed out rut. The steepness and elevation work together to slow me down. For the first time since Georgia Pass I’m having to stop every 25 to 50 steps to breathe.

At the top we pause to wind dry our tent. After last night it was wet both outside (rain) and inside (condensation). There was no sun to speak of, but the breeze helped. On the way down we found a spot out of the cold wind and ate lunch.

Just after packing up the rain that had threatened all morning finally let loose. It poured on us the whole way to camp. The trail became a river and small trickles not even listed as water sources became a torrent.

Luckily (or unluckily depending on your perspective) the rain stopped just after our tent went up. Two soggy day hikers stopped to watch as wet maneuvered to set up our tent without getting the inside wet. I’m sure they meant to be encouraging, but I felt more like a side show at the circus. Warm coffee and dry socks are priority one. Number two is snacks. I would show a picture but I ate them pretty much as soon as I decided what I had to save for tomorrow. The weather broke for a moment and we climbed down out to make dinner. It turns out we were the cloud, not that the clouds has disappeared.

But it was too good to last and we had to eat in the tent. And hang out in the tent. And just be in the tent for hours.

Tomorrow morning we get up extra early to climb San Luis at 14020 feet.