Notes
Woke up at about 10 past 6 to pee and my brain got going right away so I read some USATF champs recaps. Had a quiet morning just packing and eating breakfast. Took a shower and was ready to roll by 8:45. Rudy, the ride-giver formerly known as Rudolph, let us know he would be arriving at 10 which was about an hour before we absolutely wanted to hit the road. He arrived 10 minutes before that, which was good with us. He is a retired Dutch dude who worked in Chicago, then LA, then Seattle. He retired in Leadville because “Colorado is best for me.” Dude loves fishing and skiing. Very pleasant. We got to the trailhead and got going and the trail was more or less a dirt sidewalk the first few miles. Beautiful scenery, especially the birch groves. Had a long descent to Clear Creek across a steep hill covered in sage and it smelled amazing. Saw some pretty flowers through the day and some blooming cacti on the sage hill. Right after Clear Creek it got a little windy and started raining so since we were close to our planned camping area, we called it a day a few minutes early. Took our time doing end of day stuff and got in the tents just before 8pm as the sun set beyond the far side of the valley. 9ish miles today, thought it was 8 before we looked at the map at bedtime.