The Cochetopa Hills (Segments 15-22):

Photos: https://imgur.com/a/O7QK6XD

In Salida, I spent a few days pigging out, eating great food and meeting incredible people. I also thrifted a suit and conducted that interview in the public library.

My friends I had left behind after Hope Pass had caught up to me in Salida and we set off together. The first day was not easy. If the stretch to Lake City wasn't going to be as gentle as it was, I don't think I would have gotten back on trail. We finished out CW05 coming off Monarch Pass and all the way down to Marshall Pass Trailhead where we set up camp in a large field and had a nice fire. It was a really lovely day even despite my knee continuing to flare up (274.1).

The next morning was also really gorgeous, had a fun climb up to Sargent Mesa. Then hit the notorious part of the trail. This portion of the trail allows dirt bikers and this resulted in absolutely trodden V-shaped trail with large rocks down the middle. Throw in a steep descent and two piece of shit knees and the walk down was incredibly challenging. Hail struck me on the trail for the first time as well (287.4). My platy water bag had sprung a leak rendering it useless. A tramily member provided me with an extra to hold me over until the next town.

Another beautiful morning up to a gorgeous meadow. We took a second to walk down to the Soldierstone memorial while we were grabbing water. It's this super cool memorial to the Vietnam war veterans in the middle of quite literally nowhere. Got stuck in more hail and rain before making it to camp (302.4). It had become apparent to me at this point that I had severely under packed food by almost 600-800 calories a day. My tramily said they could support me towards the end but still.

The next morning, I woke up and ran out of fuel cooking up breakfast. After cruising the uphills and coming out of the forest into the logging areas, I took a wrong turn and went 1.5 miles and 650 feet down the wrong way. At this point, I was sure I wasn't gonna be able to catch up to my tramily with my weak knees and without them, I wouldn't be able to cook dinner. I had to bail and try to make the difficult hitch into Gunnison. Upon approaching the trailhead, I saw my tramily gathered around a van eating hot dogs. Trail magic! The trail angel would provide me with tons of food for the road, a brand new water bag, and a fresh can of fuel. Unbelievable. Spirits were high. My hike was revitalized and we pressed on until we would get absolutely dumped on with rain for two hours. We got absolutely soaked and my Helium wet out. I was cold, wet and miserable by the time we got to camp, quite the rollercoaster of emotions for a day (318.7).

After the storms last night, we took our time breaking camp, letting everything dry out. The day would consist of gently graded road walks through farms until you turn the corner and get your first peak of the San Juans. Took a swim in Cochetopa Creek to cap off a wonderful day before making camp on a lovely meadow and cramming dinner in before it began to pour (334.2).

The weather played games with us all day the next day. Storms came and went and we slowed down as we approached San Luis Pass. By the time it finally started to clear out, we had our hearts set on summiting the peak and we pitched up just below the pass (345.7).

Woke up way too early and summited the peak almost an hour before the sunrise. It was cold and windy and by the time it was supposed to be sunny, Clouds had covered the peak and valley. We got this super cool effect where the air around us started to glow since we were in the cloud that the sun was hitting. On the way off the peak, the clouds parted in front of us and we caught jaw dropping views of the valley we had just walked through. This day would then be three tough climbs over saddles with great views before I would make camp at a beaver pond (353.6).

I was so glad I saved the last climb for the morning sun cause coming over the last saddle and around to Snow Mesa truly felt like walking around Hyrule. We got to the trailhead where we would grab the shuttle into Lake City. I got groceries, did laundry and squeezed a second interview in over the phone before having some incredible ice cream at San Juan Soda (364.3).