{"id":523,"date":"2019-10-05T15:59:00","date_gmt":"2019-10-05T15:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/10.0.0.40\/LostInPlace\/?p=523"},"modified":"2021-03-03T17:18:03","modified_gmt":"2021-03-03T17:18:03","slug":"day-176-10-5-19-sawtooth-trail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goodpeeps.com\/ProbablyLost\/day-176-10-5-19-sawtooth-trail\/","title":{"rendered":"Day 176 The Horrible Sawtooth Trail"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I got a late start at 8:00.  It was very cold and windy last night and I just didn’t want to get out of my sleeping bag.  Everything was fine although I don’t have a lot of energy these days.  The trail goes over a couple of ridges and then ascends Goose Creek for many miles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Harbinger of things to come<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Along Goose Creek<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Canvas hunter’s cabin near Goose Creek<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At one point I found what I think was a hunter’s shelter. It was really nice with cots and tables and cooking supplies and even a wood heater. I took a short nap on one of the cots for a while. It was warm inside and a welcome break from the constant wind. The tent was in a big burned area which seems like an odd place for a hunting cabin. I don’t know…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I continued on and soon hit the last 2.5 miles of the Creede alternate – a little section called the Sawtooth Trail.  This was the worst 2.5 miles of my entire hike! The comments in Guthooks warned that this section was bad, and for once they did not exaggerate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just getting started on this section was demoralizing.  I crossed Goose Creek and the trail completely disappeared up a very steep hillside.  I took my pack off and made several false starts to try to find the trail.  No luck.  I just sat down and pondered my options.  Should I go back?  Quit?  I am sooo… tired. In hindsight, this was probably my lowest moment on the trail. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I eventually decided to just start going up and do the best I could. It may take me all day but eventually I will get to the top and finally back on the official CDT.  I kept checking Guthooks and moving left\/right as needed, but the trail would be visible for only a short distance then go under some deadfall and disappear.  The trail was barely there and I lost it too many times to count.  The terrain was very steep with 2500 feet elevation gain.  And to top it all off it went through a burn\/beetle kill forest where all the trees were blown down and often stacked on top of one another.  It took me 4 exhausting hours to do this 2.5 miles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After rejoining the CDT it was like a breath of fresh air.\u00a0 I cruised across the ridge tops even though the wind was pretty bad (like usual). It is great to be back on the official route and my mood greatly improved. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I eventually camped near Archuleta lake.  Two cowboys (Tyler and Michael) were near my tent and invited me over to their fire.  I talked with them for a half hour about cowboy life (they are ranchers).  I found it interesting that they weren’t very curious about me and my life though.  Nice guys.  I can hear their horses whinny or snort from inside my tent every so often.  It is comforting to have some company nearby. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I got a late start at 8:00.  It was very cold and windy last night and I just didn’t want to get out of my sleeping bag.  Everything was fine although I don’t have a…Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1849,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-creede-to-wolf-creek-pass"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodpeeps.com\/ProbablyLost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodpeeps.com\/ProbablyLost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodpeeps.com\/ProbablyLost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodpeeps.com\/ProbablyLost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodpeeps.com\/ProbablyLost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=523"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodpeeps.com\/ProbablyLost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2547,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodpeeps.com\/ProbablyLost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523\/revisions\/2547"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodpeeps.com\/ProbablyLost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodpeeps.com\/ProbablyLost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodpeeps.com\/ProbablyLost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodpeeps.com\/ProbablyLost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}