CDT - Day 101 - Green River
This morning, I woke up to another spectacular view, this time along the Green River, nestled between the mountains. Rising behind the river was a mountain that reminded me of Devils Tower. It was also another very cold morning, probably because we were camped down in the valley. Greg packed up and left before Pudding and I were even ready. He'd had a cold night and just wanted to get moving. The first few miles of the day were mostly uphill, but once we reached Gunsight Pass, the real climbing began. It turned into a grueling uphill march that seemed to go on forever. When Pudding and I finally reached the top, we decided it was the perfect place to stop for lunch. While sitting at the pass, we noticed a side-by-side parked on top of a nearby hill. A few minutes later, the two guys inside drove down to say hello and offered us cookies and ice-cold water. They were ecstatic to meet a couple of CDT hikers. They told us they like to buy locally made cookies from Dubois and hand them out to hikers along the trail. I got two double-chocolate cookies, and they may have been the best cookies I've had on the entire CDT. I can't wait to get into town and buy a few more. We ended up talking with the guys for quite a while. They showed us some incredible wildlife photos they'd recently taken through an 800mm spotting scope. It was great meeting them and geeking out for a bit over photography, wildlife, and camera gear. From there, the rest of the hike was mostly downhill until we reached Lake of the Woods, where we set up camp for the night. By the end of the day, we had hiked about 25 miles with 4,495 feet of elevation gain.