CDT - Day 43 - More Snow and Route Finding
Day 42 was, without a doubt, the most grueling, frustrating, and difficult day of hiking I have ever experienced. The beautiful weather and incredible views were the only things keeping me sane. The entire day consisted of sketchy, "Oh my God, I'm going to die" snowy traverses, impassable trails, post-holing, and getting stuck in the snow one too many times. I even had to use my ice axe a few times to dig my legs out of post holes. It's amazing how easy it is to get trapped in soft, fluffy snow. Eventually, I left the red line and bushwhacked down to the river and up the valley because the trail was so badly blocked by waist-deep snow. Near the end of the day, we reached Montezuma Peak and encountered a very sketchy snow traverse. I stepped onto the snow and immediately realized it was slushy and completely unsafe to cross. It was one of those traverses where, if you slipped, you'd be sliding about a thousand feet down the mountain. Pacman and I decided to head back to the saddle and set up camp instead. While we were walking back, Jammin showed up and said, "Well, that's not good. You're going backward." We explained the situation and decided it would be tomorrow's problem. Our immediate concern was water. We had planned to refill at a campsite just 0.3 miles beyond the traverse, and by then we were completely out. Luckily, nearly every snowfield on the mountain was melting, so we managed to collect water from one of the nearby snowmelt streams. I had to get my CNOC bag as low as possible beneath the tiny flow to collect enough water, and all the silt nearly clogged my filter. Still, it tasted amazing—much better than the cow water I'd been drinking in New Mexico. The campsite wasn't ideal. It was completely exposed and high on the mountain, but it was our only option for the night. In return, we were treated to an incredible sunset, and the wind eventually died down. I fell asleep almost immediately after dinner and a cup of hot cocoa.