Finished! :(

Some warm air came in during the night - I woke up sweating and had to take off a bunch of layers of clothing - and I had camped at treeline, so it had been pretty chilly in the evening! I guess some warm desert air came in from the south.

Today's trail was much more interesting, climbing up over Indian Ridge, before beginning the long, 4500 ft descent into Durango. I had planned to camp a few miles from Durango and go in tomorrow, but I was counting on a water source the guidebook described as a "year-round improved spring." Sounded pretty nice, but here's the reality:

Not my idea of drinkable water. So I hiked the rest of the way to the end of the trail, about 6 miles - so with mixed feelings, I was done! Man, I'm going to miss this when I go back to work...

I hadn't been in the parking lot for 5 minutes before Ivan, a coffee shop owner in Durango out for a bike ride, offered me a ride into town. He dropped me off at Carver's, a local brewpub, which has a policy of a free beer for any hiker finishing the CT. So that worked out pretty well. I walked a few miles over to the Durango Hostel for the night - which is about the nicest hostel I've seen - it was like walking into an Ikea store...