Lots of rain!

Breakfast at my B&B was small. When she brought it out, my heart sank. Don't get me wrong, it was good - but a piece of cream cheese french toast and a silver-dollar sausage patty just isn't a good hiker breakfast. So of course, I had an early second breakfast at the firehouse cafe.

After a couple of breakfasts, I got a late start out of Creede. I asked around and found a local guy, Steve, who was willing to take me back up to the trailhead for a few bucks. He brought his daughter and a buddy - everyone wanted to go for a scenic drive.

Steve couldn't get all the way up the 4wd road, so after a long walk back to the CT, I finally got back on the actual trail by 1pm.

Again, most of this area was above treeline, and today I wasn't so lucky with thunderstorms. I crested a saddle, and it became quickly apparent that there was a lot of rain and lightning coming my way. My only option was to bushwack down to some trees I could see below me, about 800ft elevation loss. By the time I got to the trees, I was drenched and cold, but I set up the tarp, got into some dry clothes, cooked a warm dinner, and felt much better.

After about 2 hours, the rain had stopped, and I resumed my hike. The trail from here heads over Snow Mesa - a really cool 12,000ft high mesa, with great views of the San Juans towering in the distance. Also a terrible place to be in a thunderstorm, so I was glad I stopped when I did.

Towards evening I passed by a huge elk herd on the mesa - there were a lot of calves in the herd, and I could hear them making these little squeaking as I passed.

I got back to treeline about 9:00 and setup camp - with all the diversions today, I'd only hiked about 13 miles.

Brent