CT Day 23: #Yurtlife

July 21

Miles: 14
Trail Mile: 380
Segment 22 Mile 8.7 to Segment 23 Mile 5.5

We are the Ladies of the Yurt. We will live here forever, surviving on scraps of food Northbound hikers are willing to part with on their way to town. We will be warm and dry and safe from lightening.

I have such grand plans for a trail zero today. In a yurt! It starts off well, sleeping in until 8 am all cozy-cozy, cooking on the propane stove (!) for an actual hot breakfast (!). I am still burrowed in my fluffy green sleeping bag. “You look like a caterpillar” says Steph. “And I’m not leaving until I’m a butterfly”, I reply.

And then there’s company for tea. Glimmer and Arcade fresh from the trailhead, and I’m all prepared with the kettle on. Thunder, however, arrives shortly after, along with Hail, and turns tea into a midday stop, and all before I can have a yoga session on the patio. Storms before 11am – never a good sign.

Others have service and check the weather. It’s supposed to storm all day starting at 8am tomorrow. Eeeep! So much for waking up early and hoping to have until noon to make miles without being chased by thunder clouds. The news is enough to end our brief tenure as ladies of the yurt. We reluctantly get dressed, pack up and head out at noon.

The sky miraculously cooperates. Rain in the distance on multiple sides, but it never more than a few drops where I walk and the horizon stays bright in our general direction, even up over the incredibly exposed section leading up to the CT high point at 13,271 feet, where there’s narry a shrub to hide behind and nothing taller than me except the trail sign for miles and miles.

Despite the weather luck, I am dragging today. The afternoon start or the five days of food or the constant threat of thunderstorms or cutting short what would have been my first trail zero have me a bit down. Music helps some, but each step comes at great effort. But my mood turns as quickly as the weather.

From the high point, there a steep descent and then a climb up and out of the most beautiful valley of the trip. That the sun was shining certainly helped add to the ambiance, but there were also incredible rock formations, like high altitude badlands clinging to steep valley walls; strange jagged peaks almost like weathered ruins of castle walls.

On the other side we are greeted with darker clouds, one particularly loaded-looking patch closing in on us. Picking up the pace we manage to pitch tents by a small lake. It would be incredibly scenic, if I wasn’t inside with all the tent flaps closed tight

We share regrets for not rolling the yurt alongside us today – though I think that might violate leave no trace principles? We’ve done the best we can, camped at a low point off the high ridges and tucked up against some willows, but were still well above the tree line at 12,200 feet. The rain continues to fall, but the wind stays calm and the lightening distant and I dream of blue skies.

There’s just over 100 miles to go. But tomorrow our temporary trail fam splits as we say goodbye to Glimmer and Arcade where the CDT goes it’s own way. Tomorrow promises sad goodbyes and terrible weather. And oh will it ever deliver!