Disclaimer: This may be a bit of photo unloading! It’s hard to pick only a few when they are so beautifully and wonderfully created!

What a day I had! The first bit of business was getting over Gunsight Pass. It was a brief climb but what was ahead was sheer perfection. I have always been a mountain girl at heart. There is something that just draws me back, time and time again. I like the beach but I love the mountains!

We had a huge descent this morning. So much so that Hogged Up stayed tethered to us. Her shoes are slicks, as the tread is nonexistent. And the downhills are her nemesis. It’s the only part of hiking that slows her down. So we stuck together until the downhills leveled off and then bam, she was gone!

Fearless and I stuck together. We had another brief climb and then we saw it, the Wind Mountain Range. If you have ever been to Patagonia, this is as close as you get to seeing such beauty in the states. I was in awe as to what was ahead of me. The mountains touch the clouds with spires, peaks and flat top mountains. This is such an incredibly unique sight and I was honestly in tears! I was told that this is the standout favorite place on the CDT and for good reason. It is breathtaking.

We made it to Green Lake and met up with Hogged Up at an abandoned cabin. It would be a perfect place to hold up if the weather turned bad. The clouds were stirring and a storm was brewing, but during our lunch break, all was well. Fearless checked her weather app on Garmin and sure enough, thunderstorms were predicted. And tomorrow rain. There was crazy talk about getting a ride out but from what I could see, the weather was holding and I wasn’t leaving this trail! From what I just saw, I planned to keep on trekking.

We made a game plan to continue another ten miles to Green River, which would set us up for the next pass in the morning. Hogged Up took off in search of camp, while Fearless and I headed south. We knew we’d be a good hour to two behind her, that was acceptable until it wasn’t.

It started raining as soon as we got back on trail. Nothing terrible but enough to get everything wet. As we walked around Green Lake, we saw a couple sitting on the side of the trail, covered up in their one person poncho. It made me laugh that they were just sitting, waiting it out, but they seemed quite content. And I’m thinking they have done this before.

The rain let up, just as we started running into several day hikers. I’m thinking that Wyoming Residents don’t get too concerned about a little rain or thunderstorms. We saw a couple in row boat, having a grand old time on the lake during the rain. It must be part of mountain.

Fearless and I were having a blast talking with the hikers, petting dogs and taking tons of pictures. We came around the corner and met Peter, who was sleeping on his Z-Pad overlooking the lake. He didn’t even budge as we passed until I said something. He is from Korea and hiking the CDT. We have met so many people from different countries on Visa’s here hiking our trails. Sometimes I forget how fortunate we are to have such access to these long distance trails.

Throughout the day I was praising God for his marvelous creation. It is overwhelming to see His beauty at every bend of the trail. And the lakes, rivers and creeks are emerald green. The waters are glaciated but not milky gray like you typically see, but green! This is one part of the CDT that both Fearless and I will definitely come back and visit again!

The weather started spitting on us again, thunder was clanging overhead and then it started to downpour. This is a serious problem because Hogged Up is miles ahead of us and we have no way to reach her. There were plenty of campsites that we passed but were committed to the one we spoke about at noon. So we kept hiking and three miles later, we were together again.

The spot that we camped at was across the creek from NOLS training course on Horse Packing. There were close to twenty horses, mostly rescued Mustangs, with several students. We talked with John from Texas, for a bit. He has a horse back home and thought this might be a great learning vacation.

Our threesome has come up with some new by-laws. With weather changing, we need to be able to reach each other and change plans, if necessary. When we get to town, we will update our FarOut App so we can check-in with each other. There’s no cell service out here so calling is out of the question. But all three of us use our FarOut App hourly, and this will be a great way to communicate with each other. Problem solved!

“But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.”
‭‭James‬ ‭3‬:‭17‬-‭18‬ ‭NIV‬‬