Hogged Up hasn’t been feeling so great. She was up, packed and I thought ready to head southbound with me and Fearless. But she planned to hike out and seek some medical attention. She’s been so tired and after sleeping basically all day yesterday, she still is under the weather. Prayers that she will regain her strength, and complete the quest for her Triple Crown!

Fearless and I continued onward. Today’s big climb was the infamous Temple Pass. It will be the highest pass we’ve attempted to this point, 11,526’. It was a steep climb, which turned into a boulder scramble for the last 750’. I did not like that, not one little bit! And did I say it was steep? I never looked down. The entire time I was focused on the next boulder ahead of me and watching Fearless’ line. Just before noon, we made it to the saddle.

Both Fearless and I were spent. We negotiated the pass, and started looking for the trail which was non-existent. Finally we found a rock to shelter us from the wind. We had lunch and began the hunt for the trail. Why can’t they make this route more obvious?

Finally after searching for a good ten minutes, Eureka, we found it. Now was the downhill slog. Fearless’ right shin had been giving her problems, so we had it all wrapped up. But anytime she flexed her foot, it was terribly painful. Second walking wounded!

We made it down safely and entered what reminded me of Evolution Basin on the John Muir Trail. There was a beautiful meadow with a creek running through it. The ground was similar to tundra that you find in Alaska, with granite mountains surrounding the area. For the first day in over a week, the sun was shining. It was magical!

As we marched down the trail, I hit a rock that didn’t move, and down I went. When I fell, my glasses smacked my eyebrow and cut my brow, just above my eye. Well, now I was added to the list of the walking wounded. The entire crew has some sort of illness, injury or gash. We are a sight for sore eyes!

Fearless got me all cleaned up, surgical strip onboard and off we went sauntering down the trail. What a day! We were hoping to get back to the CDT Redline today. Honestly we should have, but we hit a roadblock!

We were closing in on the one mile mark from the official CDT, when we were confronted with a massive blowdown. Not one or two trees, but an entire forest! There was no way around it without some sort of massive injury on a tree, branch or limb. So I pulled out my trusty CalTopo to find a workaround.

Sure enough, it looked like we could climb up and over the ridge, then drop down towards Little Sandy Lake. The walk around was easier said then done. The first mile was negotiable, but the last two miles were nothing short of a boulder field. There was no easy peasy way on sandy shores, but a huge rockfall that lined the entire western edge. Over an hour of climbing and bouldering, feeling somewhat defeated, we arrived at the southern terminus of Little Sandy Lake.

What a day we had. When I leave in the morning, I have a good idea of what the day will entail. Some elevation or big descents, meadows and bogs, river crossings, with or without bridges, but I had no idea that we’d be tackling boulder fields for half a day! That was certainly not on the agenda. Yet through it all, the sweet Lord protected us and was our strength, in our very weakness.

“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭73‬:‭26‬ ‭NIV‬‬