It rained some in the night. Maybe a lot. It wasn’t as loud as the night beside. Nothing got seriously wet. I slept well. I was still a bit sore and groggy when I woke at 6:30, but I didn’t feel like I needed more sleep. The sun didn’t touch my tent until well after 7, and I started hiking a bit after 8.
The day started clear and cool and beautiful, but as it went on, the clouds got thicker and darker. By the end of the day, I was hiking entirely in shade. And yet it never once rained.
The first part of the trip was up over a quick hill to a road that ran through Harkness Lakes, a series of lakes right out in the open with no trees for some reason. I could see a group of elk in the distance here.
The trail left this road into a little ravine lots of trees and a few mosquitos. I stopped for a break and had to put on my head net. Another nobo backpacker passed me while I was stopped, exchanging the thinnest of greetings without even breaking stride. I never saw him again. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s one of those super high mileage CDTers who has come all the way up from Mexico in just the last 3 months. It’s definitely doable if you regularly pull 30 mile days in all weather and terrains, though I would imagine it involved taking low routes through Colorado as the snow would have been pretty deep in April.
Anyway, the trail passed another small lake before climbing up to the divide via a long meander along which I stopped on a log for lunch, and then followed the border for 3.5 miles. The first part was high and very windy before coming down to a pass where I took a break to tape up a new hot spot, then up again onto a high plateau. I could see more elk in the distance from somewhere up here. There wasn’t really a trail through most of this section. It was just connecting posts and cairns as best I could, which sometimes meant picking my way around seeps and through thick sagebrush.
This got especially confusing coming down to Coyote Creek. I couldn’t always see the next cairn or marker, and it was hard to orient even with the map. There were a ton of cow bones in and beside the creek, but I needed water. I fetched a bit from a side spring that didn’t seem as potentially tainted, but I was instantly swarmed by mosquitos, and didn’t stay to filter.
I was way past due for supper, so I found a spot on a big boulder out in the open where there was some wind keeping the mosquitos down. I filtered the water while I cooked and ate.
From there it was along the wall of the ravine to a road that led over and then down into the Tex Creek drainage. It was late and shady and mosquitos got thicker and thicker. If I paused to ponder how to do a creek crossing without getting wet, they would immediately swarm. I had my net on and my jacket, but my knees were bare, and the “up to 12 hour time release from against mosquitos” had clearly worn off, so I tried not to stop.
By 9, I reached an area clearly thoroughly grazed by cattle judging by the length of the grass and the dry dung. It would make a perfect place to camp if I could find a flat spot. I got as close as I could and started setting up, but I had to reapply repellent before I could continue as the mosquitos were getting quite thick. Luckily, the stuff works pretty well, and I was able to get inside my tent without bringing any mosquitos in with me. The babble of the adjacent creek put me to sleep around 10:30.
Trail miles: 15.5
Distance to Leadore: 29.1 miles
duck 
spring (strong flow) 
look closely. 
