Day 3 of my trip. Today I traveled from my campsite at Rosy Lane to Mt. Princeton. Along the way I had 2 stops. One was to pick up a hitchhiker at the base of Monarch Pass. I am normally not one to pick up hitchhikers but the thought of this older gentleman thumbing for a ride and my large Dodge Durango with plenty of room, I stopped. I asked where he was going and before he said his destination, he said that he was hungry and that he was out of food and needed to go only as far as the top of Monarch pass. So he got in with me and we had 7 miles to talk and get to know each other. Come to find out his name is Mr. D, and he was hiking the Continental Divide trail which he started in April at the start of the trail. He was hiking the trail so that he could finish the triple crown of hiking long distance trails. He had already hiked the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Rim trail. As he got into Colorado on the trail, the snow was much deeper than expected which slowed him down considerably and he had to start rationing his food. He had a box of supplies shipped to the Country Store on the top of Monarch Pass, so that he could restock and continue on with his trip.
My second stop of the day was to do a half day white water trip down the Arkansas through Browns Canyon. I had done this section of the river 13 years ago with my parents. I felt a little awkward at the beginning be the only one I knew to go, but I quickly realized that I would get to know the other passengers on the boat real fast and would have to trust them with my life if something happened, just has much they would have to rely on me. The water was flowing today at over 1700 cfs (Cubic Feet per Second), which is high and fast. Funny thing was that it really didn’t seem that fast at times because the wind was blowing upstream so hard it felt like we had stopped dead in the water. I got grouped with a family who were in Colorado for a family reunion. The daughter of the group had organized the whole thing but was told that the rapids would be a Class II tops. When she found out she was more scared than the younger kids of the group. I found it entertaining knowing how she was reacting and that my mom got through it no problem 13 years ago with the river running roughly the same. We had a great time on the water, and I want to go more often, but something’s just can’t be.
Tonight I am staying at the Mt. Princeton Campground. This campground use to be a favorite of my family when I was younger. The last time I stayed here was that same trip 13 years ago. It is hard for me to remember what this campground looked like back than, but I know that it has changed considerably. The views of the mountains and the river have not though. I am looking forward to going hiking tomorrow since I am staying 2 nights to the old town of St. Elmo. With this being my third night camping on this trip and the fun I have had so far and the people who I have met, I hope to do this more often now that I have a car that will get me here again and the equipment to do it.
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