Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Segment 6 - Kenosha Pass to Gold Hill

July 28-29, 2010

Planned on 3 days for this but only took a day and a half. My feet were really sore at the end though.

Left Kenosha Pass at noon, reached Georgia Pass at 6:30pm with a huge thunderstorm on my tail. Just made it below treeline when the storm hit. Hiked for another half hour in increasing rain, sleet and wind, and picked the first decent campsite I found. Lightning, thunder, rain and hail until 1am. Rain glued the fly to the tent and made it suffocating inside. This is why we stake out the rain fly...

Next day started on the trail at 7:30am in cold fog. Lots of people camped at Swan River crossing about 3 miles down from Georgia Pass.

Grazed the west side of Keystone Ski Resort at 1pm. The weather looked threatening so I decided to finish the segment by the end of the day.

Met 2 USFS rangers building a bridge at creek crossing under power line 4 miles from Gold Hill.

Reached Gold Hill trailhead at 4pm, just in time to catch the Summit Stage bus to Frisco. Hotel, hot shower and dinner, hurray! 19.3 miles in one day, the farthest I have ever hiked in one stretch. My feet and knees were so sore; I was counting down the miles till the end.