Colorado Trail 22 - Day 13

First day out of Creede and what a day it was. For the first time on the entire hike, I have to start the day with an umbrella because it's sprinkling a little too hard to go without it. I arrived at reunion camp around 12:30 so it was way too early to camp and I pushed on for several more hours. I passed some really amazing campsites but it was always too early in the day when I spotted them. Once I was finally ready to camp, of course, there was nothing around, I walked way off trail several times and I just couldn't find anything suitable. Around 5pm, I came across 2 pretty good sites right before the creek and I decided to try and get to the other side and back into the tree cover and see if I could find something there. I forded the fast-moving creek, which took me by surprise since I didn't think there were any creeks to ford on this trail. I got to the other side now with my feet completely soaked and I headed up the hill back into the woods. I spotted a small trail going off to my left and I followed it and it ended by a really awesome cliffside campsite overlooking the creek. About an hour before I got to my campsite it started to hail, and then that turned into rain. The rain didn't let up for a few hours so I waited for a small break and I set up the tent really fast and got everything inside. After about 30 minutes the skies cleared up and the sun came out so I hung everything up to dry. Most things dried up pretty well except my socks and shoes of course. It turned into a beautiful day right at the end and I had a great night here.Show more

Campsite - Chocetopa Cliffside
Mile - 159.9
Elevation - 9,905ft.