Day 63 - Cirque of the Towers (30.1 miles)

July 11, 2021

Miles: 30.1 miles

Steps: 71,645

Got on trail before 6am but got out quick because of the mosquitos so didn’t eat breakfast until a mile or so down the trail.

Right after leaving camp I was hiking in a nice flat valley for a little awhile until I started my first of three climbs of the day.

The first hike up to a saddle that didn’t have a name. Also not much of a trail at first so was just hiking straight up until I found a trail. I would have had a nice view but like yesterday it was hazy all day so the views weren’t as nice as they could have been.

From the saddle it was a quick hike down to one of many lakes on the day. I slowly made my way down to another valley.

Right at the base of my next climb I stopped for water and ran into a couple that were weekend backpacking. I talked with them for awhile and they were impressed with my CDT hike and offered me the rest of their food as they only had 6 miles left to hike back to their car. This worked at as I think they gave me enough food to where I can push onto Dubois, WY and not have to go into Pinedale, WY. This saves me about a day as to get into Pinedale I have to hike 11 miles off the CDT to a trailhead and then from there it’s a 15 mile hitch. I’m going to be cutting it close on food but it seems doable. I might be able to get some more food from other hikers that are done with their hike.

I thanked the couple and started up to Jackson Pass which by far was the easiest climb on the day. Great views all the way up and coming down.

The hike down wasn’t too bad and took me to a nice size lake. On the other side is where I started my last climb on the day up to Texas Pass. It was pretty hard as it was steep, 1,300 ft over a mile. Took about 35 minutes with no stops but I got up it. The hike down was steep as well so had to go slow.

At the bottom it was basically flat all the way back to the CDT.

Back on the CDT I hiked by lots of creeks, ponds and lakes so the mosquitos were pretty bad all the way to camp. The hiking was pretty easy so got to camp before dark.

Found a nice campsite on the sand along a lake. I set up my tent as fast as possible because the mosquitos were really bad.

I’m pretty tired as that was a long day. The Cirque of Towers was an amazing hike and just wish the skies had been much clearer. However I did get some good pictures. Also I started to see more blue skies as I was finishing up for the day so maybe tomorrow won’t be so hazy.