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Up and out the door at 6:30 AM.  Cherie and Becky drove me to the start of Segment 4 which is the Rolling Creek trail head.  We made it there by 8 AM, hugs and goodbyes.  I was nervous and excited all at the same time.  Can’t believe I’m doing this, who talked me into it?

Now that I’m in camp and done for the day, why on earth am I smiling. 11.4 miles and 2600 of climb. Had some rain but not much. It’s 6PM the sun is still out, I’m full, dry, and ready to rest.

Really not a lot to say about segment 4. Beautiful, of course but not the kind I’m looking for. I want views, vistas, places where I can see for miles. Segment 4 is climb, after climb, after climb through forests of Aspen and pine. Great trail, beautiful but more of a green tunnel than Colorado mountains.

The start of day 2 interesting. Went to grab my bear bag and found that something had been messing with it during the night. A bear bag or, bear canister, is something you use to keep bears and other critters away from your your food. What I use is something called an Ursack which is made out of a Kevlar type material that bears can’t get into. Inside the Ursack, my food is stored in an Opsack, which is basically a heavy duty zip lock bag that does not allow odors out. Well something figured it out and wanted to get in there. There were scratch marks on it and one small puncture. I think it was the militant squirrels that were all over the place. These things were loud, fast, and not afraid of you. At least I hope it was just the squirrels.

The hike itself was much like the previous day except not as much climbing, thank goodness. There were also a few views through the trees.

I was trying for only ten miles but, my chosen campsite was not what I hoped for so…. walk, walk, walk, head on a swivel looking for a suitable site. I did find a few that were close except, there were enormous cow pies all over the place! Didn’t want a herd wondering through camp while I was sleeping so, walk, walk, walk. Lets talk about cow pies, I’m used to Midwest cow pies, dairy cow pies. They are not huge and sometimes called chips. These things, Colorado cow pies, were from some other kind of cows, they were the CostCo pie of cow pies, huge!

Anyway, finally found something by a short section of road that would do. Time for dinner and some rest. Oh, ended up with around 13 miles and 1000 feet of climb.