8/15 - Mon - CDT to Chapman
Galena Mountain
On this day, I tried out bandaids covered in tape on my blistered heels since that seemed to work well the day before. My morning began with packing up gear damp from the storms the night before, but it had completely cleared up. I started hiking on the CDT through a beautiful area east of Galena Mountain with way more tree cover than I expected.
After a little over 2 miles, I split onto a road for 0.8 mi to get to Uncle Bud’s at 8:18 am. At 11,380’, the hut was built with funds donated by the family of Bud Winter. Bud was one of 33 soldiers to complete the "trooper traverse"
Uncle Bud’s Hut (8:18 am)
From Uncle Bud’s, I dropped across a drainage, then climbed back up to the CDT. It was 1.3 mi of rolling hills until the 1350’ drop over 2.1 mi to Turquoise Lake. At first, the Glacier Creek Trail seemed too good to be true based on the descriptions of it I’d read. I was still on the CDT. It remained easy to follow for about 0.9 mi, with detours around two swamps.
Once I reached Glacier Creek after the swamps, it was a steep and tough climb up boulders for 500’ over a half-mile. It remained steep for another 400’ over 0.4 mi and leveled off just above 11,600’ for the final 0.3 mi to Skinner. The deck, at 11,620, had beautiful views south towards a storm rolling over Massive.
Skinner Hut (#18 - 11:38)
I rushed back to Hagerman Pass Road and managed to beat the storms over Hagerman Pass. Then a nice blue diamond trail dropped me about 500’ over 0.8 mi to a road coming from the western end of Hagerman Tunnel. The road was well within the trees and I had my chance to stop and dry out some gear. My tarp, groundsheet, sleeping bag, socks, clothing were good to go after about a half-hour spread over rocks. My feet were happy to get some sun and dry out. I was so relieved to be dry as I dropped down 400’ over the last 1.6 miles to Betty Bear.
Hagerman Pass
From the hut, I followed one more nice mile of blue diamond down to Road 505. I would be on roads for about 8.5 mi, but I didn't mind it after the last three days of wet and hard to follow trails. Until I got poured on for about a half-hour into Chapman while hearing lightning within a mile or two. The rain started slowly, and I waited too long to put my rain jacket on. I was soaked by the time I did. Frying Pan Road was a paved two-lane highway and more exposed than I realized.
Betty Bear Hut (#19 - 13:35)
The tape over the bandaids on my heels came loose in the deluge. I could feel it rubbing more towards the ball of my ankles than my blisters were but didn’t feel comfortable stopping to do anything about it in the storm. I was absolutely drenched by the time I got to the campground. My heels looked terrible. I made some soup to warm up but still spent a damp and chilly night under the tarp. At least my spot was level and the tarp held up in the storms.
