Uphill, and approaching the worst section of the Bigfoot Trail

We finished the downhill (which seemed like uphill) yesterday, but today is definitely uphill. After following Clear Creek downstream, we are now climbing up the West Fork of Clear Creek, gaining 3,500 feet in six miles. While the trail is okay, after a few miles we enter a dry five-mile stretch. That feeds into tomorrow's challenge, the most overgrown, notoriously horrible section of the Bigfoot Trail. We hike a couple of miles into that mess today, both to reach water and especially to get a head start on a tough hike tomorrow.

The trail evaporates near Harrington Lake, an overgrown lake with no places to lay out a sleeping bag. Someone tied flagging tape to delineate a trail, but much of it was on small twigs that have blown down, so you only see the flagging tape if you step on it. We have a GPS track but it follows a different course than the flagging tape. Neither actually has a trail associated with it so we traverse up and down, cross the outlet of the lake, and work our way towards a stream a mile away. The miles are slow, so we are thankful that we put those miles behind us today.

From here to Gunbarrel Slide, seven miles ahead, will be dry, overgrown, and tough. This is our last challenging section of the Bigfoot Trail, and it threatens to kick our butts.

9 miles to Harrington Mountain, to mile 313.