03    Lake City - Creede    22 km

No packages had arrived at the post office. So I got everything still coming redirected to Bailey. It was dry in town but the rain up in the mountains could be seen from down below. The pizza we had at the Poker Alice restaurant with a group of CT hikers in the evening was good. The hostel has a fully equipped kitchen. I made a meal of milk rice with raisins and mixed fruit salad. I liked it. The relative short hike to Creede was our goal. Why just to Creede? In 2014 going south I had hiked the complete CDT / CT from Copper Mountain to Creede via San Luis Pass. And I had a booked return flight to Europe from Denver.

After having nice breakfast in town we walked to end of town. Soon we got a ride back up to the trail. A German lady who lived here since 20 years and her husband gave us the ride. The weather was nice during most of the days this section and we had easy going. The trail is mostly above tree line thereby giving us great views. It started raining in late afternoons and it was pretty cold at night. In the morning there was ice in the creeks from the night. We met another triple crowner and a number of CT hikers. At the San Luis Pass we left the trail and hiked down to Creede. About half way down we got a ride. We had planned to stay just like before at the Snow Shoe Inn. When arriving we were told it was fully booked. However they had two bunk beds in the laundry room. We gladly accepted them. Each bunk has a separate and locked restroom with a shower. At 9 pm we locked the door and laundry and ice from the machine was closed for the motel guests.

Pizza at Poker Alice Restaurant in Lake City

Raven's Rest Hostel in Lake City

CT / CDT are running concurrent across Snow Mesa

First ice from the previous night at Middle Mineral Creek early in the morning

San Luis Pass, start of the descent to Creede

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