On day 15 we hoped to make it to Durango and finish the CT, but weather again conspired against us.  We got as far as Indian Trail Ridge.

We started on the side of Hermosa Peak.

Blackhawk Mountain

We had a bunch of climbing to do past Blackhawk Mountain.

Indian Trail Ridge

Up to this point we hadn’t seen any big wildlife. I had hoped that we might see a bear, but no such luck. However, on the descent from the pass a marmot got between Kyle and me within the trail gully and ran for several feet before darting off trail. It was pretty funny to both of us. I got the action on the video below.

We kept pushing to get to Durango by end of day, but the predictable afternoon thunderstorms got us. At one point we had to get all our head-to-toe rain gear back on. That included our fancy green dishwashing gloves which worked really well at keeping our hands dry.

The 3pm storm let up around 4pm, and we again got on our way. But near 5pm another was brewing, and since we needed to climb back up to 12,000 ft on the exposed Indian Trail Ridge, we decided to call it a night.  

We had one more night with beautiful views.