I decided to have a more relaxed morning with my girlfriend rather than rush back on trail. We went to Rita’s Cafe, about a quarter mile north of the Family Dollar, where they made me a breakfast to order. My go to is a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich.

My reward for a more relaxed morning was a giant bull moose as I crossed the Michigan River. It was just hanging out in the river as cars pulled over behind me to snap a picture of the majestic creature.

With un-forecasted clear skies, I pushed on waving one last time to my girlfriend as she drove back to Fort Collins. A short distance after turning onto County Road 12 West, I turned into a private campground just off the south short of the Walden Reservoir. When planning this route, it appeared that if I could cross through the campground, I’d be able to access a road on the BLM land and avoid walking long the paved CR12 for the next several miles.

Unfortunately after crossing campgrounds property, there were additional private property signs preventing further progress. So I backtracked a bit and was back on CR12 taking the backup route. Further down CR12, I chose to walk down another road that I thought would connect to the BLM land, which turned out to be on private property as well. So once again I backtracked to CR12 and a mile or two later, I was able to turn onto the BLM roads. There was a very tricky cattle gate to get open and closed (the most difficult I’ve ever passed through). Something to pay attention to if hiking alone.

The majority of the afternoon was spent hiking along county roads leading towards the Lone Pine area, even passing through the Lone Pine Ranch. I chatted with one of the operators of the ranch and drank some water from the creek.

With having got a later starts, I was got to the Lone Pine North Trailhead and found a place to pitch my tent with the last bit of light coming over the horizon. The trail miles for today was more close 19.5 as attempting to reach BLM land added some.