“A vigorous five-mile walk will do more good for an unhappy but otherwise healthy adult than all the medicine and psychology in the world. “ ~Paul Dudley White

Longview, CO Segment 3- FS 550 Crossing to FS 543 2nd Crossing We will begin 1.9 miles in to segment 3 at the FR550 crossing where we ended last time. We had planned to do this a few weeks earlier but Jill had gotten sick. 

CNC Beginning of Segment 3

May 23, 2003 Once again, we get up early for the drive is almost 2 hours to the end of Segment 3 Trailhead at Forest Service Road 543. Then we have to drive back to the beginning of the segment. We begin hiking at 8:45 AM and immediately enter a Ponderosa pine and Douglas fir forest. The trail continues to meander through the forest and we make good time. The weather is beautiful, 75 degrees with a few clouds. We climb above 8000 feet for the first time and the trail will end at 8280 feet. We do not see any wildlife on this segment other than a few birds. Although the trail intersects some popular biking trails, we do not see any other people. This is probably due to the fact that we are hiking on Friday while others are waiting to start their Memorial Day weekend.

CNC (Charlie and Carol) on the Trail

We finish at 2:15 PM and covered 11.5 miles in 5 hours and 30 minutes. Even though we covered about the same distance as our last outing, we all feel a lot better this time out.As we reach the end, we look up at Segment 4, which enters the Lost Creek Wilderness and climbs above 10,000 feet. Our first real challenge, other than just number of miles hiked, lies ahead. Segment 3 Miles Hiked – 11.5
C.T. Miles Hiked – 39.1