Miles: 21 Steps: 41,043 Vertical gain: 4,679 feet Liquid consumed: 150 oz Wildlife: Moose right next to the trail freaked me out! Grouse, squirrels, chipmunks. Another mom and 2 baby Moose about 10 feet from me at lunch!!! Faith in Humanity: Trail Magic! An orange tin with some snacks inside. I had pretzels which were quite tasty, thank you!!!! Another amazing day. Hazy skies again due to so many fires in the country. I was above treeline for a very long time today! No moose attacked me in my sleep, although I did here something large crashing around. In the morning I thought some of the tracks around my camp may be from sheep that grazed the area earlier in the summer but I've got no clue. I'm alive and well, so on to the next.., Beautiful forest walk in the morning. Just love the 10,000-11,000 foot elevations in CO. Cool weather and beautiful forest! Especially this time of year with the undergrowth at its fullest state. So pretty! I took a long break around noon. Laid down on my sleeping pad, took my shoes and socks off, and I'm just sitting there enjoying myself. Hmm, what's that noise? Jesus there's a moose and two babies within 10 feet of me!!!!! I quickly make some noises and scramble to put my shoes on! Thankfully after a few huffs and puffs the moose run downhill away from me, babies close behind. Soooo many moose encounters. All have ended well, thankfully! There's some very common advice in Colorado about hiking above treeline: try to go in the morning so you're down in the trees before the afternoon thunderstorms kick in. Me? My first step ABOVE treeline was after 12:30 today. Oops! It was a perfectly clear day though with no storms threatening at all. Nice! The trail was absolutely gorgeous. Ridge walking directly on the Divide for miles and miles. So many miles, In fact that I had to drop down off trail in the trees to camp. Found a nice protected ledge to camp on for the evening. Back at it tomorrow. Sure is nice to have a very high and exposed day with zero threat of storms!