7/22/16 Leadville to 7/25/16 Twin Lakes, CO

We were up early to get a head start on the trail since we have to hitch a ride to Tennessee Pass.  We'd purchased a microwaveable breakfast each and were soon out on the road trying to get a ride. After a small snafu (we hitched a ride on the wrong road!) A nice man gave us a ride back to where we needed to be.  He had a bucket of water on the floorboard for his dog that my pack belt dangled in for a short time- long enough to get my cell phone wet though.  As we exited his car & tried for another ride I noticed it.  I got my phone rescued & we flagged another car driven by a very delightful lady who provided great conversation as she drove us 9 miles to the Pass, hugging us both and waving goodbye like old friends!

It was about an hour into the hike that I tried to take a picture and noticed the lens was foggy with condensation.  I turned the phone off completely then. 

Pictures for the next day and a half were taken on Peggy's iPhone and we wrapped mine into my bandanna tying the bandanna to the top of my pack for lots of sun exposure and drying out.

Peggy taking a picture of a lake as we passed by. 

This small section of trail is 13.6 miles long, mostly in forest with some glimpses of the Continnental Divide like the picture below.

We met a man hiking with his dog, Harriette, a border collie mix that was full of personality.  The last we saw of them he was swimming in a lake trying to get her to come in. As we rounded the trail we called out "jump Harriette, jump! "

I don't think she ever did though!

The forecast was rain for the next 3-4 days but it never really rained. A few sprinkles was all.  When we arrived at the trailhead that marked the end of this section there were 5-7 cars, hikers, dogs etc. everybody going out into the woods. We just wanted to get away from all of it.  So deciding to get a head start on the next section which is also 13.6 miles long, we hiked a half mile up to the next water source, crossed the stream and found a good spot above the trail to camp. There were a handful of tents already scattered around the forest but a much quieter bunch than at the trailhead.

   My iPhone is 3/4 clear of condensation so I'll keep putting it in the sun all I can tomorrow. 

7/23/16 Saturday

Our goal is to finish hiking the next 13 miles and then decide where to camp. We want to climb up Mt Elbert, Colorado's highest 14K foot mountain, whose trailhead is accessed from the Colorado Trail.  When we arrived at the end of this section, cars were parked everywhere, people, kids & dogs. All hiking back from Mt Elbert!  We chatted with some of the other CT hikers that we knew & all decided to hike 1.3 miles to the next water which we needed to take with us up the mountain.  Peggy & I started out leaving the others there at the trailhead and river.  We felt we just needed to go then or we'd never get the energy to leave. At that point, 3:30 pm, we'd hiked 13 miles.  Once there, we saw no good camp spots so we got water for a dry camp, cooking dinner & breakfast plus 2L of water for the climb= very heavy packs at 2# per liter. I carried 3, Peggy 4. 

A glimpse of Mt Elbert

The last 300' climb was hard.  Finally we found a great spot 1/2 mile before the trailhead where we can't be seen by anyone passing by.  We'll be leaving everything in our tents tomorrow morning and take only our packs with warm clothing, 2 L of water & snacks.

My tent in foreground. Peggy setting hers up & getting ready for dinner.  

   After set up Peggy found she had cell service so we each contacted home or friends. 

After calculating we found we'd hiked 17 miles today! No wonder we're tired, but we both feel this sets us up for the best early ascent of the mountain tomorrow.

* the treatment for condensation worked! The phone is working well again.

7/24/16 Sunday - ascend Mt Elbert

It rained a bit in the night but not too bad. As we were leaving it started raining again but we had hopes it might stop. 

Early morning light on a beaver dam & pond on our way to Mt Elbert trailhead.

You can see by the clouds it's thinking of rain!

We reached the trailhead at 7am and the trail literally went straight up, Colorado has no notion of a switchback. Maybe the idea is to scare people away right off the get-go! That being said, there are others on the trail this Sunday morning. We had a snack at treeline and had 4-5 visiting Clark's Nuthatch (camp robbers is a familiar name for them- very bold birds) begging for our snacks.

Mr Camp Robber

I've developed a formula that seems to work on the uphill sections.  Pick a pace that I can keep up for awhile. Usually it's quite slow but if I can breathe through it without stopping I can make more progress than starting & stopping (wheezing and blowing etc) it's quite the show.

In the background is Mt Massive that we chose not to climb the day before.  This picture is on the flank of Mt Elbert. 

Looking down on Twin Lakes below. We'll end up there for resupply after our climb. On the left is a lake called the Mt Elbert Forebay.

Peggy, 3/4 of the way up.

Ascending took us 4 hours. The clouds began gathering and looking dark but we figured we had enough time to make it before we had to go down. Lightening is deadly if you're caught on a peak.

Made it!!!

Proof!

Look at those awesome mountains behind me, the Divide. Also, see the clouds? We felt the need to get down.

Still not at treeline, the rain broke over the valley below. 

We hiked down and 1/2 mile back to camp, broke camp & hiked 3-4 miles to town. 

Once in town we found the inns & cabins were all full. Thinking ahead we reserved a spot for dinner and a room for the next night and started to talk about camping down by the lake in the bushes. One of our hiker friends was telling the store clerk about us and she wanted to talk to us. He relayed the message and before we knew it, she'd arranged a room at a B&B of sorts. We walked 50 feet to the house and were shown into a beautiful home lined with pine wood, directed upstairs to a room with 3 beds, we did laundry and had all we could have wished for. What a fine surprise!  I'd been coming down the trail very footsore and praying for a place to be provided, I should not have been surprised but I was!! Thank You!! 

Dinner was superb at the Twin Lakes Inn and our night sleep was lovely at Karen's house. 

7/25/16 Zero in Twin Lakes at The Twin Lakes Inn.

Lunch was a shared burger and dinner will be another delightful yummy meal.

Leaving tomorrow morning early to start the Collegiate West portion of the CDT/CT. This is the high route, named for the peaks; Harvard, Yale, etc. we go over Hope Pass tomorrow too....Uphill formula applies.   Next resupply in 5 days, hopefully.

7/15/16 Friday- 7/21/16 Thursday

Fairplay, CO.  to Leadville, CO.

We hung around Fairplay in order to get lunch and take off with town food in our packs for dinner. Got a hitch out of town within 5 minutes and arrived back at Kenosha Pass at 1:55 pm to continue the Colorado Trail southwestward. After about 3 hours of hiking we felt sprinkles but never had real rain. We got high enough to overlook South Park, a wide valley surrounded by peaks.

South Park with rain threatening.

At 5:15pm we stopped, mosquitos are definitely out, we used headnets as we set up camp under the trees near Jeffrson Creek. Tomorrow we hope to reach Georgia Pass on the Continental Divide and down the other side. I'm feeling the altitude, a bit of nausea, lack of appetite and breathlessness.

7/16

The climb up to Georgia Pass was 6 miles which we made in the cool morning hours. 

Celebratory picture at Georgia Pass

and snack of avocado, salami, cheese and Fritos with Mt Guyot in the background!

Lots of  mountain bikers on the trail except in the wilderness where they are banned. We decided to find a campsite beyond our intended destination because it was full of weekend tenters and vehicles. Finally found a nice, quiet place.

7/17

Today we met tons of mountain bikers on the trail, it seemed we spent more time stepping off the trail than going forward. 

One exciting moment was seeing the marker where the Colorado Trail intersects The Continental Divide Trail and they become one for awhile!

We made our way down the switchbacks to the town of Breckenridge where we decided not to go into town but get water at the river and move on, it was hot and we needed to lay up under a tree to wait till late afternoon to hike some remaining miles up the next hills toward the Ten Mile Range.  We hiked 14 miles today.

We celebrated our 100 mile mark with avocado & Fritos, a favorite snack! 

7/18

There was a 2am rain but our tents were dry by the time we got up.  We have a steep uphill climb all morning.  Rutted, rocky trail,  it got stupid steep!

Peggy on one particularly steep part!

Finally the trees opened up and we could see where we were going, up and over the top.

In the photo below Peggy is looking down to the valley where we were yesterday.

After finally reaching the top (at 12,488 ft elevation) amid dark clouds gathering we took a few photos and began hurrying down off the ridge because lightening strikes can be deadly up on top! Hiking down we lost 2,500 feet elevation in a few miles.  It began to rain, then hail like crazy, we donned our rain gear but our legs and shoes were soon soaked. 

The trail ran just above Copper Mountain, a ski resort, so we decided to stop there and get dinner and a room.  This was a difficult day climbing and descending steeply. I was a tired girl. 

7/19

We had purchased breakfast items for today so we could get back on the trail early. It was wet outside but not raining when we started hiking.  The trail wound slowly uphill under spruce trees whose fallen needles cushioned our feet.  We had 8 uphill miles following Guller Creek to it's headwaters near Searle Pass.

A look back at the Guller Creek valley we hiked up. 

It's always exciting hiking out of the trees to alpine meadows.  The flowers are always spectacular. 

I used chrome color to tint this photo.

Yellow paintbrush and blue colored bells (the name escapes me!)

Sky Pilots.

Searle Pass.

Five miles later looking back at Searle Pass ( in the middle of the picture)

Silky Phicalia. 

One last pass then we descended through fields of color where we went crazy taking photos!

Red, pink, salmon and  orange paintbrush flowers were stunning!

Finally we started on down the mountain to a campsite far below. 

7/20

We keep talking about the exceptional day yesterday, the window of weather that allowed us to truly enjoy the profusion of flowers and glorious views, what a joy it was!

Today we walked 8.9 miles out of the mountains. One interesting place we passed was Camp Hale, training camp of the 10th Mountain Division during WWII. All that was left were these bunkers.

These soldiers trained for winter survival & skiing before fighting in the Apennines  Mts of Italy where they endured the loss of 25% of their men. Some came back to Colorado to pioneer the ski industry that exists today.  

After crossing  Hwy 24 twice we got off the trail at Tennessee Pass and got a ride from the first car we saw!  Driving 9 miles to Leadville we were in our hotel within 5 minutes of arrival. Next we walked to lunch then the post office for resupply boxes. We saw Lady Grey who has decided to get off the trail and go back home to Vermont for various reasons.  We will miss meeting up with her along the way but wish her many wonderful hikes in her future!

We will stay in Leadville for 2 nights resting up before beginning the next sections. We are also waiting out the rainstorms predicted for the next few days.

Downtown Leadville under threatening skies.

The first week on the CT. 7/8-14/2016

Arrived in Denver at the airport & met up with Peggy, took the light rail to Littleton & got a hotel, dinner and the next day took off for the trail after Ubering a ride to Waterton Canyon Trailhead. 

There was a 6 mile walk on a dirt road used by lots of bikers, joggers and day walkers. The road passed by a dam over the Platte River 

We then took off uphill with mountain bikers passing us laboring up and zipping down. Our packs are heavy, we got 3 liters of water at a small creek & decided to dry camp at the high spot (7,500 ft elev.) of the segment in the boulders. 

My tent in the evening. We were both tired and kept ourselves awake til a decent hour hoping for a good nights sleep. It was quite hot, probably in the 90s and we were glad for the shaded forest most of the hike today, our mileage   was 12.3 miles. Good enough.

The next day 7/9- Sunday, we crossed the South Fork of the Platte River

Crossed on a bridge after loading up on water for a steep uphill and a day of hiking through a burn area. Hot and exposed with temps in the 90s we knew it was going to be hard. 

After reaching a point we decided to hole up out of the sun so we slept the hours away under the pines, moving our stuff as the sun moved across the sky, keeping in the shade. Every breeze was welcome. We took off up the trail at about 4pm and hiked until we ran out of trees. After stting down to dinner, we hiked at about 6pm  across the exposed burned area, it was a great time to get through it while the sun was going down. Much better than in the heat of the day.

We camped under a group of trees on a ridge, no tent fly on, watching the Milky Way stretch across the sky in brilliance. The night was balmy and warm. We put in 13.4 miles today. 

Last night was absolutely the best night's sleep I've ever had on trail. Could be because the last 2 haven't been great!

We've finished 2 segments and are starting on the 3rd today. This one has lots of steep uphill and downhills but the CT's methods can be either gnarly (for bikers) or noodly (which I like best). We again holed up for about 3 hours to nap through the heat. When we set out again My tummy felt hollow, so we ate food & had more water. The altitude may the culprit so I'll have to watch that closely. 

Blue Columbine, the Colorado State flower. 

A rare endangered Rocky Mountain Lily. We were lucky to see 2 of them!

After we set up our tents for the night in a 'bleh' sort of meadow I watched a little meadow critter pull stalks of plants down into his hole, they just shimmied, danced around a bit then disappeared! We woke up to wet tents etc. but we can dry everything out later. 

Segment 4 has lots of steep uphill portions, getting us up to the 10,000 foot elevation. It also goes into wilderness so we'll see no bikers on the trail for the next 2 segments. Passing through beautiful old growth aspen forests, one trunk I estimate was 34" around! 

Aspen eyes. 

At one point Peggy took one of my liters to help me get up the steep hills better (what a kind gesture!)  she seems to have endless uphill strength while the downhill is easier for me.   Some of the trail was so steep, we can't figure out why a few switchbacks couldn't be used, ah well!

Finally we descended a long way to a beautiful alpine meadow with a creek running through. We walked past a big camp area searching for a more remote campsite, which we found about 3 miles further. 

Because of the altitude we slept in our wool leggings etc. to keep warm. Good thing we did! 

The next morning it was soooo cold, down jackets, hats pulled low we stepped onto the trail to a headwind that about froze our fingers off. Just up the trail we found an entire herd of cows and calves on the trail coming toward us bawling and calling.  We ended up driving them before us for a 1/2 hour at least, hollering " Git Along Little Doggies"!

Lots of cow poop and spattered pant legs later they finally left the trail and we could get going! 

Bristlecone Pines, Spruce Trees, Jeffrey Pine make up the forests here, interspersed with Aspen groves. Beautiful granite outcropping make for pretty pictures. 

We camped on a ridge with another woman from Vermont whose hiking partner broke his foot last night. Luckily there was an RVer who drove into camp and was leaving the next morning. He took him out to get help. 

Today we hike out to Fairplay and resupply. 

Our B & B, the Hand Hotel built in 1930 with hand hewn planks for siding. 

Selfie of myself, Peggy & Lady Grey, our friend from Vermont. We celebrated her birthday with a nice dinner.

Tomorrow morning we hitch back to Kenosha Pass for another 71 miles to Leadville and resupply. Appreciate all your prayers and good wishes, we are having a wonderful hike. 

Planning To Hike The Colorado Trail

This summer's plan is to hike The Colorado Trail from Denver to Durango with a good portion sharing tred with the Continental Divide Trail. This is described as a beautiful, high, well marked hike, much of it over 10,00 feet elevation. I anticipate a challenge and the opportunity to see new vistas, trees, and wildflowers.  I'll be hiking again with Peggy who has just finished the New Mexico section of the Continental Divide Trail having started at the Mexican border earlier in the Spring. 

I anticipate being on the trail for 5-8 day sections and staying in towns or near civilization to resupply,  at which time I'll bring my travels up to date with a blog. Daily blogs are time consuming so I'll see how it works writing an overview of the section with photos. 

Meanwhile, here are pictures from my most recent training hike on Red Mountain near Mt. Ashland following the Pacific Crest Trail south from Siskiyou Gap.  The snow is almost melted and flowers are blooming. The day was beautiful and the night awash with stars as the Milky Way stretched across the sky above my tent. 

Our two tents in the foreground, we hiked up to the ridge in the background  and could see north into the valley of  Little Applegate, east to Mt McLaughlin and peaks around  Crater Lake, Wagner Butte, Mt Ashland, Pilot Rock and south to majestic Mt Shasta.

Colleen with Wagner Butte in the background and the tip of Mt McLaughlin  behind that.

Morning sunrise from my tent about 4:30 am

The trail out that morning.

Beargrass