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.