Grand Lakes to Encampment

I really wanted to sleep in at Karen’s but I could hear the other hikers up and decided it was time. There was a hiker who had arrived and was looking for a daypack that Karen had promised to loan him for the day. I found it for him and he packed up and left.  We had plans to leave town early but that just didn’t happen. I don’t think we even left Karen’s till after 9 and then headed to the post office and grocery store. The really nice coffee shop wasn’t open yesterday so we had smoothies and  walked to a mediocre coffee shop at the marina.  We couldn’t find a vegan breakfast but it was late enough that we might be able to order lunch. Then we bumped into Caesar and Bubbles who offered to watch our packs while we found something to eat. We found impossible burgers at a restaurant where we also met Crypto and Kaput (Jedi was with them). We took our food back to sit with Caesar and Bubbles and ended up talking about American politics for a bit before we finally decided it was time

to leave town. We headed into Rocky Mountain National Park and took the short route through an area that burned in 2020. It was already starting to grow back with grass and flowers and baby trees everywhere. For the most part we followed a stream.

We saw someone who said there were five moose ahead in a meadow but we never found them. As we were leaving the park it started to rain with thunder and lightning. We stopped at a trailhead that had an outhouse and found Cuppa painting a picture where he could stay dry.  Later we would learn that he slept in the outhouse. We continued on and ended up climbing a big hill.

 The trail was really nice even though  it was raining and there were some blowdowns. But it just kept going up and I was getting exhausted. The goal had been to get up and over this mountain but with 2 miles still to go to the top I wanted to stop. TBD found us a flat spot up a hill and soon we were taking off all of our wet clothes and warming up in our sleeping bags.

We woke up to snow! It was covering our tent and we decided to stay in until it stopped.

TBD saw a moose outside and I looked out my side and could see him from the tent.   As soon as I got up I knew there was a problem. The altitude sickness was back in full force. It took forever to get that last mile and a half up and over. On the down I still felt messed up. I don’t think I can handle the big mountains anymore and we had two more to do before the next town. TBD did her magic with the maps and came up with an option. At first I didn’t like it but as the day wore on and I still wasn’t feeling great, I knew it was a better solution. There was a road nine miles ahead that we could get off on and head to a town called Walden.  It would mean that we wouldn’t be in Steamboat Springs for the fireworks on the 4th as planned but I wouldn’t have to go up over 10,000ft after today and so when we got to the road we stopped to cook dinner and then started a road walk. We didn’t go very far as we planned on staying on BLM land and stopped for the night right on the property line.

The alarm went off at 5am and we packed up and headed to town. It took all day to get there and for a roadwalk we saw quite a bit of wildlife. Five foxes, one jackrabbit and several prairie dogs. When we got to town we stopped at the bowling alley (first place with food in the way in) and got root beers, fries, sweet potato fries and onion rings. Then we headed to the hotel where someone was in our room! It was a mistake and we got another room but it was a bit alarming. Our next stop was Family Dollar and we bought mostly junk food. TBD doesn’t think we will find anything vegan in this town so we are just staying in tonight and eating all the junk food.

We took our time in the morning and didn’t leave the hotel until we had to at 10. Then we headed to a restaurant for coffee and breakfast. And then it was time to hike. We did make a pit stop at a grocery store where we each downed a drink. We are carrying as much liquid as we can because we aren’t sure of the water sources for the next 50 miles.  We didn’t need to worry though someone along the way invited us for a break and gave us each a bottle of water. Later we stopped at a RV park with a store and bought an iced tea and the only bug net they had. It was a nice walk today it started with snow capped mountains and ended with rolling green hills and wide open spaces. 

We made it to Wyoming today! After dinner we decided to night hike a bit to get us closer to town tomorrow. 

It was light out when I woke up but I didn’t want to move. Slowly we packed up and started hiking. It was hot but windy. While we walked the wind kept us cool but the minute we stopped for a break we would sweat.  I ran out of water three miles from town but I survived. lol! We got an overpriced tent site at Lazy Acres and headed across the road to a restaurant for pizza and pop. Even though we were starving we couldn’t manage to finish the pizza. That’s a first! We brought the rest back to the campsite with us and stopped at the grocery/convenience store to see if we would be able to buy enough food for the next stretch. It looks ok and we will go back tomorrow morning to shop.  The rest of the evening we just relaxed and chatted with the neighbours camping next to us. The rest of the chores can wait till tomorrow.

Day 68 14.6 miles/23.4km

Day 69 18.1 miles/29.1km

Day 70. 26.7 miles/42.9km

Day 71 26.1 miles/42km

Day 72 22.4 miles/36km

1203 miles/1936km so far!

Trouble

• “The more I travelled, the more I realized fear makes strangers of people who should be friends.” Shirley Maclaine

Breckinridge to Grand Lakes

I woke up early in a bunk room full of people and escaped to the kitchen area where I met a guy who was here acclimatizing for a trip to Nepal. Slowly more people came in for coffee and soon breakfast was ready for us. We slowly packed up and headed to the laundromat to start the chores.  While our clothes were being washed we went next door for coffee a giant cookie and then we shared a huge sandwich with nacho chips.

 After the laundry was done we headed to Patagonia but bought nothing and then to the bus station. We ended up taking a few buses but finally we made it to REI where we went on a giant shopping spree. I got new shoes. TBD got new insoles, rain pants, a new sun hoodie (I acquired her old one), a tent peg and a bunch of snacks. It was a good score and we decided to go for sushi to celebrate. While we were eating we noticed how late it was getting and wondered what time we would end up getting back on trail. I sent a trail Angel a message and she offered to come drive us to the trailhead. 

We ended up back on the trail after 6pm (thank you) and walked a few miles and set up the tent early. It’s been a long day!

I woke up at 6am and noticed all the condensation inside the tent and decided we should sleep in! We actually didn’t start hiking until after 9am. I’m pretty sure this is our latest on trail start. Just as we were about to put our packs on we met Cuppa (as in cup of tea) for the first time.  He also had Gossamer Gear stuff so we compared our gear failures and poor customer service stories. Finally we started hiking. The CDT is still on the CT trail so there was a bridge at every water crossing and perfectly maintained trail.  Most of the day was spent going up with only a few miles of down. So I was happy when TBD said we only had one miles left. As we were setting up our tent Purple (the hiker TBD met on her flight to Tucson) walked by. We haven’t seen him the entire trip! He stopped to talk for a few minutes but was planning on getting more miles in before he stopped for the night. 

Today was brutal! There was a lot of elevation gain and I wasn’t feeling it. It was beautiful and we saw mountain goats but it was a hard day.  

We also saw lots of hikers today. We saw the group of five that Door Three hikes with and then towards the end of the day two hikers named Poppins and Pathfinder. We actually met them where I would have liked to end the day but we were trying to get as close to Grays Peak as we could to make tomorrow easier. There were several more ups and I was moving at a snails pace. To make things worse, one of the downs was just a rocky ledge. I said I was done and wanted to stop as soon as we got down but the pass was way too windy to stop on.  We ended up going up and over another mountain and stopping on another windy pass. We saw two other tents set up in the wide open and decided to try to set up  where we had some wind protection. Even still the the wind hit the tent ferociously all night long.

I woke up with the same headache I had when we stopped last night and didn’t think much of it. But when we were all packed up and eating breakfast I struggled. I ended up throwing up the half of the Luna bar I had been trying to eat. That’s when I realized I had been having altitude sickness symptoms for the past day. We were about to turn on to the Argentine Spine alternate that has really steep ups and downs and then go up to 14,254ft to Grays Peak. We were already over 13,000ft and I felt like crap. The other option was to stick to the red line that went down to around 10,000ft. If we had to we could sleep in the parking lot and hike back up to 14,000ft the next day. I hated the thought of having to hike back up and I only had to do 9 more miles of elevation if we just took the Argentine Spine and then did the peak. So that was the plan but by the time we had got to the turn off for the alternate I changed my mind. I just wanted to get as low as I could asap. We started down the red line and there was a very steep up that ended in a crazy huge amount of snow. Ugh! This was supposed to be the easier route and I had no patience for it. There was a town we could see below on the grassy side of the mountain so that became the new plan. It would ruin our chances of hiking Grays Peak but I could get lower. I thought we were heading to Montezuma but TBD had other plans, she was already working on our new route so we could keep our continuous footpath. Our trail lead down Montezuma Road and then to Hwy 6 where we stopped at Keystone Resort for a meal. 

Then we walked to Dillon, stopped for a drink and then walked to REI and a grocery store to resupply as we had changed town destinations. She booked us a room at a fancy hostel called The Pad that was right near another alternate on our map that we could take tomorrow. It took most of the day for all my symptoms to go away and I’m still exhausted. It’s sad that we are missing the highest mountain of the CDT but it is better than having to press the SOS button in a country that doesn’t have free health care.  At The Pad we took advantage of the full kitchen and made pizzas for dinner. There is a hot tub here but I’m just too tired. We hit the thousand mile mark today. It would have been really cool to know that we hiked Grays Peak the same day we hit a thousand miles but I’m okay with hitting the thousand mile mark on the day that I didn’t have to hit the SOS button. 

I woke up crazy early in the hostel and went down to get coffee. They even had oat milk for TBD.  We had coffee, fruit and apple turnovers for breakfast and then very slowly started packing up. We each had another shower because we could and managed to check out 2 minutes before checkout time. Next stop the Starbucks down the street. After another coffee we noticed the Chipotle across the street and headed there for burritos. I filled up one of my bottles with root beer to help power me up the big up later. When we couldn’t delay any longer we started walking up to the trailhead. There is always an up leaving town so it didn’t surprise me when we headed up a very steep hill.  

I had forgotten to put my phone in airplane mode and was surprised to get an alert saying there was going to be a severe thunderstorm. The clouds were gray and I could tell that it was going to rain somewhere and sure enough I needed to put my raincoat on. There was no thunderstorm though. It rained on and off all the way up and some of the way down. 

We stopped near a water source to make dinner and had the rice and bean meal I had been carrying for ages. It was really good! We started walking again with the intention of crossing the water and then setting up camp but we found a good spot on this side of the water and will cross in the morning.

Today was another hard day. I woke up with a headache and knew right away that I had altitude sickness. We had three mountains to climb today and about 22 miles till the next bail out point.  TBD looked at the map and found an alternate for the last mountain and we started hiking up the first. It took a long time.  I wasn’t feeling as bad as the other day but knowing that I was going up I was more careful to take deep breaths the entire way. I was excited for the top because it meant I would be going down. But it wasn’t a nice, easy down. We were following cairns and the trail was almost inpersceptable. TBD used the Farout app a lot to keep us on trail. The trail crossed several steep slopes and was barely wide enough for a foot in places.  Most of the patches of snow we were able to walk around up high so we were surprised to get lower and have to walk through snow, snow melt or streams of ice cold water. We had both been counting on making up for lost time coming down that mountain as we knew we had another big one to climb. The trail turned into a dirt jeep path that  zig zagged up the next mountain. Again it took awhile to get up but at the top was where alternate began. We wanted to follow the dirt road up and over the other side of the mountain but it was covered in snow. There was a big cornice and way too sketchy to try to walk over the snow. We ended up hiking up the ridge line to where the snow was just a vertical patch and slowly made our way out on the snow to slide down. TBD went first and used her heels and poles to slow herself down as much as she could. I went down much faster but we both managed to stop at the end of the snow and not fall off the steep mountain. We could see where the dirt road below us and just had to edge our way down to it slowly. To make things worse it started to hail and there were gusts of wind that made it feel like we were going to be blown off the mountain. We made it down to the road safely and as quick as we could. Then we raced down the road trying to get as low as we could quickly.  By now it was raining and we hiked right by some beautiful campsites.  We didn’t realize till we passed the last one that maybe we should have stopped and set up for the night. But we kept on in the rain and hiked by a mine that was very loud. Later we would look up the mine and learn that it was a  molybdenum mine (used for making steel alloys). When we could see the highway and still hear the mine we decided to call it a day and set the tent up in a day use picnic area next to a waterfall. All of our gear was soaking wet so it was a chore to try to keep the inside of the tent dry while we unpacked our gear. 

By the next morning the rain had stopped but we weren’t in a hurry to get out of bed. It was cold and we knew we had a highway walk to do. We started our walk up , up, up on a highway full of tight S bends.  There wasn’t much of a shoulder but most of the vehicles were respectful and moved over as much as they could. After a morning of up we reached the top and had intended on crossing the highway to go to a warming hut but we didn’t feel safe enough to cross where there wasn’t much line of sight for the traffic coming over the top. And so we began our afternoon of down. At one point we stopped for a break and dried out our wet gear. Closer to town a car stopped and offered us a ride…. But we were walking. As we neared town we saw Winter Park Resort and could smell the food. We quickly made it to a bar and grill and ordered black bean burgers and root beer.

Our plan was to walk through Winter Park and only stop for food and maybe a shower at the rec centre but there is a cheap hiker friendly hotel in this town and that’s where we ended up. The place is older but cute and I can tell that they cater to the skiers. The owner is super friendly and laundry is free. Did I mention the coffee and chocolate bar across the street! It’s just perfect here! I called my son tonight and he said that from reading the journals it seems easy and we are just hiking from town to town. While it’s true that we are calling this the food tour of Colorado and enjoying all the amenities of town, the hiking has been more difficult for me lately. I feel bad that TBD has to go at my pace and make alternates when I can’t handle the peaks. But I’m happy she is here, I probably would have quit the other day when we came down without submitting Grays Peak but she just figured out an alternate and we kept going.

I woke up warm and clean and packed up quickly. I was excited for coffee and breakfast! We walked down to the Perk where we met a local trail Angel who offered us a ride. When we told her about our alternate she offered to let us stay at her house in the next town. We plan on going much farther today but thank you for your kindness! We hiked to the next town and stopped at the grocery store to grab fresh water bottles and drinks and then continued on down the road. I was surprised when it looked like we were coming up to another town and I could see a Subway, a Domino’s and a McDonalds. We quickly decided to stop for another round of drinks. Then it was a 45 minute walk to a Chinese take out! We carried our order up a hill and stopped in the shade to eat. It was awesome! We were so full but still had to hike. As we hiked out of town the mosquitoes were brutal and we sprayed ourselves with bug spray and moved a little quicker. The sky looked threatening and we could see lightning ahead but we managed to make it to a bar and grill for another yet another round of drinks and a snack without getting wet.  The locals were nice and one of them offered a place to stay but we had already decided to get closer to Grand Lakes tonight. It was dark by the time we left so out came the headlamps for the last push to town. We ended up stopping and setting up in a picnic area and will be able to walk in for coffee in the morning! Perfect!

I woke up crazy early knowing it was town day. We walked the last miles to town and stopped at a grocery store for orange juice and sat

outside eating bagels. We actually made it to the coffee shop before it was even open. They give CDT hikers free coffee!

And the smoothie shop next door gave us free wellness shots! Thank you!  Cuppa arrived so we sat and chatted with him before starting our chores. After another trip to the grocery store we headed up a steep hill to Karen’s house. She has been a trail Angel here for the past 6 years and opens her home to thruhikers. We showered, did laundry and hung out on her front porch most of the day. Karen told us there would be another hiker arriving and it turned out to be Kodak! And that Jedi was slackpacking Rocky Mountain National Park today and would be back later. We each had a pizza for dinner but wish we had brought more food up the hill. 

Day 58.   2.7 miles/4.3km

Day 59.    14.9 miles/23.9km

Day 60.    14.4 miles/23.1km

Day 61.     19.3 miles/31km

Day 62.    10.9 miles/17.5km

Day 63     16.4 miles/26.3km

Day 64.     19.3 miles/31km

Day 65.     29.2 miles/46.9km

Day 67.      3.9 miles/6.2km

1095.1 miles/1762.3km so far!

Trouble

“Hiking: the art of slowly walking uphill while being simultaneously happy and miserable.”Unknown

Leadville to Breckenridge

We woke up in the backyard of the pizza place and slowly packed up. We headed to a coffee shop but bought potato burritos for breakfast and skipped the coffee because we planned on going to Zero Day Coffee next.  Finally we got our coffee and chatted with a couple of Colorado Trail hikers who sat at the table next to us. Kodak arrived and we found out that today is Juneteenth (an American national holiday celebrating the end of slavery in Texas) and that meant that the post office wouldn’t be open. We quickly made a new plan to stay another night at the pizza shop but instead of taking a zero we would hike the last of the road miles to get us back to the CDT and then hitch back to town.  After the coffee shop we went to Melanzana where the famous Melly sweaters are made. They normally let people in by appointment only (and the next appointment was in February) but they make exceptions for thruhikers. We had to show a picture of us at the Mexican border to be allowed to choose one item to purchase. TBD was the one who wanted to check the place out but I was the one who found a sweater to replace my base layer that was falling apart. We headed back to the pizza shop for another meal and to ask if we could stay another night. They offered to keep our gear so we could slackpack! TBD emptied her pack and we put our rain gear, our sweaters and a couple drinks in her pack, the rest was staying at the pizza shop. We walked out of town with Kodak on the perfect day for road walking. It was overcast and it was a pretty walk. When we got to Tennessee Pass and there was a spot for cars to pull over I thought that maybe this was where we should stop (there was access to the CDT from this point) but Kodak and TBD had a better idea. We would continue to walk another few miles to where the CDT meets the road again. So we continued down the other side of the pass and ended up at a spot that I was sure was going to be a hard place to hitch. But I was wrong! The very first car stopped when we stuck our thumbs out! Thank you! Back in town we went to Taco Bell and then a brewery before heading back to the pizza shop for more focaccia bread. It was cold and we stayed inside as long as we could before going out to set up the tent. We just finished setting up when it started to rain. I bet Kodak is happy that he decided to cowboy camp under the gazebo.

We took our time in the tent in the morning figuring out where we wanted to stay when we get to the next town. By the time we were ready Kodak had already left for the coffee shop so we met him there.  It had rained during the night so we left the tent up on the dry in the sun. After coffee and breakfast we headed back to the pizza shop to pack up and then over to the post office where we discovered that again our package hadn’t arrived. Last night while we were in the pizza shop we had met  two friends who offered to drive us to the trailhead. They appeared while we were at the post office and as soon as Kodak was ready we headed back to the trail. We started out on a dirt road but soon it was back to a real trail. And of course we were going up! It was a giant climb. Soon we could see snow and then we were walking in it. Just small stretches at first. As we near the top it started raining, then hailing. It was also windy and every once in a while there was lightning. If it got any worse we would have had to get lower fast. But it was bearable. Some of the snow sections at the top we could climb around but others we had to posthole through. It took us longer than I thought it would to get past all of the snow but once we did we stopped for a well needed break. 

Then we raced down the hill hoping to get as close to Copper Mountain Resort so that we can go to Starbucks in the morning. It started to rain and thunder so we stopped when we saw spots to set up for the night. 3 miles to Starbucks in the morning!

TBD set the alarm for 5:30am and soon we were off to Starbucks. It was downhill as Starbucks was in Copper Mountain Resort. We hung out for maybe an hour but then it was time to hike up the mountain on the other side of the road. There was only 5 miles of up but it took me a long time to get up. It started out in trees but the top was very exposed and I felt bad for TBD who was waiting for me in the wind. Kodak was ahead of both of us and at one point I could see him right near the edge of a steep drop trying to avoid the snow. When we got up to that spot it didn’t seem nearly as sketchy as it had looked. But still there was a lot more snow than I wanted to have to deal with. At the very top the snow was still crisp and we had to worry about sliding down but the lower we got on the north side of the mountain and the later in the day it got, the more we were postholing. We just wanted done with the snow. There was finally a nice stretch where we could slide down but then we ended up back in the trees with the snow and the postholing just got worse. We had been following footprints and noticed they had taken us off trail. It took 45 minutes of postholing out of the snow zone to find the trail again. Later we would find out that we did relatively well as Zodak had been off trail for 2 hours. 

Our goal had been town so as soon as we were back on trail the race was on to get there for dinner. I was exhausted but at least it was mostly downhill. Finally we got to the trailhead and it was a short walk to the bus stop where a free bus would take us to Breckinridge. Kodak arrives 20 minutes later and decided to try to hit hitch with no luck while we waited for the bus. The bus took us downtown and then we switched busses and got dropped off right near the hostel. The hostel was really nice and even has a hot tub. We were hungry though so after quick showers we headed out to eat. We didn’t take our rain jackets and it started to rain. At first we tried waiting it out but in the end we got wet walking back to the hostel. Everyone in our bunk room was already asleep so we quietly headed to bed.

Day 55.     13 miles/20.9km

Day 56.      14.3 miles/23km

Day 57.    18.5 miles/29.7km

964.1 miles/1551.5km so far!

Thousand Mile Gear Review

So it’s been a thousand miles and I’m still carrying a few things I haven’t used and a few things that are damaged. 

I’ve yet to use my really cool Lixada Solar Panel Charger so it’s time to put it in the hiker box. 

I’m also still carrying some emergency items like Guardia medication,antibiotics, Benadryl, allergy medication and burn ointment that I haven’t had to use but I will keep those in my pack. 

About my pack, before this trip I bought a brand new special edition Gossamer Gear Vaporwave backpack. It cost a lot and even more to ship to Canada. I don’t know how soon the frame broke through the bottom of my pack but I noticed it on day 31 of this adventure. I didn’t think it was a big deal because cottage companies are usually great about sending replacements on trail. I was shocked at how poor the customer service is at Gossamer Gear. Even though I do love their packs (this is the third one I’ve owned) and they fit me perfectly, I will look for a company with better customer service and ethics in the future. 

Another Gossamer Gear item that went in the hiker box is the sun umbrella. I actually liked the umbrella on those really hot days where there was no wind but let’s face it, there is always wind! I hardly ever used it and it was just deadweight. 

Other damaged gear includes my Frogg Togg rain suit. I actually split the pants the first time I wore them and after a thousand miles my jacket has a few pinholes. I knew from the beginning that I would need a replacement pair at some point. Back when I hiked the AT the Frogg Toggs rain suits were only $10 so replacing them even twice on a long trail was no big deal. Now they are $40 and I’m not sure I can justify the replacement before the halfway point. And for that matter how much waste am I creating by continuously buying something I know I will need to replace. For now they are staying in my pack and I will assess as time goes on. 

My luxury items didn’t even make it a thousand miles before I realized I just wasn’t using them enough to justify the weight. They went into a hiker box a long time ago! They include my speaker, my phone tripod and an extra tank top. 

That reminds me, I should mention turn that my really old merino wool base layer sweater was getting shoulder strap stains and the seams were falling apart so I replaced it with a heavier Melly.  

The only other changes to my pack have to do with water filtration. I started with a Sawyer Squeeze but when TBD’s Sawyer failed she acquired mine (she does ALL of the water filtration) and I started carrying Aquatabs as a back up. We used them once when the water was disgusting along with the Sawyer. Sawyer is still my first choice but because there is two of us, I think it’s beneficial to have a different option as a back up. 

And that’s it! Other than the damaged backpack I am happy with my gear choices so far. I will do another gear review at the end of the hike.