Today would be a short day. If I was going to have a chance of doing this next section of high-elevation ridgewalking and the summiting of the highest point of the CDT, a 14er or 14ers (Grays & Torreys), I would have to time the weather right. So I am camped on the shoulder of Georgia Pass, and will wake up early tomorrow to get up on the 15+ miles of exposed ridgewalking so I can get down before the forcasted storms, and then camp at the base of Grays Peak for an early morning summit of that one, and from there I’ll have to figure out the other above elevation terrain the next day…

I met a ton of other hikers today, lots of Colorado Trail hikers and then the first of the CDT flip floppers, Scat Man and Rafiki. We had a good chat mid-trail and I found they had been the first to hike the section I was preparing to do, and most of it was doable, a few sketchy spots. Well, I’ve had my fair share of sketchy spots, and it all sounds like something I can handle. I was happy to hear their report, their main concern being the strong winds they encountered. I think my mornings should be calmer, so I may just have a perfect window (minus the afternoon storms, but with only a 10 & 20% chance, that’s pretty good this time of year).

Scatman and Rafiki

I also met my first bike packer of the Colorado Trail. Wendy is a bad-ass woman biking the trail, to me it could almost be harder than hiking it…although the downhills are probably pretty nice.

Wendy

Not too many views today, but pleasent walking and I saw my first Columbine!!

I got to tree-line just as a storm was about to unleash some fury, and had my tarp up in a little grotto of trees just in time. I’ll have a long afternoon to read, nap, eat, and read some more.

I lay in bed till 7! Till 7! Oh the luxury!

Teresa and I had a lazy morning, and then headed into Golden to the CDTC office, but not before a stop to Great Harvest where her good friend Jim who owned the store hooked me up with taste after taste of deliciousness.

I did my resupply and by that time we met up with Peter (CDTC magic worker) for lunch at an indian buffet. Mmmmmm, buffet. I got a beautiful new Montbell Jacket to replace the one I burned in a recent unfortunate accident with a former stove, and had a great time catching up.

By 3 I was back on the trail and soaking in the goodness from the last 24 hours. I didn’t have it in me to make big miles in the hot and humid afternoon, and when I came across Colorado Trail hikers Just Dave and Zero Zero, I had to stop and chat for a bit (I admit I dissuaded them from going over the cornice route…reinforced with photos!) and then at the bottom of the hill met Naked and Afraid, a lovely CT hiker from Lousiana out with her dog. We chatted for a bit too, and then I figured I should walk a bit more…but not much.

I’m camped somewhere flat with trees that won’t fall on me if the wind picks up (there are storms and wind due tonight). Sometimes it’s just enough to know you are sleeping where trees will most likely not fall on you during the night. It’s the little things out here.

My new jacket has fleece lined pockets...FLEECE!

Me and this stick are ready for the rain

I cowboy camped again, how marvelous! I love being able to look at the night sky if i wake up in the middle of the night, and since I was in a river canyon didn’t see what most Coloradans would have a unique opportunity to witness: the northern lights! I’m not sure how long the solar flare will make them visible here, but I will do my best to look out for them this week…if it doesn’t rain too much at night.

I was up and walking at about 6am…Copper Mountain was within reach and I debated with myself if I was going to stop in for a second breakfast. I’d be making it to Breckenridge today to meet Teresa, did I really need to stop at Copper too? Well, when I made it down the ski lifts and saw how close the buildings were of course I had to go down. I found an open coffee shop and had a breakfast sandwich and cinnamon roll to go with my second cup of coffee for the day. Just what I would need to help fuel the big climb out of there.

Now there is a major route choice here at Copper. The official CDT goes over the 10th Mountain Range and down into the valley with Breck before going up again for a bunch of ridgewalking at 13,000′ and up and climbs the 14er Grays peak. Its a bit longer and could still have considerable snow in places. The Silverthorne alternate is a bit shorter, has a few passes over 12,000′, but is generally the choice to make in higher snow levels. Most hikers that I’ve heard of having been taking the Silverthorne, but after talking to Teresa, I thought I would try the Grays-Torres route. Why not? There were a few places I could go low if I needed to, so I thought I would go for it. Go big or go home!

The climb up out of Copper was a long one, but upon reaching the ridge and having almost no snow I was a bit frightened to see the huge cornice hanging over the north side of the ridgetop. There was one set of footprints that I could see and they had gone up and over one spot on the cornice where it wasn’t hanging per say…it was about a 10′ drop and then side slope to a bit of dry ground about 30′ away. Yikes. I went to look at it, retreated, went out, tried to start, retreated, again and again, and finally put away one of my poles so I could have one hand free, used the other pole which had lost its snow basket as an ice axe of sorts (I could dig it in to self arrest if I needed to) and turned around to kick steps in backward as I inched my way down the cornice.

And I made it! Whew! On dry ground, going the opposite way the trail travels down the mountain, I had to reevaluate how I was going to get out of this. The easiest thing would be to follow the dry ground, which I could connect patches of dirt and rock down the drainage, so I worked my way south and down, and upon looking at my maps of the surrounding areas saw that if I could walk the drainage out enough I would meet up with a trail, which would then get me to some roads.

And the walking was actually pretty nice once I got out of the snow. There weren’t too many downed trees, and the going was pretty easy, just follow the creek! I popped out on a road that wasn’t on my map, hmmm, it was most likely a get-back road for the Breckenridge ski resort I was near, and turned on the CDT Guthook app, fortunately that map had the road on it, and I found my exit strategy. Turning south I walked the road out, eventually reaching a neighborhood perched on the side of the mountain, and found highway 9 where I hitched a ride into town with Tim, a nice bloke who picked up the crazy girl.

One chalupa and Dos Equis later and my belly was full and I felt a million miles away from that cornice on the ridge. I could see it all from town, I kept glancing up and marveling that I had really come over that. Man, the things thru-hikers do. This could be a premonition for what was to come for the route I chose, but I’m confident I can get myself where I need to go, and am not afraid to retreat if I need to. We’ll see!!

Teresa came a few hours later and we drove off to her place near Conifer, CO. But of course we had to stop for pizza first! We had a great time and tonight I’m tucked away in her uber comfortable bed in the guest room, a most welcome reprieve from the ground for a night!

I had entered snow again at the end of the day yesterday, and found a dry spot in the midst of soaking meadows, slushy snow and streaming creeks. The mosquitos wouldn’t leave me alone so I sat in my bug condom most of the night and cowboy camped with it covering my head…it worked perfectly!

The night hadn’t done much to stiffen up the snow, but no matter, FINALLY a lot of the snow is consolidated, so you can walk on top half the time, and the other half is still slushy, but not very deep anymore. It makes the travel much quicker but still dicy from time to time.

In the first two miles of the day I was finally out of the snow, and had some really pleasant forest walking. The tread was mild, and I just filled up on some water when I spied what looked like a cooler. Could it be? Could it really be???? Trail magic? Something so pervasive as the cooler full of sodas on the AT and PCT were non-existent on the CDT….until this one!!!!!!! Rootbeer, lots of kinds of sodas, a trail register. Amazing! I forgot to look at the Trail Angel’s names, but thank you, whoever you are!

Then I thought I would hike to a bench I remember near Camp Hale, I remember it because of a sign stating this segment of trail is maintained by NASA and the FBI. What????? Anyway, made it there for lunch then dropped down to the old training ground for the Mountain division of the military years ago (still live munitions, careful!)

The climb up to Kokomo Pass was long and hot, but I made it expecting nothing but a sea of snow on top, but to my surprise, it was over half melted out, and didn’t look that daunting at all.

The next few hours passed as I made my way through and around the snow patches, and I found a quaint little spot to camp about 5 miles before Copper Mountain. All and all a good day on the divide!

Lost the post!

It was a beautiful day. I would just hike in the morning and meet my folks at Twin Lakes around lunch and spend the rest of the afternoon with them as they were headed back to Illinois in the morning.

Everything was green, everything was alive.

The day passed quickly and soon i was walking along Twin Lakes. A reuben sandwich at the food cart was exactly what I needed when I arrived in town. I had a few care packages, thanks Dave & Barb, Missy, Mysterious Corvallis blog reader, and Boomer who sent me a new pair of poles (and a Goodife Beer from Bend!) Thanks all!!

The rest of the day was chill and we grilled steaks in honor of fathers day tomorrow. I’ll miss my folks, this was an amazing way to spend the week, a real treat.

It was a chilly morning when I attacked my first climb of the day. Fortunately the cool kept the sweat at bay and I was pleasantly surprised to see the trail was fairly level most of the day. Yes, I’ve hiked this trail before, but at 8 years since, I found there were many views I could recall, and many I could not. I was able to identify a spot I camped before, and even a spot I had found a toy gun placed in a bush at head level…that had been disconcerting, my 2007 fall hike had coincided with hunting season and I can only surmise the hunters weren’t too keen on hikers scaring their “game.”

I remember this!

Oh Pine Creek, you sure are purdy

But it was a blissfull day. Camping with my parents at night means burgers, boiled eggs, and fruit for my trail food. A girl could get used to this! But I have them for 2 more days and then they head out. Hopefully this gold-carpet trail treatment will fuel me up for the next 2/3 of the trail. 5 months or so is a long time to be living in the woods…its nice to have a bit of civilization thrown in there.

I only had 18 miles to make today, so it was a relaxed day of hiking in the sunshine. I like saying that. Looking at the map and the fact that the trail brushed up against 11,800′ I was sure I would encounter more snow, but in fact the open canopies had already allowed most of it to melt off.

I met my folks at Clear Creek Reservoir and we headed to a Leadville campground for the night. I had planned to meet with Meagan, a former Outward Bound Odin Falls co-worker who now was placed at the Leadville basecamp for a beer, so relaxed for a few hours before headed out on the town with a bunch of other OB folks.

I passed 1,000 miles today! Only 2,000 more to go!

The forecast was due to be sunny and hot, bring it on baby!

Oh, there was a decent amount of climbing today and I sort of regretted that hot weather enthusiasm, but seriously, 90 degrees is much better than lightening storms. I sucked it up and kept hiking.

The morning was mild as I wrapped around Mt. Princeton, and I even got to meet MIG (Made in Japan), another CDT thru-hiker for the first time. Then as I was approaching Cottonwood Road I met up with Farmer and HD Momma, 2 of our Warrior Hike CDT hikers this year. Great peeps, and like the rest of us, they are trying to figure out the smartest way to go on hiking this trail as there is still considerable snow around these mountains

HD Momma & Farmer

I had heard from a day-hiker that there was considerable snow up on the shoulder of Mt. Yale, but sometimes day-hiker snow is different than thru-hiker snow…so I wasn’t sure what I was in store for.

The climb up was long and steep and I fantasized about coke, ice, and coke and ice. I met a few other hikers near the top who said it was about a mile of snow on the north side of the pass, but I was happy to see this snow was quite a bit milder than the previous snow I’ve encountered. Yes, there was maybe a 1/2 mile of solid snow, but all the footsteps made for a pretty easy postholing adventure. The snow was only about knee-deep at most, and I was able to make good time through the slush.

The trail down to Silver Creek Trailhead where my parents were meeting me was steep, and I was glad my knees held up to the challenge. Sometimes the downhill is harder on the body than the uphill. But I finally turned the corner to see them walking to meet me, lovely! I love this supported hiking…I know it will end in a few days, but I’m going to live it up while I have the opportunity!

To the RV!

It stormed most of the day yesterday and I was thankful that I decided to take another day off with my folks. They dropped me off at the Colorado Trail trailhead at 6am and I got an early start on this 20+ mile section.

What a day! The blue skies dried up all the hail from the night before (there was a WICKED lightening storm right over our campground last night) and I flew by the few 14ers along the trail. I had climbed Mt. Shavano when I came through on the Colorado Trail 8 years ago, and was secretly glad I had already been up there; I was immune to the enticing proximity of the summit.

The day was glistening with the recent rain and brilliant green. Everything was green, and flowers were bursting in every direction I looked. Yellow, white, red, orange, lovely.

The walking was easy and the going pretty mild as I wrapped around the eastern side of the Collegiate Mountains.

I had planned to meet up with my parents and Teresa (CDTC WIZARD!) at Mt. Princeton Hotsprings, and by 3pm I had walked into the busy parkinglot, bee-lining it to the store for a soda, icecream and chips. Ahhhhh, processed food. 🙂

We caught up under a shade tree; Teresa had another hiker, Meredith a Colorado Trail hiker, with her and I had a good time getting to know her and getting excited about more trail. I know, you think after almost 1,000 miles that I wouldn’t get excited about trail, but I do! That’s why I’m here man!

We eventually headed back to the RV which was now parked in Buna Vista. After a delicious Salmon dinner and before it was dark outside I had checked out for la la land.

Seeing my parents on the dirt road as I was having one of the hardest days on the trail was like…well imagine what the most relieving situation in the most stressful situation you can imagine. That is what it was like. I was flooded by emotions, flooded by 2 months of mostly solo hiking one one of the most challenging adventures I have ever undertaken, and there was my support team. Does it get better than that?

We wanted to spend some time together and I wanted to recover, both in gear and in body.

I’ve been eating almost non-stop, and it tastes so good. We headed into Salida to hit up a thrift store (I’d rather buy second hand when I have a choice) and got a new tank top and sunglasses, and hit the gear store for a new thermarest, stove (I decided to go canister), tent stake (yep lost another) and to Wally-world (not my favorite place but it has it’s merits) for a new watch, bandana, and a few other items. We had lunch at the local pizza place with Restless and ended up running into the warrior hikers for the first time since the CDT kickoff. Nice!

I’m feeling spoiled and it’s wonderful! Hiking starts tomorrow, but we figured out a plan for the next 4-5 days where my folks will meet me at road crossings and I’ll camp with them at night. Oh bliss!

Got a hair cut

And had a great time catching up