Hi everyone, sorry for the long silence. Liv and I finished our shakedown hike last weekend but we have been traveling, relaxing, and decompressing and I haven't gotten around to (felt like) blogging until this morning.
We had a VERY difficult hike from US Hwy 64 near Tierra Amarilla, NM to Wolf Creek Pass in southern CO. The trail was covered in a lot of snow and Liv developed terrible blisters that are now slowly healing (pun intended). I'll ask her if she would like to upload a nasty photo for the world to see later this morning.
The first day on trail was very pleasant; the trail was easy too follow and the weather was great. Actually with the exception of some strong winds and cold evenings our weather was perfect the entire week. The first afternoon we did 14.5 miles, which was a few miles further than we had planned to hike and we found a nice campsite near a Rio San Antonio. At the time there was only one blister and it didn't seem so bad.
Day two started slowly with the previous day's blister giving Liv a bit of pain and some blisters on my toes giving me some problems but we eventually started moving faster and ended the day about 18 miles from where we started. We were confident that our speed would increase. We ended up camping near some very loud coyotes who obviously thought we were invading their space. This was the first of what would turn out to be five nights that I was cold and didn't sleep particularly well because I brought my 40 degree sleeping bag instead of my warmer down one. But the moon was full and it was a very beautiful night.
Day three was wet and the trail was a little difficult to follow in a marshy area around a number of springs in the morning. It is amazing to be in far far northern NM and see so much water after the ridiculously dry spring we have had throughout the state. After a few miles we ended up in snow in the trees for the first time. This would prove to be a slow and, to me, most annoying way to lose the trail because navigating in the trees is difficult. This particular patch of snow was on a ridge, so we didn't get lost, but it was slow going and uphill and very tiring. At the top, we again hit dry(ish) trail on a number of old logging roadways and we were in and out of snow every few miles for most of the way to the Colorado state line and Cumbres Pass, which we reached in the middle of the afternoon. We didn't even get to see the train, though we heard the whistle a number of times in the hour before we reached the pass. Cumbres Pass was a beautiful area with lots of newly green aspen trees and a light breeze, but there isn't much to see while walking under one of the train trestles. We camped that night a few miles north of the pass near Wolf Creek (though not the WC of WC pass, which was still 61 miles ahead) and we shared a camp spot with a hiker named Jacob who had started in Grants, NM and was trying to complete northern NM and CO. Jacob was nice enough to lend me his puffy jacket with hood for sleeping, as I was again cold.
I should note at this point that on day two, Liv's other heal blistered so she had a matching set and therefore had to make quite a painful effort to walk, especially quickly, and so we often didn't move much faster when it wasn't snowy. This is when the Ipod came in real handy for helping Liv focus and to distract her from my increasingly unsympathetic bedside (trailside?) manner. Good thing I never became a doctor.
The snow really started in ernest on day four shortly after lunch. And from that time onward there were very few moments where our feet were dry for the next three days. The hiking wasn't particularly hard and the navigation wasn't a huge obstacle but there was a lot of snow. There was kind of a turning point late in the day (a theme) where we had to drop down on a snow covered talus field and we briefly thought about turning back to Cumbres Pass (not sure why now, but it was scary at the time) before going down and finding Dipping Lakes, which were still icy and are the very head of the Chama river. We also found Jacob again at the lakes and the three of us hiked up about 1000 ft in the snow to a ridgeline and found what I think was our best, most beautiful, and most unexpected spot to camp on this section of the trail. Just a little low spot (dry!) behind some bushes to block the wind with marmots running all over and very expansive views.
The next day proved very challenging with lots of snow, though navigation wasn't difficult except for a short (felt long) section in the trees above a low point on the ridge at the head of Navajo River. After that we tried to make up time by sliding down a snow chute on our fannies, which was very exciting and led me to think we were a little too far west, which inevitably made us too far east and we almost missed Blue Lake, before realizing my mistake and having to go around the lake on the wrong side. After that I let Liv do some navigating, which worked just fine and involved a relatively dry lunch spot in some nice shade near another ice covered lake. Late in the afternoon we had another turning point when we realized we would have to traverse some seriously scary snow slopes above quite a large cliff. We discussed turning around and going back to Cumbres Pass. It is quite amazing how about 150 yards of danger can make you comtemplate turning back over 20 miles. But neither of us really wanted to turn back and Liv's blisters were having their afternoon surge of numbness so she put her Ipod on Bonnie Raitt (another afternoon theme) and we surged ahead without mishap. The silliest moment from the rest of that afternoon was when we followed Jacob's tracks down to the bottom of the middle fork of the Conejos river and then his tracks disappeared near a snow bridge. We couldn't see his tracks on the other side, so we thought he must have fallen in the river and washed away. Then I said "I think we'd be crazy to cross that snow bridge and I won't ever do it." Fifteen minutes later I was across that snow bridge after failing to find a better way across that didn't involve walking 3 miles upstream. We still didnt find Jacob's tracks on the other side until later then next morning, so it wasn't quite as funny at the time.
Day six was the hardest day, both physically and mentally. I admit now to being a jerk for much of the trip and especially the last two days, where my mood alternated from being frustrated at the navigation or the pace, to being upset at myself for being frustrated, to being very sorry for being a jerk, and then back to being frustrated. Liv and I have talked about this since decided that It shouldn't happen this way again. I don't really want to rehash every moment, but suffice it to say that we had to get to Elwood pass on day six if we were going to get to Wolf Creek on day seven and Liv was adamant all day that we would make it. I was pessimistic. And at 4 pm when we had only gone 9 of the 17 miles I was even more pessimistic. But again there was a turning point in the afternoon. We took a steep short cut, found some dry(er) ground to walk on, and Liv battled through her blister pain and walked until 9:30 pm (14.5 hour day) to finally make it to Elwood Pass. I got an "I told you so" and it was much deserved.
The last day involved some really nice hiking on mostly dry ridgelines in the morning and everything seemed great until I again got us lost in the snow in the trees trying to find Bonito Pass and frustrations again mounted. In the afternoon slogged through a lot of snow in the trees and the trail miles just seemed to go on forever before we finally followed two other hikers down through the forest to Alberta Park Reservoir and got to finish the section with some jeep road walking below Wolf Creek ski area instead of through the snow at the top of the ski area. We were very happy to see Doug when he pulled into the trailhead parking lot at Wolf Creek Pass with a growler of beer and a ride back to town for a shower.
We have now been in Oregon since Monday, after a nice weekend in Farmington with Liv's family. We are going to a wedding in Portland this afternoon and then on to Glacier National Park to start our hike on Tuesday. I have switched to my warmer sleeping bag, bought a new down coat, and am anxious to start a new hike, hopefully with less frustration and more enjoyment. Liv's blisters are getting better and we will wait and see whether they are ready to start on Tuesday or if they need a few more days, but she is confident we will be starting this coming week.
I'll see if she wants to append this post when she wakes up, but until then I get all the coffee. Time to make breakfast!
