Hi everyone. Sorry I didn't post from Leadville. We ran into our friend and fellow-hiker, HUI, and spent the whole time in town visiting with him.
We are currently in Grand Lake, CO after discovering that Colorado is pretty much nothing but rain in September. We had one day with no rain between Salida and Leadville, and then had two days with no rain between Leadville and Grand Lake, but one of those days was a short day and the other was a roadwalk with lots of threatening clouds. As I type it is pouring outside and we are taking a day off in GL in order to dry out. This "zero" day will replace the scheduled zero we had for Steamboat Springs.
The section from Salida to Leadville was relatively easy, with few big climbs and a lot of time spent in valleys either east or west of the divide. The only real exception was Hope Pass, a nearly 3000 ft climb with few switchbacks just south of Twin Lakes. Unfortunately we had almost endless spitting with some brief, strong rain showers and we were wet pretty much every minute after the first 16 miles, so it didn't seem like a particularly easy section. The worst day by far was Liv's bday (Sept. 6), which was very sad. It rained most of the day and we ended up sleeping in an old cabin with a lot of rat turds and a lumpy floor. I think the Little Debbie cakes she packed out made her birthday at least a bit happy, but the weather definitely didn't cooperate.
We stayed at the hostel in Leadville and "slack-packed" the 22 miles between Tennessee Pass and Copper Mt via the bus system. The two nights in Pbvl were very nice and Hui showed up the second night with his friend BP, so we had a real nice time visiting and then making breakfast the next day. Joel was so excited to sleep in a bed two nights in a row that he decided to skip the next section and stay at the hostel to recuperate further.
Liv and I got a ride from BP down to Copper Mt and hung out at the convenience store with Hui for another few hours before walking the bike path to Frisco and then Silverthorne. We stopped for beer and sushi in Frisco on our walk, which was probably the neatest and least backpackey thing we have done on the trail in a long time. When we got to Silverthorne we walked through the outlet mall and then up the hill past a few cheap hotels, one of which had a sign that said rooms for $49+. We briefly thought about staying another night in a bed before deciding that was too opulent and Liv said she would quickly run in and get a soda from the vending machine before we left town.
Just at that moment, Fandango and Piper called to ask if we were in Silverthorne. They were two hours out and wanted to stay with us in town. We immediately booked that cheap hotel room and went to the hot tub. A third night in a bed was very nice and we had a good time talking to Kevin and Piper, but we probably stayed up too late (for me at least).
The rest of the section from Silverthorne to Grand Lake was the hardest section for us so far on the whole trail. We climbed over 6000 ft one day and almost as much the next. The trail was hard to follow, with no tread in places and just cairns in the tall grass. In addition to the difficult trail conditions we encountered a lot of very strong winds, some rain, some blowing snow flurries, some hail, and a few very cold nights. The winds were especially annoying while climbing above treeline because the trails were steep but whenever we stopped to catch our breathes we would get very cold and then sweat again while walking.
The highlight of the section for me was the Berthoud pass warming hut, which was just a building out of the wind. We got there and had second breakfast (including coffee/tea) and then started to take naps. Then Team TEAM (minus eblanket) showed up and we had a nice three hour hiker reunion that really recharged us before the climb up Mt. Flora. It was great to see MoSho, ABear, and Trainwreck and we hope they continue to have a good hike towards NM.
We ran into Freebie on the top of Jame's Peak and then Vocal on the roadwalk south of GrandLake. It was great to see everyone and hear all the stories and we are now even more excited about flipping back to NM and running into everyone again.
Well it is time to eat a sandwich and let someone else use the computer at the Bakery. I hope everyone out there is enjoying the Spot updates that Liv is dilegently updating nightly ( I would forget). Please wish us good weather as we push towards Steamboat Springs tomorrow.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Friday, September 2, 2011
In Salida
We are in Salida today (Friday, sept 2) for a day an a half off. We just finished a really fast section from Creede to Salida, and i know I didn't blog in Creede, so I will try to fill you in completely, but the library has a 30 minute limit per day, so this might be brief, I'll try to add detail tomorrow.
We left Wolf Creek Pass a week ago Tuesday after Vanessa and Aarons' wedding, which was a lot of fun (congrats to them, again!) and did 14 miles the first day. The next four days we did over 25 miles each day with almost 100% of the time spent above 12000 ft. I think the big thing I remember is that the San Juans are the most beautiful mountain range we've encountered yet, there are mountains in literally every direction, and I threw up my breakfast twice, probably due to altitude sickness. Other than that it was a really hard section with lots of rain and I wish we had scheduled an extra day but overall it was really nice.
I'm sure one of the highlights of the section for Liv was running into two of her coworkers in the backcountry, which I also think is pretty fun because it isn't really the place you usually see anyone you know. My highlight was seeing two moose early in the morning at Squaw Pass (I was alone as I was trying to hike a few miles before eating to see if I could hold the food down better after warming up). We also got to hike really close to the Rio Grande Pyramid and the Window, which form a really cool ridgeline, though it was raining when we were walking by so we didn't try to bushwack through the Window.
We reached the hwy between Creede and Lake City last Saturday and we were trying to hitch to Creede, but we couldn't get a ride so we took a ride from some very nice people to Lake City, CO for the evening instead. When we got to town we went out for pizza. At the pizza place we were offered a ride to Creede in the morning, which was very nice, and we talked to the owner for a while, who helped us find a cabin for the night. I only ate two slices of pizza and felt real queezy and I ended up vomiting at the cabin and being sick the next day for about 24 hours.
We got a ride to Creede on Sunday and then Liv's friend Katina came and picked us up and took us to South Fork, where we stayed at Katina and Joshs' house. I slept most of the day on the couch, so there isn't much to report but I am very grateful for the place to stay. Monday morning we went back to Creede and had breakfast before hiking out of town. We took it nice and easy leaving town and did 15 miles in the afternoon. The road out of town had a lot of jeep and 4x4 traffic and there were a lot of people that stopped to say hi and find out what we were doing. A man named Dominic was particularly interested in our gear and the CDT. I wish I would have showed him my tent (more on this).
That night we camped at the headwaters of Cochetopa Creek. When we arrived at camp I realized I did not have my tent and that I had left it at Katina and Josh's house in South Fork! The next morning I got up real early and hiked back to Creede. Katina had to leave work to drive me to South Fork to get my tent, which i was very grateful for. I had another breakfast in town and then hiked all the way back to where we had camped the night before, a round trip of 30 miles in 12 hours. From there I kept hiking in hopes that I could catch Liv and Joel before getting to Salida. After 7 more miles I ran into Gordon, who was camping at Stewart Creek with his camper. He offered me beer, chile, and hot dogs, which I could not pass up even though I wanted toget some more miles in that evening. He also fed my bacon and eggs for breakfast. It was definitely that best trail magic I have had on the trail so far and I hope Gordon enjoys the rest of this stay in Colorado before he heads back to Bali.
The Cochetopa hills section was pretty easy with short and well graded climbs. Water was a bit scarce but the longest dry section was 14 miles, which wasn't too hard to carry for. I did 35 miles during my round trip day to Creede (plus 2 hitchhiking miles), 33 miles the next day, and 31 miles yesterday. I still couldn't catch Liv and Joel, who camped 4 miles ahead of me last night and beat me to Monarch pass this morning by 45 minutes. We all hitched to town together a few hours ago and we are waiting on the hostel reception to open at 4pm so we can check in and take showers.
This was a beautiful section but had few outstanding views. It was mostly forest. I had much less rain than in the San Juans, which was nice, but now I have some nagging knee pain because the trail was very rocky. I only have three more minutes online, so I will wrap it up and either Liv or I will try to blog again tomorrow. We should be in Leadville by the end of the week. Hope everyone is well!
We left Wolf Creek Pass a week ago Tuesday after Vanessa and Aarons' wedding, which was a lot of fun (congrats to them, again!) and did 14 miles the first day. The next four days we did over 25 miles each day with almost 100% of the time spent above 12000 ft. I think the big thing I remember is that the San Juans are the most beautiful mountain range we've encountered yet, there are mountains in literally every direction, and I threw up my breakfast twice, probably due to altitude sickness. Other than that it was a really hard section with lots of rain and I wish we had scheduled an extra day but overall it was really nice.
I'm sure one of the highlights of the section for Liv was running into two of her coworkers in the backcountry, which I also think is pretty fun because it isn't really the place you usually see anyone you know. My highlight was seeing two moose early in the morning at Squaw Pass (I was alone as I was trying to hike a few miles before eating to see if I could hold the food down better after warming up). We also got to hike really close to the Rio Grande Pyramid and the Window, which form a really cool ridgeline, though it was raining when we were walking by so we didn't try to bushwack through the Window.
We reached the hwy between Creede and Lake City last Saturday and we were trying to hitch to Creede, but we couldn't get a ride so we took a ride from some very nice people to Lake City, CO for the evening instead. When we got to town we went out for pizza. At the pizza place we were offered a ride to Creede in the morning, which was very nice, and we talked to the owner for a while, who helped us find a cabin for the night. I only ate two slices of pizza and felt real queezy and I ended up vomiting at the cabin and being sick the next day for about 24 hours.
We got a ride to Creede on Sunday and then Liv's friend Katina came and picked us up and took us to South Fork, where we stayed at Katina and Joshs' house. I slept most of the day on the couch, so there isn't much to report but I am very grateful for the place to stay. Monday morning we went back to Creede and had breakfast before hiking out of town. We took it nice and easy leaving town and did 15 miles in the afternoon. The road out of town had a lot of jeep and 4x4 traffic and there were a lot of people that stopped to say hi and find out what we were doing. A man named Dominic was particularly interested in our gear and the CDT. I wish I would have showed him my tent (more on this).
That night we camped at the headwaters of Cochetopa Creek. When we arrived at camp I realized I did not have my tent and that I had left it at Katina and Josh's house in South Fork! The next morning I got up real early and hiked back to Creede. Katina had to leave work to drive me to South Fork to get my tent, which i was very grateful for. I had another breakfast in town and then hiked all the way back to where we had camped the night before, a round trip of 30 miles in 12 hours. From there I kept hiking in hopes that I could catch Liv and Joel before getting to Salida. After 7 more miles I ran into Gordon, who was camping at Stewart Creek with his camper. He offered me beer, chile, and hot dogs, which I could not pass up even though I wanted toget some more miles in that evening. He also fed my bacon and eggs for breakfast. It was definitely that best trail magic I have had on the trail so far and I hope Gordon enjoys the rest of this stay in Colorado before he heads back to Bali.
The Cochetopa hills section was pretty easy with short and well graded climbs. Water was a bit scarce but the longest dry section was 14 miles, which wasn't too hard to carry for. I did 35 miles during my round trip day to Creede (plus 2 hitchhiking miles), 33 miles the next day, and 31 miles yesterday. I still couldn't catch Liv and Joel, who camped 4 miles ahead of me last night and beat me to Monarch pass this morning by 45 minutes. We all hitched to town together a few hours ago and we are waiting on the hostel reception to open at 4pm so we can check in and take showers.
This was a beautiful section but had few outstanding views. It was mostly forest. I had much less rain than in the San Juans, which was nice, but now I have some nagging knee pain because the trail was very rocky. I only have three more minutes online, so I will wrap it up and either Liv or I will try to blog again tomorrow. We should be in Leadville by the end of the week. Hope everyone is well!
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