Tag: backpacking

Start: 1350.2

Stop: 1373

Today’s Miles: 22.8

Total CDT miles: 1065.4

I was awake, bright eyed and bushy tailed at 6am! Something about knowing town is within reach makes me move-which is nuts, seeing how I just had a week away from hiking. Whatever, I am who I am! 

I packed quickly, annoyed at having to pack my tent.. cowboying really is so much easier, and was walking before 6:30. I had stopped short of a cabin yesterday, complete with a privy and drive up dirt road-and seeing it this morning made me glad I camped a little before it. There were 2 vehicles there and no where good to cowboy-and I don’t think you’re technically supposed to tent camp there (maybe not where I did either, but to be fair, I didn’t see the sign stating that until after reaching the cabin). 

The trail for the majority of the morning was easy dirt woods and it meandered with the mosquitos mostly downhill. With my bug lotion on, I didn’t have any issues with bites, I just hate their buzzing sounds near my ears. Mid morning, after a steep descent of perfectly maintained switchbacks, I came up to a stunning lake, the first of three or four for the day! And those lakes came with day hikers and campers galore!

I spent the next hour walking around Monarch Lake saying “hi!” every 30 seconds. I stopped and chatted with 2 different people, both very excited to see a CDT hiker. I loved it! I passed an Amish family with the girls all in dresses in different shades of blues and purples.. they were super friendly, too. I was giddy as all get out!

I got to the ranger station and privy that is at the entrance to the lake I just passed, used the privy, then headed down the dirt road. At some point I came across a general store connected to a campground and decided to snag a soda and a sandwich. Mountain Goat, the girl who booked it passed me yesterday morning, was there! We talked a bit and then I kept hiking.. eating my sandwich as I walked instead of waiting for lunch. 

I just knew I needed to keep moving to make it to Grand Lake. Lake Granby was a looker, as I started my climb of the day around the right side of the lake. As I kept going uphill for no reason in my opinion, I kept looking out over the lake at the perfectly level dirt road on the other side. I had to remind myself that THIS is the trail, and it cuts between two lakes so I’ll technically get to Grand Lake faster, even if this stupid climb is miserable.

Mountain Goat caught up to me, and as we’re chatting and walking and I’m trying to breathe-a storm rolls through. The sky drops out, hail and rain and so much thunder. I never saw lightening, but of course as it hit, Mountain Goat and I were about to walk out into the open, tree free bald at the top of this climb. So, we waited it out in the trees. Thankfully, the storm came and went within 10 minutes. We started hiking again, and she’s so fast-I haven’t seen her since!

At 3pm, I had to sit in the shade with my shoes off for awhile. Both of my heels are blistered to hell, my right big toe feels like it’s bench pressing my body weight alone, and the balls of both feet throb. I’m not kidding, something has to give! When I started walking again, I wasn’t able to stop the limp. Each step hurt like hell, but I was worried about the terrain to put on my crocs, I still had to walk around Grand Lake before getting to the real paved roads of the town itself.

By 5pm, I had limped around the lake, managed to get to my motel, check in, and get those damn shoes off my feet! They were aching so bad, I just laid on the bed, dirty, for 15 minutes before mustering up the energy to shower. My feet are so cooked. It’s scary. Ughhhh.

Anyway. I love the Big Horn Lodge. A simple room with everything I needed and a shower with excellent water pressure! I got clean and then wrangled up my dirty clothes inside my sleeping bag liner, put on my rain gear, and walked through town. I was initially going to go to the gear store to look at shoes, but then realized they closed at 6.. it was 5:55 and I didn’t want to be that person that took up their time at closing. They don’t reopen until 10am, so it looks like I’ll get to leave late tomorrow! 

I carried my dirty clothes with me to dinner, since food was all I could think of at the moment. Sagebrush BBQ had an excellent Memphis style pulled pork sandwich! I got an extra side of baked beans because the portion that came with the sandwich looked like it was a ramekin for ketchup, not my side of beans.. and yall-I devoured it all! Plus like a liter of Mountain Dew. That waitress was impressed. 

With a full and happy belly-and a caffeine high-I made my way to the laundromat. It didn’t take long at all to wash my clothes.. while they were washing, I got a Gatorade and some lotion next door at the little grocery store. I was going to resupply there, but their prices were outrageous.. I honestly shouldn’t have gotten the drink and the lotion, but my face looks insane (dried out from getting burnt the last few days) and I was thirsty while washing clothes. 

Now, I’m back in my room, unable to sleep, but unwilling to be productive. The WiFi won’t load my pictures for my posts to my blog, so I gave up on trying to get some of them updated. Maybe I’ll have better luck in Steam Boat Springs, which will be my next town. I think I’ll just lay here, feet propped up on pillows, and watch some TV! Goodnight yall!

Start: 1329.8

Stop: 1350.2

Today’s Miles: 20.4

Total CDT miles: 1042.6

Today was mesmerizing.. but damn, my feet hurt! When I get into town I need to see about getting some insoles for my shoes, or changing entirely! I can’t keep walking like this.. these new shoes and I do not get along! 

I had the best of intentions of getting up at 6, leaving by 6:20. Instead, I slept until 6:30, waiting for the sun to be fully on me before deflating my sleeping pad. It was cold overnight, and windy! I used my pack to block the wind from hitting my face, since I cowboy camped, and thankfully my quilt kept me cozy, but anytime I turned and didn’t keep the back just right, I got a cold breeze up my shirt. 

I left to tackle the last 2 miles of the James Peak climb by 7:05am. I was moving slightly faster than I have been, but it was still slow going. The views were unbelievable though. At one point, I saw 2 elk up ahead on the trail looking back at me-all majestic! Then, they took off running and went across a huge snow patch! How do these animals not constantly break their necks? It’s crazy!

As I was less than 3/4 a mile from the top, I was passed by another hiker! She came out of no where! We briefly chatted, then she kept moving, she was aiming for 25 miles today so she can get into Grand Lake early tomorrow for her birthday! That’s some motivation. 

When I made it to the top, I could barely see another hiker coming up, too.. now I was in the middle of people! This made me so happy, because I knew there would be a potentially sketchy snow part coming up in the next 7-8 miles, and if I can stay in front of the person behind me, I won’t have to go over it alone if I get there and panic. Selfish? Maybe. I’ll call it being safe. Ha.

The top of James Peak was all rock and 360 degree views of mountains on top of mountains with some civilization thrown in on one side (aka: the towns of Winter Park and Fraiser). It was spectacular. Pictures just cannot capture that kind of raw beauty. I was so entranced, I almost didn’t want to come down-but I had to stay ahead of that other person! So, down I went.

The initial descent was steep! I was actually struggling more going down than I did coming up-because of all of the loose rocks and lack of grip on the underlying dirt. After that first steep part, maybe a half a mile or so, the trail became this gorgeous footpath along the side of a mountain range. Every now and then, you could walk up between two jagged rock mountains and peek over to the sheer drop off on the other side. 

It truly felt like magic. The sun was shining, there were these dramatic and sharp mountain scapes, hard and unforgiving, and then there were also fluffy marmots and pikas running around all over the place squeaking. I felt like I should be singing or something, being surrounded by so much beauty. I didn’t though, and before I knew it, I ran into 3 other hikers coming towards me! One was a man and 2 dogs, sadly they didn’t want my pets. And then 2 women out hiking together! 

I chatted with the 2 women for a good 5 ish minutes. They’re from Colorado and had many CDT questions. I enjoyed every second of telling them my start date and what I’m toting-they made me feel like I wasn’t slow as hell or carrying too much stuff. It was so very refreshing. Seeing their excitement for me definitely made my day.. and honestly, my mood overall is much better today, too. I’m not feeling so defeated and unworthy of being out here. 

I kept chugging along, views all day long. Close to 12:30, I finally got to the area where the sketchy snow was. I was going to stop and eat lunch, but with the ridge line views, I could see another hiker up ahead and getting close to going up the sketchy section, so I pushed to the bottom of that area to eat, so I could watch the hiker I met this morning go up. She made it look so damn easy that I’m a little annoyed I let it stress me out for so long!

I ate my food, sat awhile, then made my way up. The first several switchbacks up this mountain were normal, steep as hell, but normal dirt and rock. At this one spot with snow to cross, the mountain actually had a little “shelf” or outcropping of regular ground. So, once you started up the steep snow, probably only 40 feet or so, if you fell, you’d only fall to where the snow ends.. you wouldn’t slide off to your death into a frozen lake below-like you would if that little outcropping of dry land wasn’t there! So, seeing that and knowing I’d be ok if I fell, I charged up!

I caught my breath after the snow and then continued climbing. At the top the chain of mountains was just a huge grassy meadow covered in wildflowers. I saw a guy standing up there so I said hi as I went to pass him. He was out SKIING and busted his face, hard! He had blood everywhere and was deciding on heading home or going for another run. There is NOT THAT MUCH SNOW UP HERE TO BE SKIING! It was wild! I’m still shocked! He showed me the marks from the ski runs he and his friends made on the side of the mountain (above the lake) and yall-I don’t know how they’re all not dead! They’re insane!

I said bye and reeling in my shock, I kept moving. I never saw any of his friends. Maybe they did die. Ok, that was morbid, sorry. I’m sure they’re all fine-adrenaline junkies to the extreme. I moseyed about and took pictures of wild flowers and talked to marmots and fussed at butterflies that kept trying to land right under my feet. It was an absolutely beautiful day!

Coming down the back end of that chain of mountains destroyed my right foot though. Not one toe is happy, nor my heel-well, actually-let’s just throw the whole foot away. It was a steep descent for miles and miles. As I was coming down, the person behind me this morning ended up passing me! He’s Swiss and speaks German, and is quiet but quite nice. We ended up leap frogging each other the whole rest of the day, and now we’re camped nearby each other. 

The trail went from alpine beauty to burn scar to mosquito infested forest. There were times i wanted to run to get away from those blood suckers. Once I decided on this spot, my tent was up in 3 minutes flat and me and all my crap have been inside it ever since! I didn’t even open the mesh to cook. I won’t be able to do that in grizzly bear country! Ugh.

Tomorrow is just over 22 miles to get to Grand Lake. Hopefully I can make it all happen and before it gets too late, so maybe I’ll be able to get some chores done before bed, too. I might be pushing it, but the terrain looks much more gentle than the last few days, so fingers crossed I can make it happen. 

Alright, goodnight yall! Pray for me to catch some town legs in the morning!  ooo.. that sentence just made me realize how much I miss TownLegs from the AT. Hmmm. Maybe I’ll text her when I get service! Goodnight everyone!

Start: 1312.4

Stop: 1329.8

Today’s Miles: 17.4

Total CDT miles: 1022.2

Pebbles is officially 16.6 miles ahead of me as of right now! He did keep hiking last night to get to the warming hut, so I started the day off 5 miles behind him. He took the road down and around some of the high elevation today, which put him ahead on trail. He still had to do over 20 miles today, and the way I’ve been-I didn’t think I’d have made it back to trail today if I took the road. I have tons of food, so I stuck to the redline… plus, I know if I passed a motel while feeling as cruddy as I do-I probably would have booked a room. 

The first 5 miles weren’t bad, the initial climb was taxing but not as bad as I was expecting it to be-and it was gorgeous! It did still take me forever though. I definitely wouldn’t have made it to the warming hut before dark last night.

Once I got towards the top of the climb, I started running into day hikers. So many, in fact, I checked my watch to see if it was a Saturday. Nope. Only Tuesday! Gotta love Colorado! I waved and smiled and said hi to everyone, some were chatty, some were on a mission. Especially when I was on my way down and they were heading up! I don’t blame them at all for that.

At the bottom, where the road intersects, I could either go 14 miles down the highway into the town of Winter Park, then figure out from there how to go back up to trail on random roads and attempting to use that app Gaia that I don’t understand, or I could continue on the trail and immediately climb to the top of Mount Flora. My crazy self decided to climb. It was actually one of my better ascents. Maybe it was because of all of the day hikers out there to bear witness, but I made it to the top much faster than I thought I would. 

At the top, you could either start down towards rock switchbacks or head over the mountain traverses to several other peaks. Thankfully, this was not a hard choice at all, because I could literally see the snow piled on all the mountains to my left, and very little snow down the mountain I was standing on top of. Down I went. The rock switchbacks were very well done, to where almost every step was a smooth one, but my feet were aching with the constant downhill for miles. 

Towards the bottom of the descent, there were patches of snow. I traversed one-well, half way before I kicked my own steps in going up hill and cut half of it off to rock scramble the rest of the way around. Everything else I could mostly avoid. I stopped for lunch and realized too late that the only water I had available already had electrolytes in it, so I wouldn’t be able to cook some ramen for a hot lunch. Instead, I sat for about 15 minutes and ate a Kind bar, gagging a little, then kept pushing. 

At the bottom of the valley, I was able to get water, and then start heading back up a tiny bit-going around another mountainside, before descending steeply for another few hours. At 4pm, at the actual valley floor, my feet were fried and I was hungry again, so I sat in the shade of some pine trees and ate a hot meal. I also took some ibuprofen. 

I still had 6.4 miles to go to where I wanted to camp, just on the other side of another huge climb. It was 4.5 miles to the top of that climb, and a little over 2 back down.. I only made it 3 miles up. I got to a stream and decided that this was good enough. Once again, I was concerned about attempting to continue up and getting stuck with fading sun. 

I can see that there is some snow ahead, and the top of the climb is several hundred feet over 13,000. I know I can’t sleep that high, and with my slow pace on these ascents, plus getting a text from Pebbles and knowing there’s no way I’m catching up to him today or tomorrow.. if ever.. I didn’t see the point in suffering up that last 1.5 miles just to be forced to continue coming down to find somewhere to camp in the dark. Plus wouldn’t get to see any of the views. 

It is what it is, and honestly, this spot is pure pristine beauty, so, I’m ok with calling it short, 2 days in a row. Tomorrow, I sincerely hope I make it a bit farther. There’s the significant climb first thing in the morning, and then a steep descent-followed by some ridge walking and meadows. Hopefully I’ll get to at least where Pebbles is tonight, but preferably 4-5 miles past that. From there, there’s some small elevation gain and loss all the way to Grand Lake, the next town I get to stop in.

If I can get 20 miles tomorrow, the following day I could potentially get into Grand Lake by pushing 23 miles, since I’ll be past the big gains and losses. Fingers crossed! That’s my plan anyway. Pebbles thinks he’ll get to Grand Lake on Thursday, too.. but it would be early morning for him I’m sure, compared to my rolling in late-if at all. Otherwise, I’ll get there Friday morning. 

Ok, it sure is cold up here on this exposed mountainside. Time to try my best to warm up and get some sleep. I might even leave earlier in the morning, if I can make myself get up! (I left at 6:20 this morning.) I think the sun will pop up quick way up here, I won’t be in any shadows, so that’s good.. get that climb out of the way! Sweet dreams yall!