Tag: hiking

Start: 1209.8

Stop: Silverthorne Alternate 3.5

Today’s Miles: 18

Total CDT miles: 956.3

It got pretty cold overnight, and because of that-I slept pretty great. I mean, I still wake every few hours, to toss and turn, but I think it was some solid sleep. Plus the creek rushing beside us was quite perfect for some white noise. 

I got up before Pebbles, which never happens. While I was coming back from peeing, planning to warm up in my quilt before packing, a crazy squirrel went full Rambo and woke Pebbles up. He was chittering real loud and running around him. It was pretty amusing.

We left together around 7am, and I didn’t see him again until almost 3pm. I mean, I saw him walking ahead of me for maybe the first 30 minutes, but for some reason, I’m really struggling with any kind of elevation.. these uphills have me heaving so hard I’m shocked I’m alive. I sound like I’m seconds from keeling over. It’s pathetic.

As frustrating as my slowness is, the views today might have been my favorite on trail so far. It was magical. We climbed up and out of the tree line to stunning passes with marmots running around in the rocks and meadows, snow melting and the fresh water streaming down the mountainsides. I felt like I was in a fairytale. Well, a fairytale with a shit ton of day hikers and mountain bikers.. ha!

Every 5-10 minutes there was someone coming along, sometimes 5-10 someones on bikes causing me to jump of trail to avoid a collision. I will say, every single person was friendly. I got to pet some real cute doggos, including one that then left her mom and followed me downhill for a good 5 minutes before I realized it and had to help get her back to her mom! She was a sweet, old black lab, and she knew I was going the easier route and it was hysterical!

I made it down into the Copper Mountain Resort and was shell shocked at all the people! It was a packed little resort “town” and people were flat out everywhere! I kept walking until I finally reached the coffee shop Pebbles was sitting in, which was connected to a gas station. Sadly, I had to go buy tampons at the gas station and make a bathroom pit stop (maybe this is why I’m struggling so hard?). By the time I got to Pebbles, the coffee shop closed. I went back to the gas station and got a hot dog, soda, and chips. 

The coffee shop guy let us sit inside while he cleaned up for the day. Then he gave us a free croissant, which was super sweet. We hung out a while, I ate my food, Pebbles ate the croissant. Eventually, we started walking again. Now, we’re on the Silverthorne Alternate.

We hiked in 2 miles, and it’s cold. I’m in my new hoodie and my down puffy. Pebbles chatted on the phone with his friends for a bit, I think they really boosted his morale. I booked a motel for tomorrow and the next night. We’re getting to Silverthorne way faster than planned, and we can’t hike past there because we’ve already arranged for our packs to be held by a trail angel, and he’s going to drive us to our bus in Frisco on July 1st so we can get to Denver for our flight out on July 2nd. All this extra time and we don’t know what to do with it! But when we get back, it’ll be all business as we try to get the miles in to finish on time. 

So much to think about. But either way, I’m getting to that motel tomorrow. I don’t think in my current predicament that I want to be sleeping on trail to save a little money. Lord knows I’d want a motel even if I wasn’t cramping and feeling like crap!  Pebbles isn’t too thrilled, I think he’s crazy. That’s ok though. Especially since he mentioned it’s supposed to rain the next few days too. 

Time for bed! Goodnight! 

Start: Leadville 

Stop: 1209.8 

Today’s Miles: 17.6

Total CDT miles: 938.3

I slept like crap, constantly feeling like I couldn’t catch my breath and like I was suffocating. It’s probably the elevation mixed with a little panic, but man I don’t like it. I had to keep telling myself to take slow, deep breaths, talking to myself like I talk to some of my patients struggling to catch their breath. Leadville is the highest elevation city in the US at over 10,000 feet-but still, I’ve been way higher than this before. It’s frustrating for sure.

I woke up a little after 7am, wishing I could drift back to sleep, since I seem to get my best sleep in the few hours before being required to wake up. Pebbles was up, too, and we quietly grabbed our gear and stripped our bunks. I used the bathroom and packed up my stuff, had some coffee and some toast. I weighed myself before eating, too. I’m down roughly 16 pounds since starting. That’s pretty exciting!

We started walking towards the grocery store to resupply by 8am. I didn’t get a whole lot, I still have a ton of food from the last stretch that I didn’t eat thanks to the awesome trail magic we got near Twin Lakes. I did get a pre made sandwich and a drink, and sat outside to eat it while Pebbles finished his shopping. He organized his food while I finished my sandwich, and then we started walking out of Leadville. 

The road walk was scenic, and the clouds helped shield us from the worst of the sun.. which thank God because my face is already peeling from getting burnt the last few days. There were some gorgeous snow studded mountains in the distance and grassy hills with a river running through them up close. To be a highway, it sure was pretty. 

We stopped and ate lunch on the side of the road with some slight shade and the river nearby. I was technically still full from my sandwich, but we weren’t doing many miles today, so sitting and stretching and just not walking felt great. I’m also struggling with a little bit of cramping, so the easier day was a blessing. We probably sat there for well over an hour, if not closer to two. I didn’t mind a bit.

We continued the road walk until it reconnected with the trail, well-a dirt road and then the trail. It was pretty in a wooded kind of way, nothing exceptionally jaw dropping, but pleasant all the same. Minus the guys on motorized dirt bikes whipping around playing loud music at one point. We finally got to where we planned to camp and there was already someone set up there. Then, as we passed them, there was someone else walking ahead of us. Just around the corner from the first spot, we saw more and that’s where we are now. 

It’s wooded with shade and a pretty creek running down below. We’re kind of slanted, but who cares? These days we aren’t very picky. It’s early, barely 6pm and the sun won’t set for another two hours. There’s no point in going farther though, because of the trip home on July 1st.. if we go to fast, we’ll end up passing the spot we plan to get off trail at-which we already have set up: a trail angel to hold our packs and take us into Frisco, our bus tickets from Frisco to Denver, our hotel in Denver the night before our flight home to Atlanta- so I can run the Peachtree Roadrace on July 4th! It really won’t do us any good to push miles and hike past that pick up spot.

So. We’re sitting around, hanging out, a little bored. Who would have thought it was possible? Maybe I’ll go ahead and make my dinner, maybe it’ll help ease my cramps some. Until tomorrow, friends. 

Today’s Miles: ZERO

Total CDT miles: 920.7

I never sleep that great in dorm style rooms, I think I’m just too old for that these days. Although, I will say the bed itself was comfortable. 

I was awake around 8am and Pebbles made us breakfast.. chorizo and egg burritos with cheese, so very yummy. And coffee. Since he did the cooking, I washed the dishes. It’s really not a bad gig. 

A little before 10am, we walked downtown to the Melanzana store. Right when they opened, we were greeted and shown to the appointments side of their storefront. Melanzana makes all of their own outdoor wear-like hoodies and such, right there in the same building. They’ve built up a reputation for quality and exclusivity, only letting you purchase a certain amount of products at a time (2) and by appointment only-which is booked six months out.. unless.. you’re a thru hiker!

They will still let you walk in and shop their overstock without an appointment, sizes and colors not guaranteed. We walked up to the appointments side, had to give our trail names and show pictures of us at the New Mexico and Mexico border, and then we were allowed to shop. I found a teal hoodie I liked, Pebbles found a dark orange one he liked, and we called it good. I wore mine out of the store.. it was a little chilly in the shade. 

We walked around the downtown area, in and out of stores, basically just killing time until this popular pizza spot that Tina and Larry raved about opened. I wasn’t quite hungry for lunch yet, but the place apparently packs out fast and waits can be over an hour sometimes. 

We walked into a gear store, just looking around, when I hear a “PBS?!?” I kid you not, MashedPotato, from the AT, was standing there! He was working at the store, and now lives in Leadville with his girlfriend! It was so wild seeing him, in this cute city of all places, but the more we talked the more it made perfect sense.. he was living in Denver before, so Leadville isn’t a stretch by any means. 

We caught up and he showed Pebbles and I some spots coming up on trail, and we eventually said our goodbyes. I had such a crush on him when I was hiking the AT, it was nice to see him happy and doing so well, to see him in “normal life” even if it did kind of suck to have him see me sunburnt and full on hiker trash. Thankfully, he’s used to hiker life, with Leadville being such an active and cool city.

From the store, we headed to High Mountain Pies. We placed our orders and went to the back patio to anxiously wait for the pizza everyone has been raving about. I got an olive oil based pizza with basil, roasted grapes, feta cheese.. balsamic somewhere in there, too. So good. Pebbles got the carnivore and it looked delicious! I also ordered the focaccia bread, and it was to die for! So damn good. The dough was perfection in every way!

After eating, we made our way over to the Mining Museum, a must stop for Pebbles-with him being a geologist and all. It was four stories of mining and drama. I enjoyed the stories and videos, I think he liked all of it! Ha. I ended up sitting outside when I had seen enough. I like museums, but I tend to be very quick when it’s not something I’m in love with. Pebbles took his time and I think he got a lot of out it.

We walked back to the hostel and I ended up taking a nap, that was sadly ruined by new people checking into our bunk room. Why am I never allowed to have uninterrupted sleep? Eh, when I realized the time, I reminded Pebbles about the bingo night sign we saw earlier-and we ended up walking back downtown to play. 

Pebbles one a round, a whole $5, and out of the trillion games we played, I only came close like twice. It was still a fun time though. I might need to look into bingo at home! Ha! Probably not. Anyway, it was dark when we made it back to the hostel. At 9:30 I finished off my left over pizza and headed to bed. Let’s hope for some decent sleep tonight!