Aug 23 - all done

We finished up this morning with a walk through oak/conifer forest in fine weather. Spent the day in Durango with Kent and Shawna (friends of friends) which was a real treat. Great people. There was healthy wind and rain for most of the afternoon, so we consider ourselves lucky that we were indoors watching birds through the window instead of walking through the rain. 

We fly home tomorrow and reunite with the family. 

Aug 22 - almost done

Camped at 476.1, 8 miles from the end. We'll finish this hike Tuesday morning.

Marvelous ridge walk this morning up at 12,000', followed by a long descent through thick steep forests. We were off the ridge before the thunder, and happy about that. Less than optimal campsite, but the options are limited due to very steep and heavily vegetated terrain.

Healthy, happy, tired.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=37.366650,-107.966928(I+Am+Here+Monday+August+22+2016+07:18+PM)&iwloc=A&z=11

Aug 21 - more nice trail and flowers

Camped at mile 455.8, nice forested site on top of an open forested ridge.

More great flower displays. Quite a few people out enjoying weekend day hikes and bike rides (same true yesterday). Terrific walking on top of forested (live spruce trees) ridge with big views of rolling mountains and flowery hillsides.

Sun in morning. 100% clouds with some light rain and a fair bit of thunder after lunch.

Happy and healthy and tucked into our little tent, warm and dry while the clouds blow around outside.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=37.527380,-108.032701(I+Am+Here+Sunday+August+21+2016+07:28+PM)&iwloc=A&z=11

Aug 20 - Flowers and Live Spruces

It's easy to be happy when the sun shines all day long.

Camped at 435.7, a 5-star dry campsite a bit off the trail. MCF James found another great campsite.

Flowers have been great, particularly this last week in the San Juan Range. Past their peak but still great.

I don't think I mentioned that for most of this hike the conifers, particularly the spruces, have been dead dead dead. Mountain after mountain of completely dead forests. Beetles. Down here they are still alive, and it is a very nice scene indeed.

We are healthy, happy, dry, and enjoying the scenery.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=37.706434,-107.960627(I+Am+Here+Saturday+August+20+2016+06:55+PM)&iwloc=A&z=11

Aug 19 - Picked up by the sheriff

Camped at 416.7, a great site with a view and three folding chairs. Pretty sure the chairs are associated with the shepherd camped a half mile away. 

The shepherd tends a huge flock of sheep, with one herding dog and several huge white guardian dogs. The guardian dogs look like those we saw in Spain, although this shepherd is Peruvian. We wonder how it all works - is the owner of the sheep required to try to hire an American before being allowed to hire an immigrant? "Wanted:  shepherd with appropriate dogs skilled at managing 500 sheep in the mountains, 11000-13000' elevation, no trails, live in tent. 7x24 for three months, no time off."  And when no Americans apply, and the owner wants to get a work visa for a Peruvian, does the owner also manage the immigration quarantine process for the dogs?  Because it's not just any old Willie or Ruby that would work this hard and with such skill. And does that sheep owner also vote for Trump, because immigrants are stealing jobs and causing trouble? I promise nobody in the state of Colorado is working harder for less pay than this shepherd and his dogs. 

About our day...  Arrived at Molas Lake Campground store mid morning. Got our package, ice cream, showers. Quick easy hitch to Silverton. Burgers for lunch, groceries, more ice cream.  Stick out our thumbs to return to trail, and the sheriff pulled over. You look like you could use a ride back to the trail. You betcha. Jim rode in the cage. The sheriff released him when I said I needed him to return home to finish rebuilding our kitchen. 

We returned to the trail and ran into The Ladies (Kathleen and Mary, from the yurt) and John (a nice young fellow we've been leapfrogging). John woke up yesterday morning to find four moose standing around his tent; glad it wasn't us.  It's fun to be traveling at the same pace as a handful of other nice people. 

First and only American Dipper of the trip. We hadn't even seen Dipper poop on rocks in streams before today. 

No rain, mostly sun, good scenery, nice day. Healthy, happy, clean, dry, well-fed. 

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=37.769710,-107.752829(I+Am+Here+Friday+August+19+2016+08:15+PM)&iwloc=A&z=11

Aug 18 - 2 more Weasels

Two more weasels. I am in love with that mammal. And a porcupine in camp!

For the past few days we've been above 12,000 feet in a very beautiful alpine landscape above treeline. This stretch since San Luis Peak has been by far the best walking of the trail. 

This afternoon we descended and are now back in the trees.  Mostly cloudy morning. Light steady rain all afternoon, no thunder. 

We met Reed at the laundromat in Lake City, visited with him for a while in the yurt a couple days ago, camped a half mile from him last night, and we are sharing a site with him again tonight. He's a nice fellow. Very normal. He's not like Happy Motormouth who we met today, or Disgruntled Motormouth from a week ago. 

Camped at 401.1, east end of a meadow in a nice looking gorge. Tomorrow we get a package at the Molas Lake Campground, and may hitch to Silverton for a hot meal.  I think we'll arrive in Durango sometime on Aug 23. 

Happy and healthy. 

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=37.723942,-107.592249(I+Am+Here+Thursday+August+18+2016+07:55+PM)&iwloc=A&z=11

Aug 17 - 5-star cloud show

Mostly cloudy all day. At about 3:00 when it turned slate grey and started to thunder we descended off the ridge and set up the tent. We stayed warm and dry while the rain and sleet fell. About 90 minutes later we packed up and walked to a nicer campsite.

Great site with 360 degree mountains and meadows. Thick low dense clouds and fog boiling around on three sides, mostly sunny to the south. A terrific cloud show, fog like the Bay Area, but with cumulus clouds in the mix. Too cold to eat outside, but we had fine views from inside.

Second Swainson's Hawk of the trip, this time perched at the top of a nearby tree.

We are happy and healthy and warm and snug in our little nest.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=37.846128,-107.485967(I+Am+Here+Wednesday+August+17+2016+07:31+PM)&iwloc=A&z=11

Aug 16 - Greasy Spoon and a yurt

Busy day. Laundromat, 5-star bakery, grocery, local gave us a lift to the best greasy spoon for bacon and eggs, then we hitched back to trailhead.

Beautiful open scenery and easy walking. But then the rain and threat of lightning settled in. We stopped at the Mountain Club yurt to relax and stay dry. Ate dinner and stayed a few hours. Very nice visiting with hikers Kathleen, Mary, and Reed (all normal socially well adjusted friendly and interesting). Wood stove kept us warm and happy. The surrounding mountains are now covered with a dusting of snow.

Storm broke and we set up our tent at a flat spot a few hundred yards away. Everyone will sleep better if there aren't five in the little yurt.

We're happy, healthy, well fed, clean, dry, and looking forward to what is reported to be a beautiful stretch ahead.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=37.913579,-107.290800(I+Am+Here+Tuesday+August+16+2016+08:06+PM)&iwloc=A&z=11

Aug 15 - Lake City

Left trail at the road at 357.4. Hitch to Lake City. Dinner, ice cream. Tent in the yard at the Raven's Rest Hostel.

Best walking day yet. Great mountain scenery. Loved Snow Mesa, all flowers; no grazing or jeep tracks. Clouds but no rain.

Forecast for next few days not so good.

Really tired. Healthy, happy, well fed, clean.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=38.028019,-107.316780(I+Am+Here+Monday+August+15+2016+10:15+PM)&iwloc=A&z=11

Aug 14 - San Luis Peak

5 star camp, first of trip. Mile 338.9

Five star weather.

Climbed, via trail, San Luis Peak (14,014) for sunset. Returned by moonlight. 3 hours RT from tent. All good.

Happy and healthy and tired. Nighty night.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=37.969646,-106.927772(I+Am+Here+Sunday+August+14+2016+09:53+PM)&iwloc=A&z=11

Aug 13 - obsessions

Camped at 321.6, in a clearing in Aspen forest on a saddle. Nice place. Easy walking all day through cattle country at 9500-10,000 feet elevation, plus or minus. Wide open spaces and big wide views. This is the first day of open pastures, and It was very nice to have the change of scenery,

Watched a Goshawk hunting!

Spent ten minutes listening to Mr. Yackity-Yack. Wow, interesting tale but it took half an hour to let our ears recover!

We also spent time chatting with the husband of S. Huss. She is attempting a Fastest Known Time for a female, supported, on the CDT. Her goal was 50 miles per day for ten days. She finished yesterday 0.25 miles behind us (we didn't know it) after six days and 298 miles. But yesterday was a rough day and today she was not up to snuff. She passed us at 6:30pm still shy of 25 miles for the day. She has a pacer today, fresh and cheerful. She looks like a zombie stumbling around. Her husband meets her at every road crossing with an SUV full of stuff. And a friend with a jeep can intercept her on jeep tracks when necessary. Quite an ordeal. And quite an obsession. Only Tim H. would understand such crazy behavior.

We are happy and healthy, enjoying fine weather, and we do not look like stumbling zombies.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=38.097024,-106.761546(I+Am+Here+Saturday+August+13+2016+07:38+PM)&iwloc=A&z=11

Aug 12 - an odd pair

Camped at 298.6, top of a ridge with view to east of the valley that contains Great Sand Dunes NM. We can see distant dunes. Nice view. 

50 hours of pleasant weather. 

We're chatting with 5-10 other backpackers each day, which is generally very fun. Today's selection included:

A young South African couple thru-cycling the CT. 

A man we call Mr Blah Blah Blah (whole life story in 3 minutes without a pause) who retired from 30 years in USAF and now does PR for AF Academy. He has been hiking partners for two weeks now with a young Dutch woman. She could hold a bidirectional conversation. They made an odd pair, but seemed to be happy to not be traveling alone.  Thru-hiking the CT. 

A friendly Brit thru-hiking the whole CDT SoBo with an ultralight kit. He had time for brief chat when he learned that we had hiked the Cape Wrath Trail in Scotland; perhaps we are the only Americans he has met who even know the route exists. 

A woman we call Metal Face due to the number of ornaments on her lips, tongue, ears, nose, eyebrows.  Thru-hiking the CT. Not very talkative. 

A normal seeming gent hiking the CT NoBo. 

We are happy and healthy. 

Aug 11 - great weather day

Camped at 278.4. There was a + five mile adjustment to walked trail mileage when we merged with the CT eastern alternate. Campsite next to Seven Tank Creek.

Many bicycles on the famous Monarch Crest Run. The get hauled up to Monarch Pass in a truck and then ride 20 miles more or less on trails back down towards Salida. All were polite.

Two jackasses on motorbikes on the single track trail CDT/CT going way too fast. Jerks.

No rain for the past 26 hours! Great weather day, neither got nor cold.

Goshawk!

Met a pair of women thru-hikers supported by husband in an RV. They said he's an extrovert and making friends at all the camps. I think we've crossed a road very day this trip. Some are just jeep roads, but usually a graded dirt or paved road (or two) every day. This is not really a backcountry hike, but it's great if you have a patient spouse with an RV.

We ate lunch at Marshall Pass, very near to where we ate lunch on our GDMBR bike ride. We were hoping to chat with a GDMBR rider passing while we ate, but no such luck.

We are happy and healthy.

Aug 10 - just past half-way point

Camped at 261.5. Top of a hill behind the Monarch Crest Store. Nice campsite. We had a resupply package at the store, so we moved our little fannies along at a rapid clip to get there before their 6PM closing, only to find that they closed at 8PM. Super friendly family run store. Bacon and egg sandwiches and ice cream for dinner.

It rained gently with very strong winds for the last couple hours approaching the store, so we were happy to have a warm dry place to spread out our stuff.

Up there with the best scenery of the trip today, including a multi-mile stretch of open ridge.

We saw another weasel and another big boy moose, not together. Excellent.

Happy and healthy.

Aug 9 - finally a Rosy Finch

Camped on an old rail bed (photo). Mile 240. Dinner with a nice young man thru-hiking (the first thru hiker we have met in a week) the CT, his first multi-night backpacking trip.

Left trail today for 6 miles to hike on top of the adjacent ridge. Three 13,000 foot+ summits. Good views. No thunderstorms. Felt like we were in the mountains.

And finally saw Brown-capped Rosy Finches, a life bird. Only saw them above 13,000 feet.

At camp we watched a weasel hunting for five minutes in nearby hillside. We've only seen weasels a few times, so this was a big deal for us. Lithe, beautiful, fast-moving, alert, stunning little fellow. Nothing like our bear Weasel.

We are happy and healthy.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=38.649937,-106.404771(I+Am+Here+Tuesday+August+9+2016+08:39+PM)&iwloc=A&z=11

Aug 8 - Rusty the Couch

Stopped early because the next stretch is all on exposed ridge where camping is not safe in thunderstormy mountains like these.

Nice scenery and nice camp. Mile 220.4.

Crossed Cottonwood Pass at the busy vista point parking lot. Van from Tennessee with four women, one man, two dogs, and Rusty the Couch. And a table with marshmallows and adult beverages. Quite a hoot!

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=38.811367,-106.416300(I+Am+Here+Monday+August+8+2016+06:15+PM)&iwloc=A&z=11

Aug 7 - Jim climbs Quail Mountain

Conserving battery so short posts and no photos.
This morning Jim climbed Quail Mountain, 13461 feet, from Hope Pass. No quail were observed.
Great weather. Nice socializing. Happy healthy and going to sleep.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=38.891558,-106.468178(I+Am+Here+Sunday+August+7+2016+08:52+PM)&iwloc=A&z=11

Aug 6 - love notes

Nicest camp so far at mile 189.6, about 12,000 feet at tree line, next to a small lake. View of the distant town of Leadville.

Stopped at Twin Lakes store for a resupply package. Lunch at a food truck parked at the gift shop. Hummingbird feeders with dozens of zooming hummers. Fun.

Near Twin Lakes the CT splits for a hundred miles or so. We're taking the west route. The official routing takes a long loop around the east end of a reservoir which seemed dumb to us. So we took a shortcut by wading across an easy knee deep river. That took us directly to the Western alternate and cut out 5 or 7 miles of pretty pointless trail near the road and reservoir.

Weather was glorious. Clouds in the morning but not low grey socked in clouds. No rain. Mostly sunny afternoon. All our stuff is dried out. We even ate dinner outside.

Jim left a little love note for me on the trail today. Sweet. We are healthy and happy.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=39.027623,-106.403471(I+Am+Here+Saturday+August+6+2016+08:01+PM)&iwloc=A&z=11

Aug 5 - Doing Miles

Some days you just do miles. Socked in with low hanging clouds all day. In forest all day. Tim says this piece is his favorite part of Colorado. Maybe there were views of the adjacent big mountains, but we just saw grey. Rain from noon until 7pm. Only 8 species of birds today, a new record low.

Camped at 165.4

We have considered climbing Mt. Elbert tomorrow; it is one of the 14'ers near the Colorado Trail, but the weather doesn't look very promising.

We are healthy, happy, and now warm and dry after a cool wet day.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=39.189524,-106.428313(I+Am+Here+Friday+August+5+2016+07:35+PM)&iwloc=A&z=11

Aug 4 - I love Minnesota

Camped at 145.2, in the woods next to a creek. Very light rain all day. All clouds. No wind.

Early this morning, at 12,000+ feet, while watching mama Ptarmigan with 6 adorable foraging chicks, a Pika worked his way over to Jim's shoe, climbed on top, looked around, and retreated. A minute later Pika came back, climbed up on the shoe and stated nibbling on Jim's pants, which Jim told him was not allowed. Pika retreated again. Then returned again, climbed on the shoe and looked around again. Adorable little creature. In Australia an Echidna took refuge between Jim's boots, hiding from scary things. Pika reminded us of Echidna, but Pika appeared fearless whereas Echidna was very wary and tucking into that safe hidden space between the boots.

Trying to hitch a ride to Leadville on Highway 24, several dozen cars and trucks went past. This is not Vermont, where rarely a car went by without stopping. And certainly not Turkey, where cars stopped to offer a ride even when we weren't trying to hitch. After about 15 minutes hitching, a lady stopped. Minnesota plates. Ah, make no mistake, Minnesotans are nice people. You betcha. All those Coloradans sped past, but grandma from Minnesota with her Leadville grandson gave us a lift. Apparently nobody told her that it's not safe for an old lady and a ten year old to let strangers into the car.

The laundromat in Leadville has coin-operated showers. Brilliant. We met an interesting hiker there, scruffy looking fellow with what appeared to be a disorganized collection of gear. He's walking the Colorado Trail from Denver to Salida to attend his 50th high school reunion! He lives in Georgia now, where he's a professor of Computer Science. Don't judge a book by its cover and all that. And a thought about laundromats, if you feel like you've lost touch with working-class America, you should start washing your clothes at a laundromat instead of in the privacy of your home. It's a good place to meet folks.

The pizza joint Tim recommended was in the heart of town, and we were at the laundromat and the next door Safeway a rainy mile away. That mile seemed a long walk given the rain, so we resorted to our old standard from Safeway: a roasted chicken, a bag of salad mix, and a pint of ice cream.

Hitching back to the trailhead again took several dozen cars and 15 minutes, in light rain. One truck zoomed past, passenger window rolled down and a young man screaming something at us. I believe he called us faggots, but not certain. Eventually I took off my Tilley hat, hoping my grey hair would give someone confidence that we were non-threatening. A couple cars later a woman of Jim's vintage stopped. She confirmed it was the grey-haired-lady image that did the trick! So now I know to show my head of hair while hitching.

We are happy and healthy, well fed, clean, and listening to raindrops on the tent.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=39.351994,-106.350091(I+Am+Here+Thursday+August+4+2016+07:16+PM)&iwloc=A&z=11

Aug 3 - Mini-golf at Copper Mountain

We stopped at Copper Mountain ski resort, on trail, for lunch. Great beef brisket at JJs. And they have mini-golf! I played many rounds last week at the family reunion at the YMCA, but we walked right by this one. Mini-golf brings back fond childhood memories of courses in farmyards in Wisconsin.

Very very quiet all trip on the bird front. They have finished nesting, so no singing. Jim did see a Pine Grosbeak, which we have seen maybe twice before, so he was quite happy about that.

More easygoing trail today but with a healthy dose of altitude gain. We crossed two 12,000 foot passes. More good weather. And yet another day with evening showers, so dinner in the tent again. Camped at mile 127.1, at 12,000 feet, in a nice alpine site with mostly great views, excepting the big mine across the valley. Lots of wildflowers today.

Today we met "Supper Club", "Squeaks", and "Sneezer". So far, we have declined to take trail names.

We are happy, healthy, well fed, and tired.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=39.456850,-106.230223(I+Am+Here+Wednesday+August+3+2016+07:03+PM)&iwloc=A&z=11

Aug 2 - a bit of Austria, and Frisco too

Camped at mile 108.8. Rained lightly from 6:30 to about 7:30 pm. We tried eating dinner outside since the mosquitos were not too bad, but the rain chased us in. Other than the brief shower we had great weather.

We saw three Moose!! Very near the trail just before camp. Big boys. Like Bullwinkle!

The scenery was again OK but not special. We are in the ski town sprawl area of Silverthorne/Dillon/Frisco/Breckenridge. We passed through here on our GDMBR bike trip and didn't like the joint much then either. Towns whose raison d'etre is tourism are rarely as satisfying as a town like Guttenburg Iowa (one of our best Mississippi River stops).

Frisco did, however, have everything we needed. There's a bus stop where the trail crosses the highway, with a free bus every 30 minutes to Frisco. We rode to the Walmart where we bought a new SD card for the camera. Then across the street to a Whole Foods for the salad bar. An easy but not interesting town stop.

We encountered a pair of gnomes on the trail, which was a mere hint of the OTT (Over The Top) gardens in Austria. However, these were the first gnomes we have ever encountered in the American mountains.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=39.531685,-106.090597(I+Am+Here+Tuesday+August+2+2016+06:54+PM)&iwloc=A&z=11

Aug 1 - met a Trump supporter

We went into the crossroad community of Jefferson this morning to get our resupply package. Drank tea and ate donuts. A cranky old white man came in for his morning coffee. He told us we needed to carry a gun because there are Mountain Lions in Colorado.  I told him that I'm more afraid of men than lions. Especially drunk men. And extra especially drunk men with guns. He was having none of it. After we left Jim said that he thought of mentioning that more Americans will be killed today by guns than have been killed by mountain lions in the last 300 years. But the man had a Trump cap on, and that was enough evidence that he does not make rational decisions that Jim chose to keep quiet.  That man is the first I have ever met that to my knowledge is a Trump supporter. I live in a bubble. A really nice bubble. 

Jim read the summary of the TV show South Park last night, since we were in the area. The racist kid on the show sounded like Donald Trump. 

Trail was easygoing, weather great, scenery good but not yet great.  We are now walking the same route as the Continental Divide Trail, so maybe we will cross paths with some NOBO CDT hikers. We are happy and healthy. 

Camped at mile 89.8, in the woods. Quiet. 

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=39.500884,-105.938543(I+Am+Here+Monday+August+1+2016+08:24+PM)&iwloc=A&z=11

July31 - we're in South Park

If you're following our SPOT track (link is in July 22 post) please remember a few things. Absence of data means our device has died. It does not mean we have a problem (we've had two dead SPOTs). And, if there is a SPOT message asking for help you can ignore it (unless you are Steve or Alan). My brother Steve and our friend AlanD know the protocols for what the messages mean.

Camped at mile 68.5 after 3 1/2 days of walking. Pretty consistent with our usual pace when we are on trail with excellent tread, i.e. trail that doesn't require careful footing. So far the trail has been excellent, well marked, well maintained, and well used. Very easy walking. Average gain is 200 feet per mile (and average loss of 200' per mile too). At this pace we'll finish the 485 mile trail in about 25 days. But we think we'll be out ~30 days plus or minus a few. We have not yet reached high mountains, and when we do we may take side trips. Also we'll have a half dozen town stops to slow us down -- for pizza, laundry, showers, and groceries.

Scenery so far is enjoyable but not grand. We think we'll reach grandeur in about a week. Today is Sunday, tomorrow morning we'll hitch to Jefferson for resupply.

The forecast today included rain, which didn't materialize until about 6:30 (raining now as I type from the comfort of our little nest). We had hoped to hike a ten mile ridge top alternate, at 12000 feet, above tree line. But ten miles off-trail, on top of a ridge, with thunderstorms forecast from noon to 7:00 -- that's not prudent. Our safety bears would not approve of that plan, so we stayed on the trail instead.

We are healthy and happy.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=39.382336,-105.727608(I+Am+Here+Sunday+July+31+2016+06:29+PM)&iwloc=A&z=11

July 30 - first rain

Thunderstorm, no wind, started this evening after we set up camp. Dinner inside. Rain and mosquitos outside.

We believe 10-15 thru-hikers start in Denver each day during the peak season. There were 9 of us at the camp the first night. Since then we haven't seen anybody heading to Durango. We met a solo thru-hiker today walking toward Denver, against the main flow of traffic, and he said he's been seeing ~30 per day for the past ten days.

Lots of bikes in the trail today, it being Saturday.

Our guidebook calls the trail tags "confidence markers". Wow, that's an odd name that sounds like it was specified by a lawyer. The tag in the photo is being eaten alive.

We are happy and healthy. Camped at mile 48.0 above 10000' at the edge of a meadow. First Clark's Nutcracker of the trip; and a couple of American Three-toed Woodpeckers.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=39.304881,-105.492950(I+Am+Here+Saturday+July+30+2016+07:37+PM)&iwloc=A&z=11