Day ??? Saturday September 26 I am alone now, and as such will resume daily blogging, at least for the time being. I will likely be alone for
about 10 days, with the plan to meet up with Veggie in Chama, NM. I got to Salida yesterday afternoon, after a kind couple, Jake and Tracy, picked me up at Monarch Pass. They are Salida locals and had me half convinced to move to Salida by the end of the car trip. I was able to get all of my chores done yesterday, and Tracy drove me back to the trailhead this morning. I hiked around 19 miles; shoulders hurt. There were about 200 mountain bikers on this sunny Saturday, which was annoying. Ah well… Sunday September 27 Hiked about 20 miles today. This is an area called the “Cochetopa Hills”, which is pretty much just a lot of rolling, wooded….hills. It reminds me of a combination of Montana, and the rocks of Pennsylvania on the AT. Meh. I got spoiled by the Collegiate Range to the north, which was harder, but with spectacular views every day. Met a couple of CT hikers, and there were a few dirt bikers out for the day. Not feeling so well tonight….hopefully it’s just exhaustion. Monday September 28 It was a windy night last night, and I didn’t sleep well as a result. But, I got up about 5:30 and was hiking by 6:45. These days the sun doesn’t rise until about 7, and it sets at 7. To get miles, a headlamp is required at one or both ends. It was a hot, sunny day. The trail stayed pretty low for Colorado, 10 to 11 thousand feet. In the afternoon I saw Andy, and Dufrane. Andy and Leia live in Gunnison, which is just the other side of Salida. They had taken a few days off to go home. I hiked with Dufrane for most of the afternoon, which was amusing. Tomorrow only 20 miles to San Luis Pass and the Creede Cutoff. Tuesday September 29 Hiked kind of a short day… I felt tired and out of it for a lot of the day for some reason. In the evening, a few thunderstorms rolled in, so I avoided going all the way up to San Luis Pass because it was very exposed up on the ridge line. I camped in a high meadow at about 12,100 feet. It was a lot of tall grass, and something ran under my tent at about 2:30 am, probably a gopher or field mouse. Hard to go to sleep after that. Wednesday September 30 Got up relatively early and hiked down to San Luis Pass, then started the Creede route. It followed a trail briefly, then a dirt road all the way into town. The road went by all of these huge, wooden historical mining structures from the 1900s. Fascinating. Got into town at about 2 pm, in a pouring rain. Decided to stay the night in a motel, one of the three in this tiny town. Thursday October 1 I got up and got moving by about 7:30. Creede is nice in that the alternate route goes directly through the town; no hitch hiking required. The route was a road for a couple of miles, then it picked up a series of pretty nice trails. It was lower than the CDT generally stays, winding among creeks and brilliant yellow aspen stands. Beautiful. Only saw one person all day–a local woman who was out fly fishing with her husband. Camped along a creek, listening to an elk family calling to each other. They walked by maybe 40 feet away on the other side of the creek–the buck with his huge antlers, the doe, and 2 babies. Friday October 2 Hiked about 20 miles today to Wolf Creek Pass. The final 2.8 miles of the Creede alternate were terrible–essentially 2000 feet of elevation gain, no discernible trail, bushwhacking over thousands of downed trees and rotting logs. It took me 3 hours, which was frustrating, but then I was back on the CDT. Weather started to blow in, and it became extremely windy and pea-sized hail started to pummel me. But, it came and went, so I kept moving. I have my winter gear now, so storms aren’t quite as big of a deal as they were in July. Got down to the pass about 7 pm and set up camp; it started to hail again, but happily I was already in my tent and giant 3 pound sleeping bag. Saturday October 3 Chilly, sunny, windy day. I had cell reception, and received a text from Veggie that she and ED, Crosby, and Memphis were just behind me. They had taken the day before off in town and I managed to get ahead of them by a few hours. I walked 17 miles to Iron Creek and camped early, at 4:30, and made a campfire. Then, just as it was getting dark, I heard a very familiar sound–“cooooWEE!” It is our signal to each other in the woods when we want to find out where someone is. I called back and heard ED say “yah!!” They all got down to the campsite, and many big hugs were exchanged. I haven’t seen them in 2 months, since Old Faithful. It is astounding and wonderful to see trail friends that you start with, a thousand miles later in the same trail. We sat up around the fire, talking into the night. I slept more deeply than I have in many weeks. Sunday October 4 Woke up and was moving at 5:30, as I have been in the habit of doing lately. Was ready to start walking at 7….when I realized no one else was even remotely close to being ready to go. I had a good laugh, and the others teased me a lot, because I was never that motivated in Montana. The weather was not good–a combination of intermittent snow and hail. Veggie found a dirt road route that helped us avoid being on exposed ridge line in the bad weather. We walked until late in the afternoon, and came upon the tiny town of Platoro, Colorado, which had a lodge and RV park. The folks who owned Gold Pan RV park were extremely hiker friendly. They invited us into the lodge to warm up next to the wood stove, which was heavenly. We decided to stay for dinner, which turned into spending the night in their primitive log cabin, which had a tv with VHS. We watched a Cohen Brothers movie while the sleet pounded on the roof. Life is wonderful. Monday October 5 The owner of the lodge drove us to the trailhead in the morning. It was another cold, wet day. We pushed on through, and the weather was manageable, and the trail was high and incredibly beautiful. Only a few more days of mountains. It surely does seem like the mountains are telling us our time is running out. Memphis found a great campsite for us in the evening, near Dipping Lakes. We had a huge campfire in the evening despite the continued rain. Tuesday October 6 We woke to snow on the surrounding peaks, and on the ridge. It was pristine and beautiful in the morning light. However, I am glad that we are almost out of the high elevation hiking. We just clipped twelve thousand feet and then headed down towards Cumbres Pass. It was warm and sunny as we lost elevation. We got to Cumbres Pass in the afternoon, about 2, and attempted to hitch a ride into Chama, New Mexico to resupply. No one would pick us up, but then after about an hour, a tour bus miraculously pulled over and let us in. We kind of became part of the tour for the folks who had paid for that bus trip, and the train ride up to Cumbres Pass. We told them about our hike and answered questions. It’s a funny experience when you are in a touristy area, and you become part of the tourist attraction, simply by doing what you are doing, and being where you are. We got to Chama and stayed at the Y Motel, which is very hiker friendly. Veggie helped me brush my one dreadlock out of my hair, which took hours. I hadn’t brushed my hair since Grand Lake. The three of us stayed up until midnight, talking. It’s hard to describe how wonderful it is to be with my friends again. Wednesday October 7 We left town about noon. The weather continues to be somewhat stormy. We decided to take the roadwalk from Chama to Ghost Ranch, in order to stay lower during the storms. My left hip flexor is hurting; hopefully that resolves itself.