It’s time to get back on the trail again after a relaxing zero day in Salida. We grab one last quick shower and dash off to the Little Red Hen Bakery to grab coffee and a breakfast sandwich. My eyes are bigger than my stomach, and I can’t resist trying the cinnamon roll and a French roll as well. When will I ever learn? (more…)
Zero Days are some of the most anticipated days for any thru-hiker. They offer a chance to step off the trail, sleep in a real bed, eat some real food, get clean and take care of all the little chores that build up while spending a week in the woods. The only problem with town days is that they are always way too short. We never have time to do everything we want, and so it was in Salida. (more…)
We set the alarm a little early this morning (4:30), so we can break camp and hit the trail early. We are eager to get to Salida for a couple of nights of R&R, but we still have 9 miles to cover as the data book told us that Hunt Lake was the last viable camping spot with water before reaching Monarch Pass. (more…)
We wake up in our trailside camp at 5 am. We only have eleven miles to go today, but it’s Saturday and we want to break camp before the weekenders start coming through. Even though it is still dark, it feels much warmer this morning than we are used to, so we decide to start out the day hiking in shorts. It seems a little risky, but we are getting more tolerant of the cold after three weeks of being on the trail. (more…)
It feels so good to slow down and take it easy. That’s what summer vacations are all about. Yet, even on a 490 mile-long hike that we carefully planned to complete over a leisurely 42 days, it’s easy to get caught up in the get-up-and-go mindset that we associate with our everyday work lives back home. (more…)
Today is said to be the most beautiful section of the Collegiate West Wilderness. We will be entering Segment CW3 at Cottonwood Pass, and we will spend almost the entire day above treeline. With so many miles of exposure, it is important that we hit the trail early in case the weather turns on us in the afternoon. So, when the alarm goes off at 5 am, we don’t dawdle. (more…)
Our third day in the Collegiate West is similar in many ways to yesterday. We woke up and immediately crossed a beautiful high mountain pass as our first challenge of the day. We spent much of the day descending and hiking flat only to end it with another 1000 foot climb into camp. And, just like yesterday, we spied another moose along the way, this one a lone female grazing in the shallows of a beaver pond only 50 feet away! Lightning, so to speak, really does strike twice. (more…)
Our tent site has the pleasant sound of a creek rushing nearby, and, with the long day of hiking yesterday and the crazy thunderstorm, we both have the best night of sleep so far on the trail. That’s probably a blessing because we have a challenging day in store starting with a big ascent over Hope Pass followed by a long descent and then a final climb to Lake Ann. It’s our first full day in the Collegiates, and we are anxious to see if they are any more challenging than what we have experienced so far. (more…)
After a very enjoyable zero day in the Twin Lakes/Leadville area, with our time split between watching the World Cup Final (France beat Croatia 4–2), taking care of laundry, lunch in Leadville and celebrating Alison’s birthday, it’s time to hit the trail again and begin the Collegiate West segment ending in Salida. Thru hikers on the CT have the option of taking the original Collegiate East route or the more rugged Collegiate West route shared by thru hikers on the CDT. Some folks even string the two together to form the Collegiate Loop. We don’t have time for that, so we’ve chosen to tackle the Collegiate West, as we hear it is more scenic, and we feel up for the challenge, especially after a pleasant rest day. (more…)
Take A Hike Photography 