Colorado Trail Day 1: Waterton Canyon to Mile 21.8. 21.8 miles. Exactly a year ago I set off on the PCT. I had to hike 30 miles to tag the terminus and officially start. This time I just took a lyft to the trailhead. The hike out of the canyon was pretty but hot af. Had to wait out my first thunderstorm and then heard another one later that night. Thunderstorm count: 2
Day 2: Mile 21.8 to Mile 47.9. 26.1 miles. These sections were kinda boring tbh. Mostly foresty hiking with some decent climbs. Had to wait out another storm around lunch. Started feeling the miles but felt good to be doing some hiking. Thunderstorm count: 3
Day 3: Mile 47.9 to 76.3. 28.5 miles. Gorgeous and cold morning hiking through a long sweeping valley then up to my first real mountain views. Lots of aspen forests and saw some reindeer!
Day 4: Mile 76.3 to Breckenridge (mile 104.4) 28.1 miles. Hike up to Georgia Pass and my first few patches of snow. Beautiful views of snow capped mountains. Almost got rammed off the pass by some fearless mountain goats. Made it back to Breck where I’m trying to figure out this whole upcoming snow situation ❄️❄️❄️
Day 5: Breckenridge (104.1) to mile 122.2 18.1 miles. Woke up in a fancy hotel in Breck, got a ride to Frisco, resupplied, then got back to the trail. This was the dreaded segment 7 I’ve been anxious about for days. I spent all night reading snow reports, looking at snotel charts, snow overlays, where I could get microspikes, where I could skip to. Turns out it wasn’t that bad. Of course it wasn’t. Nothing is ever as bad as the FB groups make it out to be.
Met up with another hiker on the way to the trail and hiked up with her which helped. The climb up wasn’t too bad, lot of hard packed snow. Avoided a sketchy snow climb by doing a sketchy rock scramble. Then tried to take an alternate route above the hillside snow but eventually ended up back on the postholy trail. There were parts where I did wish I had microspikes but I got past them quickly enough.
The last snow patch was probably the worst, about 15 feet of slick(ish) snow over a very precipitous drop. You gotta do the sketchy stuff to get the good views sometimes.
After that fun, had a steep hike down to a ski resort through a detour that took us literally through the resort. Made it to a couple of creeks where the views were not bad.
Day 6: mile 122.2 to mile 148.4. 26.2 miles. Segment 9 and a longer section of snow. Less sketchy than the day before but felt harder. Climbed a snowy pass then traversed a hillside around 12k to come down another snowy pass. Very slow going. Forded a creek, crossed an explosive hazard field,
had lunch at some abandoned (and probably haunted) bunkers, hiked through another storm, and made camp in the buggiest section of trail so far. Thunderstorm count: 4.
Day 7: mile 148.4 to 174.5. 26.1 miles. Shorter snow section with a few steep climbs. Hiked through the Holy Cross Wilderness which is gorgeous (and buggy). Dropped down to some beautiful valleys then climbed back up. Slogged up some more hot climbs and raced a storm to camp. Thunderstorm count: 5.
Day 8: mile 174.5 to 175.7 (Twin Lakes) + ~7.2 miles out and back to Mt Elbert Summit. 8.4 miles. Woke up early and climbed up to the second highest point in the continental United States nbd. Super steep climb that took ages and wrecked me but worth it for the views and the summit photo. Made it to Twin Lakes where I’m now eating all the food I can and deciding whether to go west or east on the Collegiate Loop.
Day 8, part 2: 177.7 to mile 178.5 + 1.2 mile road walk. 2 miles. Hiked outta town on a road walk and found the first flat spot right before it started to rain yet again.
Day 9: mile 178.5 to 206.6 (Harvard Lakes). 28.1 miles. Went down into a creek then climbed up and up then went back down to another creek then up again. The creeks were cool. Made it to camp by some pretty lakes just in time to set up my tarp and get dumped on while the biggest thunderstorm so far passed by. Thunder is absolutely terrifying yo. Thunderstorm count: 6.
Day 10: mile 206.6 to 233.9. 27.3 miles. Went down to a creek then climbed up and up and then went back down to another creek then up again. Got to an annoying road walk that went through some touristy ranches and hot springs but also through the cutest little valley town. Camped at a saddle with beautiful sunset views of Chalk Mountain.
Day 11: mile 233.9 to 252.9 (Salida). 19 miles. Went through some pretty easy but so hot climbs mostly through forests and a few creeks. Lunch nap by the roaring Arkansas River and then got a quick ride into Salida and the nicest hostel. Now gonna eat a whole pizza and pint of ice cream and sleep so hard.
Day 12: 252.9 to 263.1. 10.2 miles. The most nero nero ever. Slept in until 6am then spent the morning lounging and napping and doing town chores and eating pints of ice cream for breakfast. Eventually got a ride out with @na_diagram and hit the trail. Dirt road walk back up to some proper alpine forest and muddy trail from snow melt. Climbed up a cool little cornice and got into some real shit. After being super underwhelmed by the Collegiate East section, the CT stepped its game up with some amazing views. Cowboy camped near a little wooden shelter, a rarity on this trail, and watched a gorgeous mountain sunset.
Day 13: 263.1to 293.2. 30.1 miles. First half of the day was super easy cruisy hike up to Marshall Pass and some fantastic views of Monarch Crest. Lunch at a creek, last water source for a while. Options were to stop at 25 and hike a half mile to a lake or make it to a creek 5 miles down. Decided to shoot for the creek which meant a long 14 mile dry stretch I did not have enough water for. After leaving the creek, saw so many cows! Climbs weren’t too bad but doing them in the hottest part of the day while rationing water was not a great idea. Managed to make it to the creek, a buggy, cow pie-riddled muddy site.
Day 14: mile 293.2 to 324.2. 31 miles. Almost got lost using the bathroom in the morning. Morning hike was pretty easy, nice and cool through aspen forests. Storm started rolling in around lunch so I set up my tarp to nap and wait it out. It kept moving around and I couldn’t tell if I was clearing up or not so I kept hiking. Ended up drizzling most of the afternoon. Had to quickly hike through some really exposed dirt roads. The long sweeping views of the pastures were nice though. Lots of wildflowers blooming. Ended up camping near Cochetopa creek, a beautiful but also buggy and cow pie-riddled valley creek. Thunderstorm count: 7.
Day 15: mile 324.2 to mile 347.3. 23.2 miles. Turns out camping at the bottom of a valley right near water was not a great idea. Woke up covered in frost with all my gear soaked. After a long two days took it easy. Kinda. First 15 miles was an actually not that bad climb through a very long valley following the Cochetopa Creek. Again very beautiful pastoral scenery with lots of cute baby cows. Made it up to a high saddle where the Colorado Trail finally started living up to the hype. Lots of tall snow capped mountains with long flowing ridges that went on for days. So pretty. Made it up to the Continental Divide where I’ll hopefully be back one day soon on a slightly longer trail. Despite this being a more difficult to reach segment, ended up running into a lot more CT hikers. Camped near an avalanche area, one of the few spots still below tree line in this segment, and dreamed of town food.
Day 16: mile 347.4 to 357.8. 10.4 miles. Had the most chill morning I’ve ever had on trail. Had a few little easy climbs up to some saddles with decent views them made it up to Snow Mesa, a long beautiful stretch of open tundra at around 12k. Stunning grassy flatlands and little perfect lakes and more snow capped mountains. After sauntering all morning, made it to the trailhead where we got a quick ride to Lake City, another little Colorado mining town where apparently the only person in the US ever convicted of cannibalism lived.
Day 17: 357.8 (Lake City) to 375.0. 17.2 miles. Looked at the weather and saw that the forecast called for thunderstorms all week which was a little worrying since the next few segments were all above tree line. So I spent all night reading about thunder and lightning and how to not get struck and how to read the clouds and practicing the lightning pose in my bunk bed instead of sleeping.
Woke up too early and spent the morning anxiously relaxing. Got vegan breakfast burritos and then took the now running shuttle out of town.
First few miles back were pretty easy forest hiking up to another mesa. Saw some ominous clouds right over the mesa so waited them out for a bit. The storm was moving southwest which happened to be the direction the trail went. We followed the storm for a miles, climbing above treeline around 12k feet. There were some amazing views of the San Juan mountains all around.
After a few miles of really open and exposed hiking and crossing a few snow patches, we turned around and saw that there was ANOTHER storm coming up behind us. We debated heading down into tree cover or continuing on to the highest point on the Colorado Trail. We went down but saw that the storm was actually running parallel to us so we kept hiking. About a mile from the highest point we waited for the storm to pass by fully but not before we got dumped on with rain and hail.
We made up to the highest point on the Colorado Trail, 13,271 feet, safe and sound, took some pics, then booked it down the other side to the relative safety of a completely exposed saddle and the only flat spot around to camp at. Thunderstorm count: 9
Day 18: 375.0 to 391.0. 16 miles. Yet another storm came in at night though the spot we chose was okay thankfully. We woke up stupid early to make miles before the afternoon storms came in. Most of the day was going to be above treeline so we needed to book it to dodge the storms.
The morning sunset was spectacular. On par with anything I’ve seen in the PNW or the Sierra. The San Juans are so grand and majestic. This is what I hoped hiking the CT would be like.
Took a little break at a little alpine lake, one of the few I’ve seen. Most of the morning was short steep up and downs with not too much gain or loss but being so high up made them so much harder. Felt absolutely wrecked.
About a mile before our planned stop, right after noon, a storm started building up behind us and started following us. We hiked quickly up and down some more hills. We had to cross a few steep snow sections and I was in such a rush to make it to camp that I slipped and slid around 10 feet down a snowbank. Thankfully the landing was soft and I didn’t get hurt.
We got to Stony Pass near a popular atv/ohv road and made camp to lunch and nap and wait out the storm. It was actually kinda sunny where we set up and thought the storm might pass over us. Nope nope nope. The storm(s) passed by and around us over the next 3 hours as we cowered in our shelters. The closest one was around 4 seconds between flash and rumble away and goddamn it was so loud and terrifying.
After a few hours the thunderstorms let up but the rain didn’t. We waited another few hours for the rain to subside but it didn’t until way late so we decided to stick to our cozy little spot and just hike a bigger day tomorrow. Not a bad spot to be stuck in. Thunderstorm count: 12.
Day 19: mile 391.0 to 411.9. 20.9 miles. This was the kind of day that reminds me why I love thru hiking. Woke up at Stony Pass next to a giant snow wall, a flowing creek, a historic mining site, and a stunning sunrise view of the snowy San Juans.
We hiked up and down some snowy hills and got into another long mesa with more killer views of the mountains around us. We got to the junction where the CDT and CT split and said goodbye to the CDT for now.
After that we got into some real shit ooohh boy. Hiked down some steep switchbacks into a notch into Elk Creek canyon and holy shit this is one of my new favorite sections of trail anywhere. The Grenadiers are amazing. The descent down the canyon was just so beautiful. Massive volcanic rock walls and flowing waterfalls. Top 5 stretches of trail for sure.
We kept dropping down into the creek and after 2 days and 40 miles, back into the treeline. Of course dropping into the treeline was not without its problems. We had to cross four sketchy giant avalanche debris fields (felt like 5 really). The debris was on top of snow so it kept shifting around and we postholed and got scrapped up a bunch. Ran into some amazing trail crew members undertaking the herculean task of clearing the trail. After 8 miles and almost 4k of elevation loss, we finally made it down to the Animas River where we had lunch while the last remaining steam locomotive train passed by.
We had a massive climb back up to the trailhead through more alpine forests and lush meadows. Finally made it to the trailhead where I got a quick hitch to the Molas Lake Campground and picked up my resupply box. I then hitched further to Silverton, a cute old timey mining town. Got Thai pizza (whhaattt) which we packed out. Took a minute to hitch back out but eventually we got back to the trail and hiked a mile to a little lake. Set up just in time for guess what? Another thunderstorm. Thunderstorm count: 13
Day 20: 411.9 to 442.0. 30.1 miles. Started the morning at the lake campground and got use some real vault toilets which is such a joy when thru hiking. Hiked on some big beautiful green mountains and red dirt. I’m sure there’s some better more accurate description of the geology (actually I have the guidebook so I know there is) but idk it was just really cool red earth.
Crossed a few not bad at all snowfields then went down some switchbacks where we saw chubby lil Marmot and so many wildflowers. The camping options were either a short day or a long day so of course we went with the long day. Had a big climb over Blackhawk Pass then a fun descent down the other side. Fell asleep to flashes of lightning in the distance. Thunderstorm count: 14
Day 21: 442.0 to 470.5. 28.5 miles. Didn’t realize that we were in the middle of a 22 mile dry stretch the night before so had to conserve water all morning. The morning hiking wasn’t too bad though, mostly little up and downs on some wide ridges with cool views. Managed to make it to a buggy little barely flowing creek and then up to the edge of some summits above the treeline.
The sky looked a little cloudy and we (by which I mean mostly me) were worried about the 4 mile stretch above treeline to two summits. The weather held out and we were able to top out both summits without any problems. The views from the summits were amazing. Finally got to do some serious mountain ridge hiking.
Stopped at the gorgeous Taylor Lake beneath the summits for a little afternoon dip. It was v chilly. Crossed over Kennebec Pass, the last real pass of the trail, then down some colorful talus fields. Dropped into the Junction Creek canyon and coasted down to the creek itself where we camped with a few other CT hikers. Made a nice fire and talked about all our trials and tribulations and all the food we were going to eat the next day.
Day 22: 470.5 to 485.0 (Southern Terminus of the Colorado Trail). 14.5 miles. Camping next to a creek at the bottom of a valley is not a good idea, idk why I never remember that. Woke up soaked but with it being the last day on trail, didn’t really care.
Apparently the Colorado Trail Race started this morning. We started off with a little 4 mile climb, the last real climb. While we were hiking up, the CTR riders were coming down and I kept having to jump off trail to not crash into them. Of course this was a section of trail that narrow and steep and overgrown. Still, it was cool seeing all the bike packers setting off on a crazy race. Good luck with the snow and blow down.
Managed to dry off everything at the top of the climb and then cruised the last 10 foresty miles down to the southern terminus of the Colorado Trail.
Colorado Trail Postscript, part 1. We got to the Southern Terminus, high fived, took some pictures, and reminisced on the past few weeks. Three weeks is not that long, especially compared to that other long hike I did, but still, it feels like a while since I set off from Waterton Canyon.
At the trailhead, a man was walking his dogs and offered us a ride to town so we didn’t have to wait at all. Turns out the guy was a former AT hiker. We talked to him about hiking and our trip. He was a nice guy with two really cute dogs. He dropped us off on the end of town at the Mongolian buffet we kept talking and drooling about. After we sat down, he snuck in and paid for our food and drinks and we almost cried. Thanks, Cardio Man.
We sat in a little corner booth and ate our weight in shitty Chinese food for around 2 hours after which the server who had initially been nice asked us very curtly how much longer we were planning on staying there. Apparently “the smell” was giving her a bad headache and she was very upset at us being there for so long. So we got kicked out of an all you can buffet for eating too much and smelling bad. I think we officially hit peak hiker trash.
We took the bus back to the main part of town to Carvers Brewery for our free post-hike drinks. Yak’s friend drove all the way from beyond Denver and we were able to get a ride back to Arvada where the awesome @mybestfriendatx let us crash. We drove back mostly east and north, the opposite directions of the way we had just finished hiking, crossing some of the passes we’d gone through not long but also very long ago.
Colorado Trail Postscript, part 2. Spent the next day in Boulder eating too much junk food, splashing around a sweet little creek, and slacklining at a cool hostel at the base of the Flatirons. Had dinner with a friend I haven’t seen since we were young naive writers many years ago in Socal. Afterwards, I sat around the hostels creekside jacuzzi and spent most of the night talking to a bunch of other travelers around a little fire.
I slept in until 7am which is absurd. Talked to some of the other hostel-ers and then went on a short run/hike following the trails behind the hostel.
I had planned to take a pedestrian path that followed the creek back to town but there was road construction going on that closed down the road entirely, including the pedestrian path. Couldn’t get a ride or get any lyft drivers to drive around to pick me up. The hostel staff recommended a route that took me up some dirt roads and then on some trails into the Flatirons. I had already planned to go hiking there so it actually worked out.
Took a few dirt roads up to Realization Point. Could have gone straight down to town but saw that I could summit Green Mountain if I looped around instead so decided to do that cause why not. The hike up wasn’t too bad, little steep but fun. After weeks at 10k+ elevation, climbing up to 8,140 feet wasn’t that bad. The descent down was another story. The trail was steep and dusty. The thread on my shoes was pretty worn so I kept slipping and falling. Busted my knee up a bit. I managed to make it through almost 500 miles of snow, storms, and avalanches, and I got wrecked on a 3 mile descent on a popular trail.
Made my way back to Boulder where I met up with another friend in the area. Right as I was taking off back to Denver, ANOTHER THUNDERSTORM came in. Being not at 12k feet was nice tho and I could appreciate the distant flashes and rumblings a little more. Thunderstorm count: 15.
Made it back to the hostel I first stayed at in Denver ages, got way too many vegan baked goods, and now I’m relaxing for a bit. And by relaxing I mean frantically preparing for the next big hike in a few days.
Peace out, Colorado. See ya again soon.
Plants Outside 