I truly enjoy multi-year section hiking projects. In 2014 and 2015, I cleaned up a few missing miles of the Appalachian Trail in Maine. I spent many of my vacations in the 2015-2018 era plugging away at the Hayduke Trail. And now, having moved one state to the east, the Colorado Trail (CT) beckons. There's one crucial difference of course. Those expeditions in the mid-teens were invariably solo affairs. But this Colorado Trail section hike represents an opportunity to make long-distance hiking memories with Steph.
We sketched out a rough plan. Assuming a week on trail each summer, the CT will take us 5 or 6 years to complete. During a life-stage where thru-hiking isn't really in the cards, the CT can act as an anchor point and a chance to reconnect with long-distance trails each year.
We chose to start on the eastern end. The CT begins in metropolitan Denver and gradually gains elevation as it meanders west toward the Continental Divide near Breckenridge. This section is perhaps the least scenic section of the CT (though still rather nice), so it made sense to knock out the 'mundane' miles at the beginning of the multi-year project when our stoke level is still high. But we still found plenty of highlights to enjoy in this section. And, best of all, we spent eight days in the mountains, far away from the world of work, wedding planning, and moving.
Day 1
We left Montrose at 6:45am and parked near Copper Mountain by mid-morning. We rode the bus to Denver, took light rail to the southwest suburbs, and Ubered the rest of the way to the CT's eastern terminus in Waterton Canyon. All in all, from front door to trailhead took about eight hours. Not too shabby!
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| Photo: Steph Seitz |
We both deployed our silver umbrellas for the sweltering afternoon walk along the South Fork of the Platte River. Along the way, we spotted a herd of wild bighorn sheep hanging out near the trail. After about seven miles of busy multi-use urban pathway, we ducked into the woods, finally along proper singletrack. Steph in particular was suffering in the heat, and we collapsed into camp after a fairly long day of transportation logistics and hot hiking.
Day 2
After a couple of early morning miles, we sat down for breakfast with a few hikers at a scenic viewpoint. As we chatted and exchanged names, I realized that I'd met two of them - a German couple - on the PCT up in Washington!
We drifted downhill back toward the South Fork of the Platte. While we found a delightful riparian lunch spot, we dared not linger long, as clouds were threatening. We gobbled down a quick lunch, loaded up our packs with a ton of water, and trudged uphill as the skies darkened. We scampered through a large burn area and found a nice pocket of trees to shelter in, right as the skies let loose. We played cards in Steph's tent for a couple hours as the thunderstorms rolled through.
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| Photo: Steph Seitz |
Once the weather let up, we hoisted our packs again and continued what seemed like a never-ending climb. Though it wasn't particularly steep, we were both toting plenty of water, which seemed to sap our energy. We passed up several nice campsites, hoping to make a couple extra miles. It probably wasn't a great call, as we soon left the trees and found ourselves hiking through the burn area again. We made camp just before dark on top of a ridge. It was another long day, and more than a bit exhausting.
Day 3
A little sprinkle passed through about midnight, and then things got very quiet. Snug as I was in my quilt, I could feel a thick blanket settling over our campsite. And sure enough, the next morning, sun filtered through a dense fog. To our south, a peak jabbed through the fog, seemingly floating on a sea of white. It took about an hour for the sun to burn everything off, and once it did, we found a nice place to eat breakfast.
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| Photo: Steph Seitz |
The rest of the morning consisted of circuitous but well-maintained trail graded for mountain bikes. We found a very nice lunch site along a gorgeous creek and took an extended lunch. Steph was hurting a little. She'd tweaked her knee a few weeks prior, and while the knee itself was fine, all the other joints in that leg were giving her grief, perhaps due to overcompensation. Such is the life of a hiker - we term it the 'rotating buffet of random pain'.
The afternoon so-called 'climb' was once again pleasant and gentle, and we found plenty of water along the way. We pushed through an ugly clear-cut logged area to find an amazing, perfectly flat campsite in a beautiful lodgepole forest about a mile later. We celebrated a great day with - you guessed it - a game of cards.
Day 4
We packed up our gear and immediately began climbing. By Colorado Trail standards, this was a steep one, with only minimal switchbacks to ease the grade. Plenty of streams attended us along the way though, and soon we reached the top of the grade, our first point above 10,000 feet on the trip.
We descended into a sublime mountain meadow and walked along its edge for miles. We spotted the remnants of glacial moraines along the way - another reminder that we had finally reached the high country. Lunch happened at an 11,000-foot pass, where Steph attempted to nap, only to be swarmed by ants. Can't win them all, I guess!
We contoured around for a while and walked through a sickly aspen grove. Hardly any trees were growing, and fallen timber littered the area. We were all too happy to hustle through back to the land of shady pines.
We crossed a stream and watered up, intending to do a couple more miles before nightfall. But just then, we heard a rumble of thunder, and decided to make camp. Quick as a jiffy, we set up our tents, and just as Steph finished cooking her dinner, the rain began. It wasn't much rain, though - just a few showers, plus an impressive lightning show. More on that later.
Day 5
The next day dawned cheerfully, and with it our spirits. The forest teemed with squirrels - chattering at us from above, chasing each other, and generally causing a pleasant ruckus. We stopped to watch as one cute fella grabbed a truly enormous mushroom in his mouth and climbed a tree. The mushroom probably weighed more than he did, and he had trouble navigating around little twigs with such a heavy, ungainly burden.
"Just don't throw it down on us, bud", mused Steph. At that very moment, the squirrel released the mushroom and it splatted down on the ground next to my foot. Friends, at least one squirrel has managed to learn English - and he's got an attitude! :)
We soon crossed US 285 at Kenosha pass and walked through a campground, where we snagged some truly awesome trail magic from the camp host. He'd hiked several long trails, including the Appalachian Trail in the truly horrendous weather year of 2003, where everything and everyone got soaked for months on end. He mentioned that he'd seen over a hundred hikers per day back in the early part of July, but now things had slowed to a trickle. We mused that we'd much rather be out here now, when things are quieter. Though of course, wildfire detours are more common in August than in July.
Little did we know how accurate that last sentiment was! As we hiked along an escarpment, I noticed a fresh plume of wildfire smoke. Apparently all that dry-ish lightning we'd had the previous day had started a fire not far from where we camped. Yikes! Close one.
Both of us were feeling pretty ragged that evening, and we set up shop along a slightly-buggy creek. Tomorrow would be the big climb.
Day 6
We woke up a half hour early, as we were dealing with a long climb and uncertain forecast. The first thing we noticed, as we ascended, was the thick smoke. We weren't quite sure which fire it was coming from, but noticed on the WatchDuty app a small fire near Breckenridge, upwind of where we'd be. There was absolutely no information available about this fire, and we didn't know if it was active or not. We reasoned we'd climb a bit higher, find some cell service, and then make our decision with hopefully better information.
The climb itself was rather easy, if a bit long, and soon we found ourselves atop the broad summit of Georgia Pass at almost 12,000' along the Continental Divide. We also realized once we were up there that this 'fire' was a whole lot of nothing, and that we'd be good to proceed as planned.
As we descended, we marveled at the gorgeous scenery, the first truly high-alpine environment one encounters on a westbound CT hike. We also ran across my old friend, the Continental Divide Trail (CDT). The CDT joins up with the CT for about 300 miles through central Colorado, and seeing those turquoise trail blazes brings back so many pleasant memories.
Of course, being on the CDT, it was fitting to play fast-and-loose with the designated trail routing. After a long, frustrating, rocky descent to a river, we decided to roadwalk around a truly offensive PUD (pointless up-and-down). Rather than doing an extra couple thousand feet of vertical with no water and a dubious forecast, we cruised a couple miles of easy, quiet road, followed by a couple miles of annoying ATV traffic before rejoining the trail.
We camped that evening in a pretty marginal site. We were now close enough to Breckenridge and the other communities of Summit County that the trails are heavily used. As a consequence, our campsite consisted of fine dust pulverized by generations of mountain bike tires, and everything we owned got caked. But it was good enough. We played some cards, and got some sleep.
Day 7
Town day! We got up and hiked a few easy miles down into Breckenridge, where we caught the very convenient free bus over to the nearby community of Frisco to eat breakfast. We ordered three entrees between the two of us and generally gorged ourselves. We made stops at the grocery store for ice cream and fried chicken, and after a couple hands of cards, headed over to a brewpub in Breckenridge.
We didn't intend to eat dinner there. But after a couple of delicious appetizers, we were both still quite famished, so we ordered entrees. After a long 7-day food carry, both of us were a bit behind on our nutrition, and now it was time to catch up!
Having dodged most of the afternoon's rain by hanging out in town, we headed out in the evening and made a couple miles up the trail. We found a secret little campsite deep in the woods and went to bed early. We had a big day tomorrow - up and over a 12,400' pass. Call it a grand finale for this section of the CT.
Day 8
We hiked by headlamp for about fifteen minutes before it got light. As the sun came up, it illuminated our intended destination, the high alpine spine of the Tenmile Range. Our early morning rewarded us with the best views of the entire trip.
As we climbed up the long pass, the chattering in Steph's ankle became a bark, which became a scream. We'd both been managing plenty of minor-moderate aches and pains all week, but this was different. It's nothing major or long-term - just an inflamed Achilles - but it's somewhere between painful and impossible to walk on, especially uphill. We sat down, gobbled down some of yesterday's fried chicken, and made some tough decisions. Given the day's dodgy forecast and the state of Steph's ankle, we decided it'd be best to save the pass until our next trip, and just hike down into town. We were both disappointed to have to change plans, but given the amazing free bus system in Summit County, it caused us no inconvenience at all. Right as we got to the trailhead, a big storm rolled in, validating our choice to back down.
A quick bus ride later, we were back at our car and driving home. We even managed to give a CT hiker a hitch as we passed her on the highway!
Overall
This was a wonderful section. Though its beauty is often overshadowed by other parts of the CT, our section did not disappoint, and both of us enjoyed seeing the transition as urban corridor gave way to foothills, and eventually the high peaks of the Rockies themselves. We are so blessed to live in a place with easy access to such marvelous trails - and established long trails, at that.
