Daily Miles: 22.8, Total Miles: 72.0 The first thing I noticed when I woke up was that I could see the moon – this meant clear skies! The second thing I noticed was that it was much colder and I had to put on wet clothes. I set out on a brisk pace up the misty North Fork Lost Creek all the way to the headwaters. Leapfrogging with Amin and Petra, a hiker couple I met yesterday. Took awhile for…
Daily Miles: 13.1, Total Miles: 49.2 Pretty steady rain for most of the night and awoke to overcast skies. My hiking clothes were sopping wet. I unfortunately hung them up outside in the off chance they would dry up a bit. So I am hiking in my short shorts and sleeping shirt. The trail today looked like a river ran through it. I stopped five miles in at the Wellington Lake Road to try to dry out my gear. Somewhat…
Daily Miles: 16.9, Total Miles: 36.1 An early start with sunny skies, climbed about 1,000 ft to another ridge and passed through a large, old burn. I conveniently refilled water bottles at the North Fork Volunteer Fire Department. Back into the forest for another ten miles before getting stopped cold by a thunderstorm. Lightning, hail and a cloudburst finale. Got my rain jacket on but by the time I found cover under trees, I was drenched. The stream I was…
Daily Miles: 19.2, Total Miles: 19.2 I got into Denver yesterday and good friend, Carol, picked me up from the airport. After a most excellent Italian dinner and good sleep, we were out to Waterton TH by 6:15am. I bid my farewell and joined a fairly steady stream of joggers/runners, mountain bikers, fishermen, and fishermen on bikes along the inviting South Platte River for six miles. I saw several bighorns along the way including a few young ones having a…
We’ve been in SW Colorado the past five weeks camping, kayaking, a little fishing and a lot of hiking. Couldn’t have been a better training plan for the upcoming CT hike. We started near Durango with day hikes from CT’s Junction Creek and Little Molas Lake. Also took a rainy hike to Crater Lake and Twilight Peak. Moved on to West Fork San Juan at the western base of Wolf Creek Pass. Hiked to 4-Mile Falls north of Pagosa Springs…
I always look forward to my hikes but may be a new level of anticipation with the CT this year. Maybe it’s coming out of this COVID nightmare and returning to more a sense of normalcy. Although the jury is still out on that one. I just hope this country is strong enough and collectively has the conviction to do the right things. I’m sure it has something to do with the beauty, majesty and memories of past adventures in…
I now have my guidebook, data book, maps and the CT app. Having said that, it will be hard to get lost – I just like to be prepared. No changes to my Big 3. I will stick with my Zpacks Altaplex tent, Zpacks Arc Blast pack and EE Enigma quilt, my latest acquisition which served me well on the Sky Islands Traverse hike in the spring. The rest of the gear also appears to be in fairly good shape….
