Colorado Trail
Day 1 - 7/12/2003
Today's Miles- 10.6
Total CT Miles- 10.6
I am grateful to be back on the trail.
Three nights in Montrose with my sister at 5,360 ft. didn't help with my acclimatization. My lungs burned on every uphill and the extra weight that I've gained has NOT helped either.
I was dropped off on Marshall Pass (10,880 ft.) by Lenore and nephew James a little after 11 AM. I hiked in and out of mountain bikers for a couple miles before 4 hikers caught up to me. The front hiker…a girl….said, "Hi Adam!" I was floored. Apparently they had met my sister and James at Marshall Pass. They are hiking the entire CT and a lot of fun to talk to. I hiked on and off all day with parts of the group and got to know them. They have a fifth in their group who didn't feel good and I didn't meet him till the end of the day. Four are from Baylor University and one is from outside Durango. He hooked up with them a number of days ago. I don't expect to hike with them for more than a couple days as their schedules will get them to Durango about a week later than me. Lots of fun hiking with them and camping with them tonight. Cooked dinner with the group and hung out for awhile before retiring to my tent. I am very tired and need to sleep to continue to acclimate. Saw lots of great views today and many wild flowers at the beginning of the hike. The views were partly obstructed by smoke from the 6 fires that are close enough to spread their smoke my way.
The trail today was either single track of very old jeep trails that unless my book told me that they were jeep trails…..I never would have known because they were so grown over.
Twisted my ankle slightly today…you know me….and those weak ankles…doesn't seem bad…will take Advil tonight…. Just took three. Gonna finish up as there was not much to say about my SHORT day. Tomorrow is a full moon so my plan is to hike 10 or so miles in the AM…then nap…then hike by the full moon…should be great! Haven't done that since the AT.
Gonna read a bit….goodnight..
Peace, Love, Courage…
Dreamer
Colorado Trail
Day 2 - 7/13/2003
Today's Miles- 10.8 plus 7 night miles….17.8
Total CT Miles- 28.4
I am grateful for a relaxing afternoon.
Woke up and got packed up…hiked out of camp at about 7:45…alone. I figured that everyone would eventually catch these lungs and legs. I'm a little slow. Day two had better feeling lungs…but it's been tough! Planned to hike 11.4 to Baldy Lake and take the afternoon off before setting out on my full moon hike tonight. The trail fluctuated between 10,800 ft. and 12,500 ft. After a great swim in the lake…ate a big lunch and rested/slept for a couple hours. Now getting ready to take some photos. Ben and I were just looking at the map and dreading a 6 mile road walk that we have coming up…more later…
Hiked 7 miles tonight into the sunset and say watching the sun dip under the horizon from an alpine meadow. The sun set perfectly over the Gunnison Valley. After watching the sunset…we hung out for the rising of the full moon. Amazing colors! We hiked using our headlights until the moon was far enough overhead to walk just with the full moonlight and not battery powered lights. We had unfortunately forgotten our moonscreen and both were lucky to not have suffered massive burns. Saw a few elk tonight! We hiked for hours and finally grew too sleepy to continue. We camped on a SMALL summit just after the guidebook's, "minor summit." Amazing night….one I will never forget!
Peace, Love, Courage…
Dreamer
Colorado Trail
Day 3 - 7/14/2003
Today's Miles- 18
Total CT Miles- 46.4
I am grateful for Jolly Ranchers!
Woke up from 6 hours of sleep feeling refreshed. Got back on the trail at about 8 AM. We never saw the Baylor crew today….don't know if I will see them again on this trip.
A very dry day all day today….all creeks were empty. Ben and I ran out of water by Highway 114. We miraculously found some hikers and mountain bikers who both had extra water that they gave us at the road crossing. Real trail magic I tell ya! We hadn't even asked yet! Two of the hikers, "TNT", had hiked the AT in 2000 and we shared some good conversation. Apparently, they had started about a month after me but flip flopped at some point….hiking south towards me. Eventually we passed each other…maybe meeting, maybe not.
At the end of our conversation the hikers told us about an arsonist who had already started four fires in the mountains nearby…..kinda scary!
It was a long hot and kinda ugly assent from the highway crossing to the time we hiked back into the trees. We found a place to sit down and then….re-hydrated… ate ….and fell asleep for a while. We were just about out of water again! Woke up and walked 8.9 miles to a creek that showed a "half full cup." The cups in the Data Book show creeks using a cup that can be anywhere from empty to full at quarter intervals. This creek, "Los Creek," was shown to have a half full cup. At other creeks in the book that have shown a half full cup symbol have been flowing well. Los Creek was completely empty! Ben gave us each a Jolly Rancher and we blessed the fact that he had those little mouth watering candies. We decided that we had three choices…
1. Walk 11 miles more to the next creek…which showed a full cup….and hope that we might find water before the 11 mile marker.
2. Walk off the trail and over to a ranch on our map to get water…
3. Camp here and camp dry…
We decided to walk the 11 and hoped to find water sooner. We popped another Jolly Rancher and started hiking with the CT signs to a confusing intersection of trails and roads. We made a decision….we didn't know it at the time but our decision was wrong. We popped another Jolly Rancher, both being completely parched by now. We hiked for a few miles and found a beautiful spring. We used Ben's water filter to pump our fill and then started walking again. About a mile later we figured out that we are on the wrong trail. Where were we you ask? We were on the jeep trail leading towards the ranch. We sat down…looked at our maps and decided that we could hit the CT again if we stayed on this road…without going to the ranch. And better yet…we would miss the 6 mile road walk we had both been dreading. We decided to continue on the jeep trail which was about 2 mile longer than the official CT. After walking for a couple hours we found "Jolly Rancher Summit."
Sleep…food…and sky were all spectacular!!
Peace, Love, Courage…
J Dreamer
Colorado Trail
Day 4 - 7/15/2003
Today's Miles- 22.5
Total CT Miles- 68.9
I am grateful for Cochetopa Creek!
Woke up and started hiking at about 7:45 today. We were already low on water. Walked through a beautiful area called Monchego Park early on…ran out of water there. The area was incredible…open rolling hills bordered in pines and aspens. The Aspen, Red Fir, and wild flowers were overwhelming. We hit the CT again four miles into our day and headed south on the trail feeling lucky to have been able to spend our day in the beautiful meadows and canyons…as well as a night on Jolly Rancher Summit.
Hiked thought beautiful country over the next few hours…all streams were dry… popped another Jolly Rancher. Saw a Quail and her family today along with some interesting small birds that were bight blue. It clouded over and the sky grew noisy with thunder….but we got very little rain.
After passing a beautiful pond…with cows around 75% of the water...we finally got to Cochetopa Creek and walked along the creek till we found a place where the stream came close to land. Low and behold there was another beautiful spring feeding into the creek. We got water…set up Ben's tarp…it was still drizzling…and ate/rested for the next few hours….
So…I'm back again…
We left the break spot that treated us so well…we had to hike in some cool but beautiful weather. We had two creek crossings…the first a real lou lou… There were two possibilities….rock hop and definitely get wet to some degree….or… jump. We choose to jump. Ben jumped first with his pack still on and nailed his take-off. His landing included one mildly wet foot. I then took off my backpack and threw it to Ben on the other side of the creek…it wasn't the best throw but Ben was able to catch it as he was falling back to his right side.
I went for it. Not a hitch…it went perfectly. No wet feet. Hit another stream a few miles later and accomplished a double jump...hitting a rock in the middle of the creek and jumping off of it. Perfect again!
We walked on…. It started getting dark so we ate our lunch in the beautiful sunset.
The valley we walked up all day was absolutely amazing. Beaver Dams everywhere on the river we paralleled. The canyon was green and lush with incredible rock faces. We hiked on after lunch/dinner and into the dark again. We wanted to get as far up the creek as we could tonight. We camped on another very small ridge just off the trail. Planning on taking a 3 extra mile detour tomorrow up the only 14er (14,000 + ft.) mountain on the trail. San Luis Peak.
Peace, Love, Courage
Dreamer
Colorado Trail
Day 5 - 7/16/2003
Today's Miles- 12.2 plus 3 up and down San Luis Peak…. 15.2
Total CT Miles- 84.1
I am grateful for the great highs of today.
We got started up stream on the Cochetopa at about 8 AM. We hiked up the most beautiful county yet. It was truly amazing. Peaks and valleys under a clear blue sky. We got some water at the creek and continued up to the spur trail leading to the summit of San Luis Peak. The peak looked enormous. We hid our packs at the base of the spur trail and then hiked up the 1400 feet to the top of this 14,014 ft. peak. At the top we wrote in the register, took some pictures, and then were hurried off the summit by a clap of thunder from the now suddenly brewing thunderheads throughout the sky. I literally ran down the 1400 feet and got to my backpack in a fraction of the time it took to get up the mountain. We got our packs on and started walking. The trail itself was above tree line so we had to hustle. Thunder continued to boom around us and the sky flashed above. We moved quickly for an hour and a walk before we set up Ben's tarp to get some food in us and also get more water at a stream. We hung out there for a couple hours and then got back on the trail. We climbed other saddles and then into valleys before ending up here. Middle Mineral Creek at 11,400 ft. Just before we got here I scared a beautiful buck with a felt covered rack out of the forest next to the trail. It was so powerful as it tore away. I couldn't walk anymore. We sat for a couple minutes and talked about what to do….. I urged Ben to continue if he wanted to but that I would have to stop….the 1400 foot running decent of San Luis had finished my legs for the day. Ben said he wanted to stop too and we began setting up our tarps….just as we each got the tarps up the sky opened up! It's now been raining for hours… Tomorrow should be interesting considering the weather and the fact that I am still about 5 miles behind my "schedule."
Heard an amazing sound tonight…..a rock slide on the mountain above us…it seemed to last forever and the rocks seemed to get closer and closer. It ended as quickly as it had began.
Peace, Love, Courage….
Dreamer
Colorado Trail
Day 6 - 7/17/2003
Today's Miles- 11
Total CT Miles- 95.1
I am grateful that I have the power and confidence to choose.
Woke up after a very blustery night in camp. The wind picked up something fierce and the rain fell in sheets. My tarp did the job and kept me completely dry all night.
Set the alarm for 4:30 but slept though it until one of my two hiking poles that hold up my tarp…slipped and hit me very gently in the leg waking me up. Perfect timing at 4:50….but it was too dark and I hollered over to Ben that I was gonna wait till 5:30.
5:30 came and we packed up our wind dried tarps and headed out. Down through the forest the trail took us until we finally started the LONG climb back up. And LONG it was! A rolling 1100 feet to the top of Snow Mesa. The mesa was amazing…the views of the greens and the peaks took my breath away. I had trouble keeping myself hiking fearing that I would miss something! Saw many more deer at a distance today.
Hiking into Highway 149 (so that I could get my food drop in Creede) I began thinking about how great my hike had been so far. I also began to think that maybe 100 mile trips would suit me better. I know that I'm not an old guy….but let me tell you that the aches and pains are much more painful a few days from my 35th birthday. I continued to ponder as I was walking across the 11,000 ft. Snow Mesa about what was really important to me. I've seen some beautiful things in my life….but I am beginning to understand that family is as…if not more beautiful than the mountains that I wander through. It was Thursday and on Friday my sister, brother in law and nephew were going camping for 3 days….if I could get back to Montrose tonight I could leave with them tomorrow. This would give me another week with family I only get to see a couple short times a year. Could I do it??? Could I cut my hike in half? I kept working that through my head.
Of course I could! That's the beauty of hiking…I can do whatever the heck I want to do. And what do I want to do at this moment? Be grateful for all that I've seen and experienced on the CT up to this point….and find a way back to Montrose. In the end I decided to see what happened when I got to the road…. If it worked out…it worked out…. I wasn't gonna turn it into a major effort to get back. I decided if I was meant to get back to Montrose it would work out somehow.
Hiking out of the trees onto the highway we came across two cars in the trail-head parking lot with people just getting in. Ben mentioned that one of us was going east to Creede and the other was going west to Lake City….both to re-supply. After a few minutes one of the drivers offered me a ride to Creede. It turned out that the two cars were actually together and a man in the other car had walked the entire AT in 1994. He got out of the other car and joined me in the backseat on the way to Creede… he was even wearing his good looking AT shirt. Bud Smith, "Suds" on the AT, and I talked about everything that had to do with hiking over the next 30 minutes. At some point a map came out and I asked to look at it. I saw that, unknown to me, Highway 149 did not go to 550 where I needed to get so that I could hitch a ride north to Montrose. I began talking with the three in the car about the road and it turned out that they were going to Creede for lunch and then back to Gunnison where the AT hiker lived! Gunnison! That's pretty close to Montrose and anyone going west on the road out of Gunnison has to go through Montrose.
That was it… a sign of just how easy it could be to make it back tonight. I took their offer of a ride to Gunnison. I picked up my mail drop in Creede, got some pizza and beer and then met them back at the cars.
We are now driving west on 149 to and through Lake City in a pretty hard rain…we shall see what happens next.
Here in Gunnison hanging out and waiting for a Greyhound bus to Montrose in about 30 minutes….they only have one bus a day and it leaves right away…could this have worked any better?? More later…
Sitting here at the bus station with my fingers crossed….You see…the bus station only takes cash. I have four dollars and some change…the ticket is $16… I know I know…. I had about $25 but in Creede….opps…my bus is here…gotta go…wish me luck!
Anyway….in Creede I got pizza, beer, a paper, and some medicine for an ugly lip….then in Gunnison I got a root beer at A&W because I felt funny using their bathroom and phone and not buying anything….boy was that root beer great!
Anyway…what a day…the bus driver had no problem letting my sister pay for my ride in Montrose….from what I hear…this is NOT allowed very often! Got on the bus and who am I sitting across from…..an Australian AT hiker….patch on his backpack and all….he has also hiked the entire PCT and many other trails in the US. Time to sit back and relax on my trip….more later….
As I sit here on the bus just 20 miles out of Montrose… I am beginning to remind myself that lots of people are going to have lots of questions for me about why I pulled off after 100 miles instead of the 200 I had planned.
I've had lots of things rolling around in my head for hours. Do I regret pulling off? Should I have stayed in Creede overnight to think more about my decision? There are literally hundreds of questions that I could ask myself or that others could ask me.
But….the one reason I think makes sense to me is…. Over 6 days and 100 miles I did what I came to do…experience the Colorado Trail. I feel that the dose of trail I was given….was just what the doctor ordered. Why take more medicine that your body or psyche really needs?
I am content with that answer alone…..
Peace, Love, Courage….
Dreamer
Day 1 - 7/12/2003
Today's Miles- 10.6
Total CT Miles- 10.6
I am grateful to be back on the trail.
Three nights in Montrose with my sister at 5,360 ft. didn't help with my acclimatization. My lungs burned on every uphill and the extra weight that I've gained has NOT helped either.
I was dropped off on Marshall Pass (10,880 ft.) by Lenore and nephew James a little after 11 AM. I hiked in and out of mountain bikers for a couple miles before 4 hikers caught up to me. The front hiker…a girl….said, "Hi Adam!" I was floored. Apparently they had met my sister and James at Marshall Pass. They are hiking the entire CT and a lot of fun to talk to. I hiked on and off all day with parts of the group and got to know them. They have a fifth in their group who didn't feel good and I didn't meet him till the end of the day. Four are from Baylor University and one is from outside Durango. He hooked up with them a number of days ago. I don't expect to hike with them for more than a couple days as their schedules will get them to Durango about a week later than me. Lots of fun hiking with them and camping with them tonight. Cooked dinner with the group and hung out for awhile before retiring to my tent. I am very tired and need to sleep to continue to acclimate. Saw lots of great views today and many wild flowers at the beginning of the hike. The views were partly obstructed by smoke from the 6 fires that are close enough to spread their smoke my way.
The trail today was either single track of very old jeep trails that unless my book told me that they were jeep trails…..I never would have known because they were so grown over.
Twisted my ankle slightly today…you know me….and those weak ankles…doesn't seem bad…will take Advil tonight…. Just took three. Gonna finish up as there was not much to say about my SHORT day. Tomorrow is a full moon so my plan is to hike 10 or so miles in the AM…then nap…then hike by the full moon…should be great! Haven't done that since the AT.
Gonna read a bit….goodnight..
Peace, Love, Courage…
Dreamer
Colorado Trail
Day 2 - 7/13/2003
Today's Miles- 10.8 plus 7 night miles….17.8
Total CT Miles- 28.4
I am grateful for a relaxing afternoon.
Woke up and got packed up…hiked out of camp at about 7:45…alone. I figured that everyone would eventually catch these lungs and legs. I'm a little slow. Day two had better feeling lungs…but it's been tough! Planned to hike 11.4 to Baldy Lake and take the afternoon off before setting out on my full moon hike tonight. The trail fluctuated between 10,800 ft. and 12,500 ft. After a great swim in the lake…ate a big lunch and rested/slept for a couple hours. Now getting ready to take some photos. Ben and I were just looking at the map and dreading a 6 mile road walk that we have coming up…more later…
Hiked 7 miles tonight into the sunset and say watching the sun dip under the horizon from an alpine meadow. The sun set perfectly over the Gunnison Valley. After watching the sunset…we hung out for the rising of the full moon. Amazing colors! We hiked using our headlights until the moon was far enough overhead to walk just with the full moonlight and not battery powered lights. We had unfortunately forgotten our moonscreen and both were lucky to not have suffered massive burns. Saw a few elk tonight! We hiked for hours and finally grew too sleepy to continue. We camped on a SMALL summit just after the guidebook's, "minor summit." Amazing night….one I will never forget!
Peace, Love, Courage…
Dreamer
Colorado Trail
Day 3 - 7/14/2003
Today's Miles- 18
Total CT Miles- 46.4
I am grateful for Jolly Ranchers!
Woke up from 6 hours of sleep feeling refreshed. Got back on the trail at about 8 AM. We never saw the Baylor crew today….don't know if I will see them again on this trip.
A very dry day all day today….all creeks were empty. Ben and I ran out of water by Highway 114. We miraculously found some hikers and mountain bikers who both had extra water that they gave us at the road crossing. Real trail magic I tell ya! We hadn't even asked yet! Two of the hikers, "TNT", had hiked the AT in 2000 and we shared some good conversation. Apparently, they had started about a month after me but flip flopped at some point….hiking south towards me. Eventually we passed each other…maybe meeting, maybe not.
At the end of our conversation the hikers told us about an arsonist who had already started four fires in the mountains nearby…..kinda scary!
It was a long hot and kinda ugly assent from the highway crossing to the time we hiked back into the trees. We found a place to sit down and then….re-hydrated… ate ….and fell asleep for a while. We were just about out of water again! Woke up and walked 8.9 miles to a creek that showed a "half full cup." The cups in the Data Book show creeks using a cup that can be anywhere from empty to full at quarter intervals. This creek, "Los Creek," was shown to have a half full cup. At other creeks in the book that have shown a half full cup symbol have been flowing well. Los Creek was completely empty! Ben gave us each a Jolly Rancher and we blessed the fact that he had those little mouth watering candies. We decided that we had three choices…
1. Walk 11 miles more to the next creek…which showed a full cup….and hope that we might find water before the 11 mile marker.
2. Walk off the trail and over to a ranch on our map to get water…
3. Camp here and camp dry…
We decided to walk the 11 and hoped to find water sooner. We popped another Jolly Rancher and started hiking with the CT signs to a confusing intersection of trails and roads. We made a decision….we didn't know it at the time but our decision was wrong. We popped another Jolly Rancher, both being completely parched by now. We hiked for a few miles and found a beautiful spring. We used Ben's water filter to pump our fill and then started walking again. About a mile later we figured out that we are on the wrong trail. Where were we you ask? We were on the jeep trail leading towards the ranch. We sat down…looked at our maps and decided that we could hit the CT again if we stayed on this road…without going to the ranch. And better yet…we would miss the 6 mile road walk we had both been dreading. We decided to continue on the jeep trail which was about 2 mile longer than the official CT. After walking for a couple hours we found "Jolly Rancher Summit."
Sleep…food…and sky were all spectacular!!
Peace, Love, Courage…
J Dreamer
Colorado Trail
Day 4 - 7/15/2003
Today's Miles- 22.5
Total CT Miles- 68.9
I am grateful for Cochetopa Creek!
Woke up and started hiking at about 7:45 today. We were already low on water. Walked through a beautiful area called Monchego Park early on…ran out of water there. The area was incredible…open rolling hills bordered in pines and aspens. The Aspen, Red Fir, and wild flowers were overwhelming. We hit the CT again four miles into our day and headed south on the trail feeling lucky to have been able to spend our day in the beautiful meadows and canyons…as well as a night on Jolly Rancher Summit.
Hiked thought beautiful country over the next few hours…all streams were dry… popped another Jolly Rancher. Saw a Quail and her family today along with some interesting small birds that were bight blue. It clouded over and the sky grew noisy with thunder….but we got very little rain.
After passing a beautiful pond…with cows around 75% of the water...we finally got to Cochetopa Creek and walked along the creek till we found a place where the stream came close to land. Low and behold there was another beautiful spring feeding into the creek. We got water…set up Ben's tarp…it was still drizzling…and ate/rested for the next few hours….
So…I'm back again…
We left the break spot that treated us so well…we had to hike in some cool but beautiful weather. We had two creek crossings…the first a real lou lou… There were two possibilities….rock hop and definitely get wet to some degree….or… jump. We choose to jump. Ben jumped first with his pack still on and nailed his take-off. His landing included one mildly wet foot. I then took off my backpack and threw it to Ben on the other side of the creek…it wasn't the best throw but Ben was able to catch it as he was falling back to his right side.
I went for it. Not a hitch…it went perfectly. No wet feet. Hit another stream a few miles later and accomplished a double jump...hitting a rock in the middle of the creek and jumping off of it. Perfect again!
We walked on…. It started getting dark so we ate our lunch in the beautiful sunset.
The valley we walked up all day was absolutely amazing. Beaver Dams everywhere on the river we paralleled. The canyon was green and lush with incredible rock faces. We hiked on after lunch/dinner and into the dark again. We wanted to get as far up the creek as we could tonight. We camped on another very small ridge just off the trail. Planning on taking a 3 extra mile detour tomorrow up the only 14er (14,000 + ft.) mountain on the trail. San Luis Peak.
Peace, Love, Courage
Dreamer
Colorado Trail
Day 5 - 7/16/2003
Today's Miles- 12.2 plus 3 up and down San Luis Peak…. 15.2
Total CT Miles- 84.1
I am grateful for the great highs of today.
We got started up stream on the Cochetopa at about 8 AM. We hiked up the most beautiful county yet. It was truly amazing. Peaks and valleys under a clear blue sky. We got some water at the creek and continued up to the spur trail leading to the summit of San Luis Peak. The peak looked enormous. We hid our packs at the base of the spur trail and then hiked up the 1400 feet to the top of this 14,014 ft. peak. At the top we wrote in the register, took some pictures, and then were hurried off the summit by a clap of thunder from the now suddenly brewing thunderheads throughout the sky. I literally ran down the 1400 feet and got to my backpack in a fraction of the time it took to get up the mountain. We got our packs on and started walking. The trail itself was above tree line so we had to hustle. Thunder continued to boom around us and the sky flashed above. We moved quickly for an hour and a walk before we set up Ben's tarp to get some food in us and also get more water at a stream. We hung out there for a couple hours and then got back on the trail. We climbed other saddles and then into valleys before ending up here. Middle Mineral Creek at 11,400 ft. Just before we got here I scared a beautiful buck with a felt covered rack out of the forest next to the trail. It was so powerful as it tore away. I couldn't walk anymore. We sat for a couple minutes and talked about what to do….. I urged Ben to continue if he wanted to but that I would have to stop….the 1400 foot running decent of San Luis had finished my legs for the day. Ben said he wanted to stop too and we began setting up our tarps….just as we each got the tarps up the sky opened up! It's now been raining for hours… Tomorrow should be interesting considering the weather and the fact that I am still about 5 miles behind my "schedule."
Heard an amazing sound tonight…..a rock slide on the mountain above us…it seemed to last forever and the rocks seemed to get closer and closer. It ended as quickly as it had began.
Peace, Love, Courage….
Dreamer
Colorado Trail
Day 6 - 7/17/2003
Today's Miles- 11
Total CT Miles- 95.1
I am grateful that I have the power and confidence to choose.
Woke up after a very blustery night in camp. The wind picked up something fierce and the rain fell in sheets. My tarp did the job and kept me completely dry all night.
Set the alarm for 4:30 but slept though it until one of my two hiking poles that hold up my tarp…slipped and hit me very gently in the leg waking me up. Perfect timing at 4:50….but it was too dark and I hollered over to Ben that I was gonna wait till 5:30.
5:30 came and we packed up our wind dried tarps and headed out. Down through the forest the trail took us until we finally started the LONG climb back up. And LONG it was! A rolling 1100 feet to the top of Snow Mesa. The mesa was amazing…the views of the greens and the peaks took my breath away. I had trouble keeping myself hiking fearing that I would miss something! Saw many more deer at a distance today.
Hiking into Highway 149 (so that I could get my food drop in Creede) I began thinking about how great my hike had been so far. I also began to think that maybe 100 mile trips would suit me better. I know that I'm not an old guy….but let me tell you that the aches and pains are much more painful a few days from my 35th birthday. I continued to ponder as I was walking across the 11,000 ft. Snow Mesa about what was really important to me. I've seen some beautiful things in my life….but I am beginning to understand that family is as…if not more beautiful than the mountains that I wander through. It was Thursday and on Friday my sister, brother in law and nephew were going camping for 3 days….if I could get back to Montrose tonight I could leave with them tomorrow. This would give me another week with family I only get to see a couple short times a year. Could I do it??? Could I cut my hike in half? I kept working that through my head.
Of course I could! That's the beauty of hiking…I can do whatever the heck I want to do. And what do I want to do at this moment? Be grateful for all that I've seen and experienced on the CT up to this point….and find a way back to Montrose. In the end I decided to see what happened when I got to the road…. If it worked out…it worked out…. I wasn't gonna turn it into a major effort to get back. I decided if I was meant to get back to Montrose it would work out somehow.
Hiking out of the trees onto the highway we came across two cars in the trail-head parking lot with people just getting in. Ben mentioned that one of us was going east to Creede and the other was going west to Lake City….both to re-supply. After a few minutes one of the drivers offered me a ride to Creede. It turned out that the two cars were actually together and a man in the other car had walked the entire AT in 1994. He got out of the other car and joined me in the backseat on the way to Creede… he was even wearing his good looking AT shirt. Bud Smith, "Suds" on the AT, and I talked about everything that had to do with hiking over the next 30 minutes. At some point a map came out and I asked to look at it. I saw that, unknown to me, Highway 149 did not go to 550 where I needed to get so that I could hitch a ride north to Montrose. I began talking with the three in the car about the road and it turned out that they were going to Creede for lunch and then back to Gunnison where the AT hiker lived! Gunnison! That's pretty close to Montrose and anyone going west on the road out of Gunnison has to go through Montrose.
That was it… a sign of just how easy it could be to make it back tonight. I took their offer of a ride to Gunnison. I picked up my mail drop in Creede, got some pizza and beer and then met them back at the cars.
We are now driving west on 149 to and through Lake City in a pretty hard rain…we shall see what happens next.
Here in Gunnison hanging out and waiting for a Greyhound bus to Montrose in about 30 minutes….they only have one bus a day and it leaves right away…could this have worked any better?? More later…
Sitting here at the bus station with my fingers crossed….You see…the bus station only takes cash. I have four dollars and some change…the ticket is $16… I know I know…. I had about $25 but in Creede….opps…my bus is here…gotta go…wish me luck!
Anyway….in Creede I got pizza, beer, a paper, and some medicine for an ugly lip….then in Gunnison I got a root beer at A&W because I felt funny using their bathroom and phone and not buying anything….boy was that root beer great!
Anyway…what a day…the bus driver had no problem letting my sister pay for my ride in Montrose….from what I hear…this is NOT allowed very often! Got on the bus and who am I sitting across from…..an Australian AT hiker….patch on his backpack and all….he has also hiked the entire PCT and many other trails in the US. Time to sit back and relax on my trip….more later….
As I sit here on the bus just 20 miles out of Montrose… I am beginning to remind myself that lots of people are going to have lots of questions for me about why I pulled off after 100 miles instead of the 200 I had planned.
I've had lots of things rolling around in my head for hours. Do I regret pulling off? Should I have stayed in Creede overnight to think more about my decision? There are literally hundreds of questions that I could ask myself or that others could ask me.
But….the one reason I think makes sense to me is…. Over 6 days and 100 miles I did what I came to do…experience the Colorado Trail. I feel that the dose of trail I was given….was just what the doctor ordered. Why take more medicine that your body or psyche really needs?
I am content with that answer alone…..
Peace, Love, Courage….
Dreamer