Wednesday July 7, 23.8mi/38.3km

Archuleta Creek (310.9/9774ft) to Cochetopa Creek (334.7/10830ft) (CO)

BluegrassHopper and I departed camp pretty early, 7:15am, and enjoyed a wonderful morning of cool temperatures and easy walking.

The trail was on an old 4wd track most of the morning.

We came to a trailhead with one car parked, I loved this bumper sticker. Leg day!

There were plenty of wildflowers growing along the track, but I don’t know any of their names. Yellow, Red, Purple, and white seemed descriptive enough, ha!

We had been seeing cow pies all morning, but didn’t see the culprits until almost 10am. Hi cows!

Someone, probably a CDT northbound hiker, made some stone artwork. These are pretty common on long trails. Apparently this is 1000 miles north of the Mexican border via the CDT.

The 4wd track continued, and turned southward.

We approached Cochetopa Creek and small pond… finally, some water!

The pond was quite gross.

BluegrassHopper in the lead, with the meandering Cochetopa Creek to the right.

We hiked along the creek for a couple miles, and then crossed it. One problem, the bridge wasn’t above the water, but under it.

I forded the creek; it was only knee-deep but flowing fast. We continued south with the meandering Cochetopa Creek now on our left.

A mile later, a nice wooden sign welcomed us to the La Garita Wilderness.

The trail continued on rolling green hills beside the creek.

In the distance I could see a building, which seemed very out of place in the wilderness.

It turns out, there is a very narrow strip of non-wilderness, with a trailhead and a nearby private ranch.

We continued along Cochetopa Creek, and BGH stopped to fly fish, as he is very fond of doing.

And in only 5 minutes, he caught a trout!

We hiked on another couple miles, slowly veering west towards San Luis Peak.

We got to our planned camp at 5pm, and a couple of girls were already there. Casey and Kim were taking a break, and continued on to do a few more miles.

BGH and I setup our tents, and then went down to the creek to get water, rinse out our sweaty shirts, and of course go fishing. It will feel great tomorrow having clean-ish clothes!

Tuesday July 6, 26.2mi/42.2km

Big Bend Trail Jct (284.7/11178ft) to Archuleta Creek (310.9/9774ft) (CO)

We woke up to blue skies and warm temperatures, and got moving down the trail at 7:15am.

After about an hour of walking, we crossed paths with a familiar looking hiker. He said, “hey you guys were going south yesterday, why are you going north now?”. I told him we were indeed still going south, and double checked my GPS to be sure. He was hiking the wrong direction since leaving camp this morning! Oops. After another hour of hiking, we got to Baldy Lake, where he had camped.

It was nice to hike under blue skies all morning.

Occasionally the forest would open up into a meadow, and I could see pretty far.

Looking southwest into the San Juan mountains:

The green grassy fields were quite a change from the wet, hail-covered hillsides from yesterday.

We hiked all morning, only seeing one water source, Razor Creek. I stopped and filled up 2L of water, and dried my tent. The clouds were starting to build, but not much.

Shortly after noon, we crossed into the Gunnison NF, and followed an old dirt road downhill.

A couple of guys were working at a logging site and chatted with us for a couple of minutes. They had a huge pile of logs.

We had lunch in a shady spot on the dirt road, by Lujan Creek. It was only the second water source in 16 miles. The rest of the dirt roadwalk was nice.

And we came to a paved highway, and followed it for 5 minutes, before heading off into the forest again.

The rest of the afternoon we hiked uphill on an old dirt road, and the right back down again. The water was scarce, but the views were plentiful.

We arrived to a campsite at 6:15pm and sat down and ate right away, my feet were tired and I was so hungry.

Good views from the campsite.

Bluegrasshopper had a pretty good looking dinner too.

I ate more food in my tent, and passed out before sunset.

Monday July 5, 24.3mi/39.1km

South Fooses Creek (260.4/11125ft) to Big Bend Trail Jct (284.7/11178ft) (CO)

I had a great night’s sleep at my little trailside camp spot, and I had plenty of energy for the last steep mile to the ridgetop & CDT junction. The view from the ridge:

It was only 8:20, and I had a nice stroll on the ridge.

I saw tons of mountain bikers in this section, like a group every 10 minutes. It was a little much.

Some of last year’s cornices are still melting away. This one must’ve been huge!

After a couple miles, I came to a 3-sided shelter, much like the AT shelters, but without a floor.

I had a snack at the shelter and hiked onward, on the wonderful trail. It felt so nice being back up on the divide, and seeing all the things I missed on the low (Collegiate East) route…like talus!

More bikers came by, and I stepped off the trail to let them by. A couple curious little marmots came out of their rock den to say hi.

I dropped down to Marshall Pass, and explored the area a bit. I found the old snowmobile cabin we stayed at in 2016 on the CDT. It was, of course, surrounded by cows.

As I walked closer the cows begrudgingly moooved out of the way.

The inside, with 3 cots, woodstove, and heaps of wood:

On my departure, one cow was especially friendly.

I met a Russian couple in the Marshall Pass parking lot looking for mushrooms. The woman was very proud of the one she had already found.

I hiked on, away from the crowds of bikers and dayhikers at the pass, and had lunch at this hilarious trail junction. It sounds like either way, I starve??

I ate quickly, as an afternoon thunderstorm was building. The clouds looked ominous.

I met a couple of hikers at the next water source, and BluegrassHopper and I hiked together for the rest of the day.

A few miles later, we found a free ramen on top of a trail junction sign!

A brief walk thru an aspen forest.

The last couple of hours were spent hiking up to Sargent’s Mesa, through alpine fields.

This photo seemed especially interesting, with the clouds and curving trail.

I have no idea why someone fenced off a stump.

As we gained the top of Sargent’s Mesa, it appeared it had recently hailed, and it had accumulated.

We descended the other side, and it got warmer and the fallen hail was mostly melted. Looking behind at Sargent’s Mesa:

BluegrassHopper and I walked the last few miles to our campsite at a flat saddle. He is from North Carolina, and has also hiked the AT, John Muir Trail, and a few others. A very interesting guy to talk to! We setup camp at 6:30 and had dinner in our tents, as the clouds looked threatening again. Tomorrow will be another long mileage day!

Sunday July 4, 7.5mi/12.1km

Hwy 50 (252.9/8860ft) to South Fooses Creek (260.4/11125ft) (CO)

I was awake at 8am, and went to the store to buy the last piece of my costume. I joined Andrea and Tim for a themed rafting trip on the Arkansas River today. We went out for breakfast burritos, and then headed to the river.

Just before we launched onto the river we put our costumes on. Sebastian and King Trident, from the Little Mermaid!

Louie the dog had a costume too, he was a shark.

After an hour of some pretty fun rapids, we stopped at an eddy spot to have lunch.

Tim is a rafting guide and did all the hard work, and all three of us played the movie soundtrack while in our costumes. There were many other people on the river, and we definitely got some looks!

The Arkansas River is pretty narrow and fast in some places.

We got off the river at our takeout spot, and I went back to the house to shower and finish packing. After stopping at Amica’s Pizza, Andrea drove me back up to the trail. Super awesome! I was full of excellent pizza and ready to hike. After a mile I came to Fooses Lake.

It was pretty neat seeing it just before sunset.

The first three miles were on an old dirt road, so it was fast easy walking.

I hiked another three miles on a trail, much of it my headlamp. I love night hiking, it’s the perfect temperature to hike uphill.

I stopped at a camp spot a little after 10pm, and quickly set up and went to bed.

Saturday July 3, 11.7mi/18.8km

Fourmile Creek (241.2/9774ft) to Hwy 50 (252.9/8860ft) (CO)

I was awake at sunrise, to get into town by noon. The sunlight started filtering thru the trees by the time I got packed up.

The trail was kept its usual due south course, above the Arkansas River valley.

The view to the south, of a new set of mountains.

I descended down this valley, and ascended the other side. At the top of the climb, I was very surprised to see this animal blocking my path.

And there were more! Moo.

The trail traveled thru pasture for a mile or so.

And then thru Lipe Meadow, which had a special sign with the meadow’s name. Weird.

The birch forests are so cool and green.

And when I drop lower, I’m suddenly on sagebrush terrain.

Just before noon, I came down a hill to highway 50, which goes to Salida.

The hitchhike to town took only 3 minutes. The third car picked me up, and we went straight to Safeway, where they were heading anyway. I bought my food for the next 7-day section.

After food shopping, I walked to my friend Andrea’s place, and I got a shower and laundry done. Two other hikers, Brian and Tom, were also there and we all went out to a bar for some live music.

We stayed at Tres Litros for a couple hours, before heading out to a few other bars. It seemed like most of the town was out tonight, and there were a couple of wedding parties roaming around too. I got to bed pretty late, but it was so fun to see people!

Friday July 2, 22.5mi/36.2km

South Cottonwood TH (218.7/9005ft) to Fourmile Creek (241.2/9774ft) (CO)

I woke up to a wet tent, as usual. I packed everything up, knowing I would stop to dry it out later this morning. The weather was bright and sunny today.

I reached the top of a short 1000ft climb, and the forest opened up, with surprisingly good views of Mt Princeton ahead.

And as usual, I could see down to the Arkansas River valley below.

With all the rain last night, the little streams were gushing, even more than yesterday. This one was almost up to the bottom of the little bridge that spanned it.

Apparently the CT goes thru private property, and this was well advertised to its users.

After 10 minutes, the trail joined a dirt road, and in 10 more minutes, it passed a ranch.

At this point, the road became a wider paved road, and I was baking in the hot sun.

I could see storm clouds amassing just to the south, and hear the thunder too.

As I walked the road down into the Chalk Creek Valley, I could see down into Mt Princeton hot springs resort.

A mile later, I was walking by the entrance. Normally it would be tempting to make a visit, but with the thunder and lightning, the water attraction seemed like a bad idea.

I had just started walking down the road again when I passed two hikers, Crocs and Jibz. They each mentioned that there was possibly beer and food somewhere at the resort, and I spontaneously decided to join them. We eventually found a place with food (there were several) and a roof, to keep us dry from rain. During our meal of burgers and salad, I received this ominous warning on my phone:

We discussed all the trails we had hiked, and advice about our upcoming sections, the usual hiker stuff. They are CDT nobos, and we got a group photo before we parted ways.

There was another two miles of roadwalking, but by now the rain had stopped so it was nice walking. The dip was only a little wet.

It was scenic to walk by all the pastures along the Chalk River.

I finally got back into the forest on a trail, and it immediately climbed 1000ft to a viewpoint. Looking west up the Chalk River valley:

Then there was an hour of flat walking thru a really nice sparse pine forest, it reminded me of northern Arizona.

At the end of this nice forest, I encountered the first gate of the CT.

I climbed uphill almost another 1000ft, and stumbled upon what was apparently a quite popular camping area near Brown’s Creek. The creek was raging.

I spotted a couple of pretty old vintage CT markers, cool!

I stopped to camp just above a small creek, and enjoyed a big dinner. I’m going to town tomorrow, so I could eat all my extra food!

Thursday July 1, 22.6mi/36.4km

Waverly Mt. Ridgetop (196.1/11634ft) to South Cottonwood TH (218.7/9005ft) (CO)

I slept in a little, it was pretty cold and I wanted to wait until the day warmed a bit. The view from 11,600ft was great.

I immediately descended 1000ft down to Pine Creek valley, which was wet with morning dew.

In the valley I saw plenty of animal tracks, including these big ones.

I crossed Pine Creek, and entered the Collegiate Wilderness.

I re-climbed all 1000ft, plus a bit more up to another ridge. The trail was easy, even with the climbing.

I was surprised to see this arrangement of stones on the side of the trail, I thought hikers only did this on longer trails. Apparently I’m 200 miles into the Colorado Trail!

The clouds were starting to gather a little earlier than usual today, it was fun to watch the contrast of dark clouds and blue sky.

As I descended off the ridge, I couldn’t help but notice the hillside covered in talus.

I could see all the way down into the Arkansas River, and the town of Buena Vista.

On the descent, I followed a tiny but raging stream for a while. It was very loud, and I was relieved there was a bridge to cross it.

Probably the most surprising thing of the day was passing by a pack train of 9 horses. It didn’t seem like a trail crew, they didn’t have any gear and were dressed too nice. Maybe just a youth group out for a pleasure ride?

I crossed another stream, this time on a much less sturdy bridge. The logs appeared ancient, and bowed alarmingly under my small weight.

I love this trail name. Three elks seems like an awkward number…

I passed by the Harvard Lakes, which had a neat looking surface from the light rain.

The most confusing and disturbing thing I saw all day was definitely this severed leg.

I descended to North Cottonwood Creek on an exposed trail thru sagebrush, so the views of the valley and threatening clouds were great.

I crossed North Cottonwood Creek, which was also raging. There seems to be too much rain for this time of year, and not normal for Colorado.

I began the huge 2500ft climb up, and it started to lightly rain. I put up the umbrella, and plodded along, slowly gaining elevation. About halfway up, I was rewarded with a neat view behind me.

A mile later, I came to a high meadow, and the rain subsided.

An old cabin ruins was barely visible from the trail, so I walked over to investigate. It was strange seeing a structure inside a Wilderness area.

I crossed Silver Creek and departed the meadow, heading for the last 800ft of my climb.

I re-entered the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness… apparently I had left it?

Finally, the top of the climb. I was on a ridge of Mt. Yale, with some pretty awesome views.

The descent was quick but steep. Soon I was looking down into the next valley, where I was planning to camp for the night.

The view to the west, towards Cottonwood Pass.

The south-facing hillside was covered in all colors of wildflowers, which was one nice thing from all the rain this week.

I reached the bottom, after descending 2500ft in only 3 miles! I continued on for another flat mile until I found a campsite. Unfortunately it was near a trailhead, so there was a bit of traffic noise. I setup and ate dinner, and just as I was going to sleep a massive thunderstorm rolled thru. For 20 minutes my tent was pelted with some rain, but mostly hail. Exciting!

Wednesday June 30, 18.7mi/30.1km

Twin Lakes/Hwy 82 (177.4/9324ft) to Waverly Mt. Ridgetop (196.1/11634ft) (CO)

I had a lazy morning eating multiple breakfasts and talking with the two CDT hikers, Blitz and Reality Check.

The hostel owner, Britney, gave us a ride back to the trail at 10:30am, and it was time to start walking! My feet had taken some abuse on all the steep downhills yesterday, so I was glad to have some easy flat terrain to start the day.

The view of Twin Lakes was a nice background too.

After an hour, I reached the far end of the lake, and crossed the outlet on a dam.

Looking behind me, I could still see Mt Elbert and Mt Massive, two of the tallest 14ers.

The trail left the lakeshore at a trailhead, and entered the woods. The parking lot was full, mostly with Subarus and Toyotas. It seems like the 4runner is the official vehicle of this town.

The trail climbed gradually at first, and then I came to a decision point. The Colorado Trail has two route choices here, “Collegiate East” and “Collegiate West”. I had already hiked the western route as part of the CDT in 2016, so I decided to hike the east and see something new.

I climbed steeply away from the lake, and once I got higher I started seeing tons of wildflowers.

It was a relaxing afternoon, on an easy but uninteresting terrain. At one point, the trail even followed a powerline for a mile. Meh.

The aspen forests are so cool though. Lush green ground cover, and tons of white-barked trunks.

At the top of a long descent into the Clear Creek valley, there was a surprisingly good overlook. It was quite a vantage point, so high above the valley floor.

The trail descended on many switchbacks, with views in all directions.

As I got lower, the vegetation changed to plants adapted to the more arid climate.

At the bottom of the descent, I caught up to a two girls hiking the Collegiate Loop. It was their first day out, and coming from sea level, they were calling it a day at the primitive campground by Clear Creek. I kept going, and crossed the bridge.

The next 5 miles was all uphill, climbing 2700ft to the top of a ridge. It was slow going, but I was enjoying the cool sunny weather.

Up, up, up! After an hour I had climbed high enough to reach the aspen zone.

I stopped at the top of the ridge and setup camp. It was kinda cold up here at 11,600ft, but at least it was sunny.

Even though it was a short mileage day, I was still tired from the sun, and the big climb. I ate extra food for dinner, since I’m on pace to be in Salida on Saturday, and have more food than I need.

Tuesday June 29, 26.3mi/42.3km

Porcupine Creek (151.1/11280ft) to Twin Lakes/Hwy 82 (177.4/9324ft) (CO)

I was up at 6am with the daylight, and slowly packed up in the tent, waiting for the day to warm up. I hiked out at 7am into a foggy world.

The trail stayed high, and it wasn’t warm, maybe 50F/10C. Where did summer go? I passed by a few small lakes but felt no urge to go swimming.

This one was more of a swamp than a lake. The mountain behind it was hiding in the fog.

I loved the reflection on this little pond.

It must’ve rained quite a bit up here, all the little streams were rushing fast.

The fog slowly began to dissipate, and I had a view of the mountains from my ridgeline vantage point.

Since I couldn’t see the distant views, I focused on the nearby ones. Like the trail cut into a steep bank.

As I descended off the ridge, the world became more green, and the trail was less rocky.

And I entered the Mt Massive Wilderness!

At the bottom of the descent, I crossed a raging Brook on a very solid bridge.

After lunch, I started crossing paths with a few CDT nobos (northbound-ers). They were all friendly, but didn’t say much, being on a mission to get to Canada by October. And then the most random thing happened, I ran into a friend from the PCT (2015)! Beer Goddess and I were both very surprised to see each other.

We had a quick conversation, and then continued in our respective directions. A little while later, I had my first views of Mt. Elbert, a nearby 14er.

The trail was very smooth and fast the rest of the day, and I cruised along toward my goal of Twin Lakes.

I came to a road, and the Mt Massive trailhead. There was a stream nearby, so I took my final break of the day. Only 5 miles to go.

The trail switchbacked uphill for a mile, and the last one was a very sharp turn. This was an interesting perspective.

The trail junction for the Mt Elbert summit was soon after, and someone had built the most delicate looking Cairn.

The super smooth trail continued!

Just before dropping off the ridge into Twin Lakes, I passed by a few ponds. The beavers were very busy here!

I could see down to the lakes, which seemed impossibly far down for only two miles to go.

The trail descended steeply, and I could see my objective getting closer.

There was a fork in the trail, and it was a tough decision, but I continued in the Colorado Trail, since that’s where my ride was expecting to meet me. (The other option had restaurants!)

After walking downhill for another mile and a half, I came to highway 82. Surprisingly, the trail didn’t cross the road, but went UNDER it!

I planned to stay at a hiker hostel about 5 miles from trail, so I had arranged a ride from this spot. Britney came by around 6:45pm, and drove me to the hostel. I enjoyed a shower and some nice soup, and got ready for bed. A couple other CDT nobos came in at 9pm, and I fell asleep soon after.

Monday June 28, 24.9mi/40.1km

Guller Creek (126.2/11775ft) to Porcupine Creek (151.1/11280ft) (CO)

I packed up a damp tent and hit the trail at 7:30am. The moon was still out!

I made my way up and over Searle Pass, and I was in the alpine for miles and miles.

I saw several other westbound CT hikers, and chatted with Fresh Prince, a hiker from Austin TX. He stopped and took a break to dry his tent, I kept going. The alpine ridges are so cool.

I went thru Kokomo Pass, just above 12,000ft.

After the pass, I spent the rest of the morning hiking downhill.

An hour later, the trail dropped into a really dense aspen forest.

Nearly at the bottom of the descent, I took a break at a very short waterfall.

The trail came out of the forest and joined a dirt road. Apparently there was an old military testing area near here, and not all the landmines were accounted for.

I walked the dirt road for a few minutes, and I could hear ATVs in the distance.

Shortly after turning off the road, I passed by part of the old military base.

It was hot and sunny, but I still had an uphill climb before lunch. The trail was nice and shaded, and even had a couple benches along the way!

When I got to highway 24, I quickly crossed the busy road. It’s one of the few ways thru the mountains around here.

A minute later, I crossed some railroad tracks, which appeared unused.

I had lunch near the tracks, and then hiked thru a meadow full of willows.

The trail gradually climbed out of the meadow and into a forest. I was very surprised to see a moose come crashing thru the woods across the trail. It was a little terrifying, and I didn’t even think to get a photo. The trail soon turned into a nice old road.

It passed by some old coke ovens, used to cook coal into coke. Neat.

A mile later, I came out to the highway again, this time at Tennessee Pass.

The trailhead parking lot was empty, so I had the bathrooms and picnic tables all to myself. Refreshed from a nice break, I enjoyed the nice forested trail.

And a swing bench in the middle of nowhere, which was very random.

It was still a nice sunny day, which was surprising. Usually by 3pm it turns cloudy and threatens to thunderstorm.

Near the end of the day, I entered Holy Cross Wilderness, and it started to rain.

I spent the next hour hiking, looking for a campsite that was flat, but also not flooded. I finally found a spot under a dense pine tree, setup quickly, and made dinner inside.

I have a pretty good rain setup with my umbrella, so I was very dry. It was nice being in a warm tent listening to the light rain outside. It stopped an hour later, as I was falling asleep.