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.

Sunday June 27, 21.8mi/35.1km

Gold Hill TH (104.4/9199ft) to Guller Creek (126.2/11775ft) (CO)

Back to the Colorado Trail!

I woke up very early at home, and packed up my gear and food.

I drove the hour from Golden, and met my friend Kumi at the Colorado Trail trailhead near Breckenridge. She is visiting Colorado this week, and we hiked together most of the day.

The first part of the trail was thru a clear-cut area, done to prevent further spread of the destructive pine beetle.

After an hour, we entered a burn section that was eerily quiet.

We passed quite a few dayhikers today, and one older couple was inspecting a meadow full of Corn Lillies.

As we climbed higher to 11,000ft the wildflowers became abundant.

As we climbed ever higher, a wonderful view of Dillon Lake emerged.

The mountains to the south appeared to have received some snow last night.

We finally finished climbing around 1pm, and stood at the top of the Tenmile Range ridge. There were still a few leftover cornices from last winter!

Kumi looking down on Breckenridge (to the east).

Of course we each had to get a summit photo. Copper mountain is in the background.

We descended 2500ft, all the way down to the Copper Mt parking lot.

We said goodbye to each other, and Kumi gave me some delicious snacks.

The next few miles weaved thru Copper mountain ski resort, with an unusual perspective of ski lifts in summer.

Finally the trail left the developed area, and re-entered a tranquil forest.

It was a very well built section of trail, with little bridges over the streams.

I spent an hour following Guller Creek upstream, and the shifting clouds made interesting photos.

At the end of the day, I emerged above treeline again, just as the clouds started to disperse.

I setup camp just before Searle Pass, and had a wonderful view of the sunset, and the whole river valley that I had just hiked up.

I was exhausted from getting up early, so I passed out just after 9pm.

Sunday May 30, 4.6mi/7.4km

Anderson Camp (53.2/120ft) to Usal Beach Trailhead (57.8/40ft) (CA)

This was our last morning on the trail, I’m gonna miss hiking with these peeps. Bard seemed very awake for the early hour.

We got moving at 7:15am, knowing it was going to be a long day of driving. We crossed a stream and started climbing up the opposite hill, and then paused for a bull elk in the trail.

The elk wasn’t eager to move, and when he did, it was just further up the trail. Eventually, he moved off to the side and we were able to get by.

The climb continued up to a ridge, where we had spectacular views of the ocean.

The trail turned inland again, and the next part was a steeply eroded section. It even had a rope for a handrail!

We took a break by the final stream, Dark Gulch stream. I finished my haribo candy and M&Ms, but we only had two miles to go. The climb out of the gulch wasn’t well maintained.

We emerged up on another ridge, and the terrain was more open.

As we hiked along the slowly descending ridge, the undergrowth became thicker and thicker.

There was poison oak alongside the trail, sometimes on both sides, which made it impossible to avoid.

After the poison oak carwash (we are all burning our clothes after this), the trail resumed it’s nice tread.

The last mile was clearly very popular with dayhikers, as we saw a dozen people. And the trail was very well maintained. A brief break at the final viewpoint overlooking the ocean:

The trail descended off the ridge on a dozen switchbacks thru a mature forest. It was getting quite hot by now (11am), and the shade was very welcomed.

These little flowers were all along the edges of the trail.

We arrived at the finishing trailhead just after 11am. The signboard was knocked over, so we decided to get a photo with the only other structure nearby.

We still had a half mile further to walk, since my car was parked down at the beach. We changed our clothes, drank and ate car snacks, and then headed down to the water.

It was memorial day weekend, so there were probably 100 other people around. But no one was in the water… except us!

Bard went first…

I went next, and while trying to get in the water slowly, a big wave came and knocked me over. It was COLD! But felt so good and refreshing. We dried off, and went back to the car. After some creative driving thru soft sand, I made it to the gravel road, and everyone else got in. We had a three hour drive back up to Bard’s car at Mattole Trailhead, with a stop for lunch along the way.

Goodbyes are hard, group photos are easy.

We parted ways, Bard driving south, and Topshelf and I driving north to Ashland.

It’s a beautiful trail, and with a little maintenance it could be a good beginner hike. The driving logistics are a little tedious, though there are commercial (expensive) shuttle options. I’d recommend this trail if you’re in California, but otherwise I think the Olympic Peninsula or Oregon Coast Trail are more rewarding beach-hiking options.

Sea you later, Lost Coast! 😁

Saturday May 29, 15.3mi/24.6km

Jones Beach Campground (37.9/110ft) to Anderson Camp (53.2/120ft) (CA)

The walk out of camp felt different today, everything was very quiet, even the ocean could barely be heard.

We walked on the old two track road for a mile, then veered away from the beach.

Around the next corner was a ranger station. The guy came strolling over to collect $10 each from us… which was a little surprising. The spot we had camped at last night was technically in the State park, and he wanted the fee. But there was no signage at our campsite mentioning a fee; obviously we would have camped elsewhere. After scraping together $22 between the three of us, he let us pass. Sheesh!

The next mile of trail made us forget that whole unpleasantness. Elk were everywhere!

And even more elk …

Around the next corner was another herd of elk.

And these two elk got uncomfortably close. They are clearly used to humans.

And more elk…

After binging on elk viewing for 30 minutes, we moved on.

The trail meandered back and forth between coast and deep forest.

The floor down here on the coast is fascinating. So many different flowers!

We realized we were approaching the next camping area, when this privy appeared. The buoys were a nice touch.

As we were hiking away from the camp area and back into the thicker brush, a lone elk scared the s*** out of us!

After this point the trail became noticeably less maintained. There were a few blowdowns, and we played the game of “over versus under”.

Also the trees became huge.

Parts of the trail were slightly overgrown, but at least it was nice flowers and not poison oak.

It was a cool forest. Some huge trees…

And some groves of Aspen.

After an hour the trail dumped us back onto the beach near Wheeler Camp.

We walked on the beach for a quarter mile, and saw another group laying out on the sand.

At the other end of the beach, we found a nice grassy area and took a lunch break.

I saw a few other people hike by as we were eating. I suspect there is a trailhead not too far from here, given how clean they looked. We hiked on, and the next mile of trail is the most overgrown part of the whole hike.

A cool purple flower.

After 20 minutes the trail opened back up, and we even had some views.

The next section of trail was in a dense old forest, and some of the trees had burned.

A little banana slug crawled up as we sat around the tree.

After leaving this nice forest, there was one final section of overgrown Trail.

It’s strange how the trail alternates from overgrown to very nice. On the final downhill to our camp, we were surprised by yet another elk.

This one was a massive bull elk, and he was kind of blocking the trail, so we waited until he slowly meandered away.

We explored the Anderson camp area, which clearly had been neglected compared to the other campsites we’ve seen so far. We set up our tents on the uppermost tier, since the spots down by the creek seemed dark and damp.

It was a small campsite, so our three tents are basically touching each other. It’s our last night camping so we ate dinner, and also a bunch of our spare food. I was pretty full and I fell asleep quickly.

Friday May 28, 14.3mi/23.0km

Horse Mountain Creek (23.6mi/22ft) to Jones Beach Campground (37.9/110ft) (CA)

We got going a little earlier from camp today, I think we were all a little excited about food at the general store.

After only a mile and a half, we were off the beach. This is where some hikers decide to finish, but really the trail is only halfway done at this point.

We had 2 miles/3km of roadwalking to do, and it climbed 1000ft/300m in that short distance.

Fortunately it was still early morning and most of the road was covered in shade. We saw a few signs for the general store and we were getting close.

We got to the general store at 10am and hung out for an hour…. buying food, eating food, and getting rid of previously consumed food.

There wasn’t any place to sit or any shade, but we still enjoyed ourselves. My ginger lemonade, whole cucumber, and ice cream bar really hit the spot.

Back on the road, we had another mile to go. The views down to the ocean were a nice distraction.

We turned into a small dirt road.

When we got to the hidden Valley trailhead we took a nice break in the shade.

For the rest of this hike, most of the trail will be in the woods. It started off quite nice…

We climbed 800ft up to the top of Chamisal Mountain, I was happy to be in the shade on a hot day like this.

At the top of the climb there is a little viewpoint at the summit.

We took off our packs and had a nice break. It was hilarious seeing all three packs lined up with the princess hand sanitizers.

For the rest of the day we would be descending, which was fortunate because now it was really hot.

At the boundary of Sinkyone State park, there was an old dilapidated cabin.

I poked around it for a couple minutes and didn’t find anything interesting. Moving on…

And then all of a sudden the trail started descending really steeply. With poison oak growing on both sides. And out of nowhere two aggressive dogs came running up the trail. Not ideal!!

We shoo’ed the dogs away, and found some sticks to shove the poison oak out of the way. The trail continued steeply down all the way to a creek. I was happy to have nice cold water to drink, and even happier that the steep downhill was done.

The last mile of the day was on gentle terrain with pretty good views.

These flowers had a hilarious name.

We arrive to the Jones Beach Campground and discovered we had it all to ourselves. Perfect!

And it had a new privy!

We set up our tents, and I took a walk down to the beach. It was a half mile walk, so the other two decided to stay back in camp.

It was a very small beach.

Looking to the north:

And looking to the South:

This was not high tide, and the beach was still tiny. I think this is why the trail stays up in the forest for this section! I walked back up to camp, and had dinner with my friends. We enjoyed a nice sunset from our tent area.

I’m excited to see what tomorrow brings!

Thursday May 27, 16.9mi/27.2km

Cooskie Creek (6.7/36ft) to Horse Mountain Creek (23.6mi/22ft) (CA)

It was a leisurely morning in camp, and I watched the lightening sky from my tent.

I hiked up on the sandy bluffs surrounding Cooskie Creek, so I could see the tide of the ocean. And taunt it, of course.

It was definitely low tide! Looking back down to camp, I could see the other groups slowly getting up.

We left camp at 8:30am, and had a nice walk on the enlarged beach at low tide.

The sunrise was coming over the cliffs, and it was awesome to watch the line of light.

After a little while, the beach turned less rocky, and it was nice easy walking. Occasionally a tiny side stream would come down and flow across the beach, making cool patterns in the sand.

We had a leisurely stroll all morning, hiking close to the ocean, daring it to get me wet. One of the warning signs said “never turn your back on the ocean”, so we did this often. Taunting the ocean! We had a nice lunch break at a driftwood structure.

The afternoon started off on a grassy plateau above the beach. It was a nice variety of hiking.

A couple of spots had some thriving poison oak. Most of it was off to one side and easy to avoid.

At the start of the hike, I had gotten each of us hand sanitizers. The cheapest ones just happened to be Disney princess themed, which got more entertaining each day.

The grassy pleateau also had some surprises.

The trail eventually turned into an old road, which was very enjoyable walking.

Eventually, we were forced off the plateau by a parcel of private property. Back down to the beach!

And some other type of sea critter…

There was no shortage of tidal sea life in this area. Our return to the plateau was welcomed though, as the tide was rising again.

Soon enough, we were back down on the beach. The rising tide was shrinking our walking area, and sometimes a wave came pretty close. I still continued taunting the ocean though.

The side Creek in this spot had formed a really strange sand sculpture!

The beach continued to shrink. We were almost at camp though…

We made it to a campsite at Horse Mountain Creek just after 5:30pm. A dozen other people were already there, and most of them were part of a guided group. They were camped down on the beach, and questionably close to the high tide line. We chose a campsite up on the grassy plateau, safe from the high tide. The view of sunset from camp was spectacular.

After a nice usual dinner of Knorr pasta and a tuna packet, I re-staked my tent. It’s a scenic spot, but it’s also really windy. We’ll see if it hold up thru the night….