Colorado Trail: Final instalment.

Day 16. End of Collegiate Peaks West.
Aug 9.
After a rest day in Salida attempting to track down packages (no luck), resupplying and sampling the local cuisine, we started back with an easy day in preparation for the week ahead..

Enjoying the view and contemplating camping early.

Start: Monarch Pass 11,300ft
Camp: Continental Divide where CW meets East, 11,900ft.
Miles: 5

Day 17. Marshall Pass.

Aug 10

An undulating day, high and cold. Usual sunny start changing to grey and drizzly from 11am onwards.

Camp: Just beyond Sargents Mesa, 11,300ft.
Miles: 25

Day 18. No rain day!! Cochetopa Pass Rd.

Aug 11.

Undulating between 10,500-12,000ft earlier in the day. Descending to easier terrain after lunch.

Clouds that threatened to worsen but never did.

Evening walking

Camp: A couple of miles past Los Creek 9,400ft.
Miles: 27

Day 19. Cochetopa Creek & RAIN.

Aug 12
A wonderful start to the day: trail magic, sun, heat and beautiful views. Followed by an afternoon valley slog through freezing cold rain (not just thunder storm rain; proper rain). We wanted to reach the base of Mt San Luis to climb early in the morning before the weather turned (as it usually does around 11am).

10min into the day – the best surprise!! Tent on left said ‘no vacancy’ as there was room to sleep there. Coffee on the cooker… boxes and iced chilly bins full of food and cold drinks! (Nathan holding up what he thinks I would be most excited about – ‘Justins’ Maple Almond Butter. One of the better US supermarket discoveries..).

Morning break; the last bit of sunshine for the day.

SO. COLD. Valley walk towards Mt San Luis.

A brief break in the thunder storm.. Nathan choice of pose: the ‘taking a dump’ position?

Sunset as we reached the saddle.

Camp: San Luis saddle, 12,600ft.
Miles: 26

Day 20. Mt San Luis & La Garita Wilderness.

Aug 13

After a cold night, our wet gear from the previous days rain was frozen… We both got limited sleep (again my feet never thawed – didn’t resort to toilet paper and bandages this time though :D) which resulted in sunrise summit plans being forfeited.. We ended up summiting around 9am. Beautiful!
I also reached my personal (US) 1000 mile mark sometime around lunch time. I wonder if I had 1000mile blues or something as we totally bombed this day! Or maybe it was the lack of routine combined with brewing clouds threatening ANOTHER cold, wet afternoon. However, two things happened which raised my spirits that day. 1) the rain never really eventuated (a bit of hail and a couple of showers before lunch was the end of it) and 2) just after I had moped the entire lunch break, a man came by (Dick was his name) and showed incredible kindness. He was heading out that afternoon after a week in the mountains and insisted on giving us all his remaining snacks – cookies, crackers, drink sachets and home baking. This + his encouragement raised our spirits enough to cover 10 hard and high miles that afternoon.

High camp sight with the intention of a sun rise ascent..

The climb (photo credit: Nathan)

Failed high five

Another failed high five (number 10ish?)

High five for Nathans first CT 14er: Mt San Luis 14,014ft.

Survey point. Mt San Luis.

Descending Mt San Luis (a little later than planned)

Really sad: we passed through a lot of completely dead forests through this area from ‘the beatle’ which has gotten away due to forest fire control and milder winters in latter years.

Impressive view descending down from the La Garita Wilderness to Snow Mesa.

Snow Mesa campsite: 12,300ft. Another frosty night.

An evening visitor. Wandered around us as we set up tents. I met his owner (a shepherd) the following day looking for him.

Camp: By a pond on the high ‘Snow Mesa’, 12,300ft.
Miles: 16

Day 21. High & exposed.

Aug 14

First thought of the day: “Only 2 marathons and a 5 mile climb left till Silverton.. So close, nearly there!”. It’s funny how your perspective of what is a reasonable/doable endeavour changes. This threshold increases with increase in ability and experience.. What once seemed impossible is now normal (marathon days at altitude and over rough terrain). It’s amazing what the body can adapt to when you push it!

Crossed Snow Mesa and descended to Spring Creek Pass (10,900ft) for morning break. Climbed to Jarosa Mesa and undulated between 12,000-13,000ft for the rest of the day. Passed the CT’s highest point at 13,271ft. Carson Saddle before dinner (12,400ft). Crossed a 12,900ft pass after dinner for a beautiful sunset and dusk descent to a lower camp.

Note: It was also at this point that my camera died and I had to borrow Nathan’s for the next couple of days until Silverton.. unfortunate as it was some of the most beautiful scenery through the San Juin section!

The shepherd of this flock approached me looking for his horse. He looked like a hobbit: bearded, really short with giant barefeet and hands. Interesting fellow!

Just past the highest point of the CT: 13,270ft.

12,900ft pass after dinner .

Camp: Pole Creek drainage, 12,300ft.
Miles: 28

Day 22. Cuba, Minnie, Maggie Gulches & Weminuche Wilderness.
Aug 15.
Undulating over passes and down gulches for the morning (between 12 & 13,000ft) – beautiful day! Stony Pass TH for lunch. Crossed the Continental Divide (12,700ft) at afternoon break time after which we descended down Elk Creek for the rest of the day. First thought of the day: ‘now only 1 marathon and a 5 mile climb left to go!’.

Cataract Lake just below previous nights camp spot.

Near continental divide, StoneyPass, above headwaters of Rio Grande.

Headwaters of Elk Creek. Sheep grazing to the right (whose shepherd I passed not long before, heading out to round them up for the night).

White Dome on left. Beautiful wild flowers as the 4,000ft descend to camp began..

Camp: Animas River by the railway, 8,900ft.
Miles: 26

Day 23. Molas Pass.
Aug 16.
A quick climb to Molas Pass (HWY 550) where we hitched to Silverton for resupply.

Previous nights camp down in the valley below by the Animas river (early start as we were hanging counting down to a real meal!).

Silverton – home of the iconic Hardrock 100mile ultra and one of my favourite places in CO!

Miles: 5

Day 24. Leaving Silverton.
Aug 17

Only walked 5 miles but I managed to take a nasty fall… 😀 With all the blood I was nauseous for the evening.. Soft eh! (OK, I was actually going for a sneaky evening jog when I fell. I was to race a 50mile ultra in 7days time and hadn’t been for a single run so thought I better at least do 1. Turns out I may have lost my running legs! Clumsy trip).
Start: Molas Pass (10,900ft).

Wild flowers

Camp: Lime Creek 11,600ft

Miles: 5

Day 25. Cascade Creek.

Aug 18.

Raain.

Funky coloured caterpillar

Camp: Corral Draw Trail 10,800ft

Miles: 29

Day 26. Kennebec Pass, Gaines Gulch.

Aug 19.

Early start as we were (once again) starving and on a mission to get there ASAP.

Morning break: after an extra mile and time lost due to a water scouting mishap.. still on a mission to put in the miles though. Also of note is the number of jet streams in the sky: I counted 7 at this point (not all in the pic).. we noticed a lot of air traffic pretty much everywhere we went in the States.

Clouds building.. for the usual afternoon.

Heading up to the ridge where there was loud thunder over head and lightening striking on either side of us.. not an ideal position to be in.

Taylor Lake

ONLY ONE MORE MARATHON!! 🙂

House on the Ridge and first sight of Durango in the distance (which we were not to be taking a direct route to.. we were to cross to the next valley on the left and then back over the range to the right..).

Red rocks reminded me of Australia.

Camp: 10 miles from the end 🙂 9,400ft

Miles: 30

Day 27. Durango.

Aug 20

Early start.

Pretty forest to finish with. The mobs of day walkers and joggers hint that the end is near! (And make us more aware of our need for a shower).

Only the second bear sighting of the whole trip was at the trail end – so close to civilisation.

The end of my near 2000k through hiking journey.. Just as I was starting to look the part! (practical sunhat, extreme sock lines, poles, lightweight ULA pack, bright coloured gaiters & runners.. All I need to really fit in now is a hippy skirt and an instrument strapped to the outside of my pack!)

Miles: 10

Sunrise from the accommodation in Durango. I am going to miss witnessing such beauty every day!

Colorado trail: the end.

I wasn’t sure weather I was more sad or relieved! Almost 3 months and 2000km of walking was epic and I loved (almost) every minute of it. I loved overcoming challenges on a daily basis while seeing some of the most beautiful scenery USA has to offer. Spending months outdoors with all I needed on my back and only survival (food, water and sleep) to worry about was a great way to gain new perspective.. The following quote puts it nicely:

The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.

-Hans Hoffman

I think my biggest lesson was about simplicity and how little we need to be happy. It’s so easy to be sucked into materialism in our society. But at the same time, I will admit I also gained a new appreciation for the comforts of normal life! After the rains wearing us down in Colorado and the monotony of walking 12hrs a day, I am happy to be going home to a roof over my head and new challenges. Best of luck to Nathan who is going back to California to finish the journey he started from Mexico to Canada!

And one last thing: Thank you America for your hospitality! The generosity and kindness we encountered blew me away. All they ask was that we pay it forward 🙂