Mile 1260ish- Rabbit Ears Pass/Steamboat Springs, CO

Old shoes with 600 miles on them vs. new shoes

Gray's Peak- highest point on the CDT!

Trail along the ridge

Well, it's been a lovely week in Colorado, now that there's less snow to plow/swim/slosh through.  Unfortunately, that window of time before the bugs come out began closing as we left Frisco- good thing I picked up my bug net and Deet!  Hiking along, we've been able to do larger mileage mostly, though the elevation has begun changing from going up and staying up to up and down and up again.  We hit our lowest elevation-wise points on the trail in Colorado going into Grand Lake.  At a measly 8,000 something feet in elevation, I felt like I was drinking the air it was so thick! 

Everyone making dinner on the fire

We will soon be moving onto a new state- Wyoming- and leaving the high elevation for a while as well, dropping down into the desert before heading back up into the Wind River Range.  My brain has begun to feel fried coming into towns sometimes, and that's how I know I've been in the woods for not long enough!
Goodbye CoolRadBro, Hello WingNoming!

Sometimes the trail looks like this...

Storm clouds rolling in at Devil's Thumb Pass

Pos, Gnar, and I before heading into Steamboat.

Bob, Speedbump, and Kim floating down the Yampa River in Steamboat

Mile 1,020ish- Frisco, CO

Gnar and Max Chill having a Meat Stick Joust

Signage!

Wow, it has been a whirlwind these past couple days!  I've been visiting with friends and family, as well as saying goodbye- some forever and some just for now.  It seems as though my thoughts are going at a mile a minute at the moment, so my apologies if this post gets a bit confusing.  I'll try to go in order.

Pod calls these "snow hurdles". They suck.

Max Chill out front walking the ridge into Monarch Pass.

So we left Lake City, and I was hiking with Gnar, Pod, and Max Chill.  The snow was beginning to melt faster, so as we were going through it, our feet were cold because of the post-holing/slushy snow and the rest of our exposed skin was getting sunburnt.  It was neat to have been through this area before, so I saw how different it looked with snow vs. with all the rain we got in the Colorado Trail last year.  So I haven't taken nearly as many photos, but it's been enjoyable nontheless.


We did have some scary moments, though not nearly as many as the last section.  Most of them involved being in a big field at 11,000ft when a thunder storm would decide to roll in- never fun.
We made it to Salida in time to have a night in the hostel right before a group of roller derby girls.  Thankfully, there is a trail angel there who hosts up to 3 hikers in her apartment.  AND she drove us back to the trail- Thanks Liv!

Don't go this way!  ...unless you're on the CDT...

Since Salida, we've been moving at quite a faster pace than before- instead of only covering 15 miles because of the snow, we're now up to 20-23 miles per day.  This has been tiring some days, going up and down and up passes.  It's also felt a bit more rewarding.  We're no longer not wanting to look at our maps to see how many miles we did, (because we'd be disappointed at so few) we're looking and being pleasantly surprised at the mileage.  I've got to honest though, I can't wait to get to Wyoming and burn up some big mile days in the desert! 

When we got to Frisco, Gnar, Pod and I found out our friend Max Chill was planning on getting off trail.  It was sad to see him go, and I also know he needs to do what's best for him.  We also found out via another hiker that the infamous gentleman who drove us to the Crazy Cooke Monument at the Mexico/United States border has passed away.  Sam Hughes- you were a lovely/humorous man and will be gratefully remembered by many.

Pod and Gnar break time!

Looking down toward Lake Ann from next to the cornice.

A Colorado storm rolling in.

Learning about the ghost town we're walking through.

Pod sneak-attacking a dog atop Mt. Elbert

This helicopter flew about 50 ft over us atop Mt. Elbert- they waved.

Watch out! Near Camp Hale- an old army barracks.

This is what happens to your shirt if you wear it for 1,000 miles

The last hurdle before Frisco

Frisco! And Friends!

Mile 815ish- Spring Creek Pass/Lake City, CO

Softwalker looking over the next section of maps

Well, friends, I've made it through another hundred miles.  These past miles were hard fought for, and while not completely worn out, I am definitely glad to be in a place that it's not snowing or windy right now.


Trail!

The last stretch of trail we went through has been the longest food carry between resupplies I've done yet on this trip- I carried 7 days worth of food out of Pagosa Springs- that's a lot of snacks!  Thankfully I've been traveling with a good group of people.  We've been having fires nearly every night to dry out our shoes so they won't be frozen in the morning.  We've also been each other's support systems/navigators/trail breakers all in one!  I would not have been nearly as motivated to get up and moving if I didn't have Speed Bump moving around in a tent near me on many a frosty morning this past week.  And with Bumpy or Max Chill or Waldo leading the way, it made trail finding a bit easier though the post-holing got worse later in the day with old foot prints. 




Pod and Gnar post-holing their way towards me

Where do we go? Gnar, Pod, and Max Chill.

Ridge walk! Yea, along that cornice.

There was an avalanche here sometime ago.

'The Window' Apparently, you can cross country
 to go through it if you want...

The CDT meets the CT near Silverton. 
It looks alot different than the last time I was here.

SpeedBump crossing another snowy patch

Woke up to this about 17 miles outside of the pass into Lake City.

Mile 710ish- Pagosa Springs, COLORADO

I can only assume this means the CDT is
inherently hazardous to public use.

Estero making it across our "log bridge"

Softwalker and I hung out in this conveniently
placed shelter during a rain/hail/thunder storm.

Woo-e, it's been a crazy week.  As you can see from this post's title, I have officially made it to Colorado, a new state along the divide.  That also means I've left the desert behind for higher ground-literally.  The group I've been hiking with and I left Ghost Ranch to begin our semi-immediate ascent into the higher mountain range known as the San Juan mountains.  As we got higher, the weather became cooler, the water became more plentiful, oh, and we began the snowy/icy traverses with the wind battering us on a daily basis. The snow also makes the trail a bit harder to find, thank goodness for maps!  The past few days, since Cumbres Pass, we've been walking mostly above 11,000ft, so it's been stunning and tough on the body.  As of right now, I could go on and on, but I believe photos would do this beautiful scenery more justice than my attempts at describing them so here they are:

More water = more mud.

Home for the night.

Me, Estero, and Softwalker at a trail marker.
  The snow begins

We thought we were on trail getting into Colorado.
 Apparently, we were wrong.

Softwalker near Cumbres Pass.

North of Cumbres Pass, with weather coming in.

And it snowed on us a few times.

Which meant fresh tracks in the morning.

Self Portrait at about 11,900ft and 8:30am

Speed Bump crossing a slope- the new snow in the sun helped us not fall.

Also, I have been collecting species information through a group called ASC (Adventurers and Scientists for Conservation)  It's been really cool to try and sneak up on different species to get a photo to report back to the website I've been recording it on- inaturalist.org.  I believe it's also made me more aware of my surroundings- as a thru-hiker, we sometimes get tunnel vision.  On this trip alone, I've spotted herds of elk, snakes, birds aplenty, and ptarmigan, to name a few.

Mile 550ish- Ghost Ranch

Trail angels/Estero's friends Sarah and Calculator

The top of Mt. Taylor!

Looking forward

Well it's been a week of ups and downs here on the trail (temperature and elevation, anyway).  After being dropped back off in Grants from Albequerque, we went up to the top of Mt Taylor.  At over 11,000ft, it gave me an idea of what I'd be enjoying more of in the days to come- being out of breath and slow going up.  Then there was the downhill- in the trees snowy, and in the sun I could basically run down the trail.
The walking to Cuba, NM was lovely, with going up and across and down mesas.  There was a 28-mile waterless stretch, which was a bit arduous, thankfully it was cloudy that day.  We made it into Cuba from Grants (110 miles) in 4 and change days, and headed out again the same day after resupplying.

Lit-up trail.  All those plants are Cholla Cactus, BTW.

Blooming Cactus

After Cuba, we headed up again, only to be snowed on- what!?  Yes, snowed on, while walking through marshy meadows and over patches of snow.  That experience has me thoughtful for what's ahead in the San Juan mountains of southern Colorado.
As we were walking into Ghost Ranch, I was thinking about how happy I currently am and how wonderful life is and how grateful I am for what my mind and body can do and go through, it's such a great place to be in.  I'm so joyful I could burst!

Softwalker and Estero doing sock laundry in the first
flowing stream we've encountered

Walking toward Rio Chama