One Last Time!

It is Saturday evening, and I've enjoyed a restful day at home, getting ready for my final leg of the trail. I've got 74 miles left to complete the Colorado Trail, which I will be doing this week. Jim Redfern, the terrific contractor who I've worked with for the last five years in renovating the Horseshoe Lodge, has kindly offered to drive me to Durango, a five hour drive, on Monday. Friends Mindy and Patrick Meiering generously offered for me to spend the night at their home in Durango, then a ride to Molas Pass on Tuesday morning where I will start the 73.9 miles of Sections 25-28. I'm so pleased to be at this stage of the hike...it's been a lot of planning, driving, and especially, putting one foot in front of the other. And I am so excited to have the completion for this challenge a few days away. Of course, I still have a good hike ahead of me, but I am rested and ready! I expect to get to the the end of the trail, just outside of Durango, on Friday or Saturday. Pledges and donations continue to come in and I am at over $73 a mile so far. The funds being raised are directly supporting MPEC's education programs, with an emphasis on this year's Earth Studies program. Through ES, every 5th grader from Pueblo City Schools, around 1300 kids, gets 6 full days of Nature-based education spread throughout the school year. Serendipitously, this year's first day of Earth Studies is this Tuesday as well. All week, while I'm covering the final miles of the CT, students from Parkview, Baca, Spann and Carlile Elementary Schools, many of whom will be going to the mountains or taking a hike for the first time in their lives, will be in Pueblo Mountain Park kicking off the the 10th year of MPEC's award winning ES program. That is all the motivation I need to complete the hike!

Happy Trails...an essay in the Pueblo Chieftain!

This year, I've taken more time out on the trail to write and journal...this was somewhat by design, as last year I missed some things in my push for miles. And, waiting out afternoon stormy skies created space for writing as well. I am pleased that the Pueblo Chieftain published an essay I wrote during this summer's first stretch on the trail. You can read it by clicking here!

It was a great hike!

I believe that I now have a favorite section of the Colorado Trail, at least so far, after 412 miles, with 74 remaining: Section 24, specifically the Elk Creek drainage in the Weminuche Wilderness surrounded by the spectacular Grenadiers. The Grenadiers are a group of mountains composed of quartzite, a hard and weather resistant rock that is rather rare in the Southern Rockies.

I started this 4-day trek at Spring Creek Pass, which is north of Creede and south of Lake City, at about 8:30 on Saturday morning, July 30. Helene hiked a mile or so with me and got a taste of the hike. After she headed back, I climbed onto Jarosa Mesa, then up and down to mile 9.2 at treeline with dark clouds brewing by mid-day. I opted to spend the night there to avoid being up in the exposed alpine landscape with lighting bolts shooting all around (an event that actually never happened anywhere near me anytime during this trek). I was up at five the next two mornings...hiked over the Colorado Trail's high point at 13,271', and made it to an un-named lake at mile 5.7 of Section 23 before the clouds kept me back once again. After a rainy night (the un-named lake is now called "Rained All Night Lake"), I was on the trail again before 6am, hiked through some cold rain just beyond Stony Pass into Section 24, and had clear enough skies to scoot across some high exposed alpine and down into Elk Creek. The final half mile before dropping off the high ridge greeted me with wind, cold rain and thick fog (but no electricity). As I descended into the drainage, the fog and rain slowly cleared and the spectacular landscape began to reveal itself. Wow, it was gorgeous...incredible rocky mountains, vibrant wildflowers and multi-textured skies combined to make a most memorable and striking section of the hike. I had to hike a few more miles down the trail to find a suitable place to hike, making for a 20-mile day, but an easier 12 miles for the last day's hike. My final day included seeing and hearing the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad that travels along the Animas River and a long but rewarding climb out of the Animas River valley to Molas Pass and the end of another 53 miles of the CT. More photos can be found at my facebook page http://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=a.1884093183433.2093698.1274464053&type=1.