Day 64 – Steamboat
Day miles: 0
Trip miles: 1223.6
I always hate putting zero miles for town days because I always walk at least a handful of miles, but there were zero trail miles today. I walked a mile down to Rabbit Ears Pass early in the morning and got a hitch fairly quickly (within 15 minutes) into town. I was surprised because it does not seem like a great spot to get a ride. There is a pull off area, but it is around a curve and traffic is moving fast.
My ride was a nice guy heading into town to buy some truck parts that he had been struggling to find. He dropped me off near the City Market Grocery, but I went straight to a restaurant called The Egg for breakfast.
I had coffee, a breakfast burrito with a side of fruit, and a cinnamon bun. I was there for a while. I ate at The Egg in 2019 on the day that I quit my CDT hike. To that point, reaching Steamboat felt strange to me. It almost felt dangerous, like maybe I would get that feeling again and quit. Yet, somehow I decided to visit the same places. I stayed in the same hotel, ate at the same breakfast place, and later even had coffee at the same coffee house. It was like a tour of old feelings, traveling dangerously close to the edge to get a glimpse of the freak show on the other side.
I was good though. This was a different hike and I was in a different place. It was a fun, but busy day. Steamboat has a free bus, so I used that and walking to get around. I went to the post office, picked up my loaner tent and sent my tent back to Zpacks. I sent my fleece, down hood, and third pair of socks home. I don’t think I’ll need the fleece now that I’m down from high elevations. The down hood has been too hot the entire time, and I haven’t used the third pair of socks since the desert in New Mexico. I would be carrying more water soon, so I needed to shed the weight.
I couldn’t check into my hotel until later in the day, so I went for coffee and worked on getting caught up with my journal. I ate lunch at a Greek gyro place, and then took the bus to resupply. I stopped at Walgreens briefly to pick up a Covid test. Karen, the Trail Angel in Grand Lake had texted me that she had Covid. While I am fully vaccinated, it doesn’t mean I can’t get Covid, and while I felt fine, it also didn’t mean I didn’t have it, so I wanted to find out. I did wonder if maybe my recent stomach issues were related, though I had not had any problems today. I took the test and it was negative, which was a great relief.
I ended up having to go to three grocery stores to resupply. Fortunately they were close together – Safeway, City Market, and Walmart. I also picked up some food for dinner to save money and time, as it was already a little after five.
I missed the bus back to the hotel by seconds. I ran and tried to waive it down, with two microwave personal pizzas strapped to the top of my pack, but to no avail. So, I walked a bike path alongside a river back to the hotel. It was about a mile walk, so not too bad, but I was losing time and had a lot of cleaning up to do. I still had to do laundry and clean some gear, and had a lot of writing I wanted to do.
I saw a man fly fishing in the stream beside US40. Only in Colorado do you have a highway, separated bike and walking path, and fly fishing all in one place! I sustained some mosquito bites along the way that itched badly. Town mosquitoes….
I spent the evening getting organized and watching The Breakfast Club in the background. There’s something classically soothing about a good John Hughes film. I will probably leave town later tomorrow to help me catch up on rest and writing. I want to enjoy this hotel bed and the free breakfast in the morning, though I also bought a breakfast burrito and banana for the same purpose.
I went to bed grateful for modern comforts and knowing that Steamboat would not be the end of this road. Not this time anyway.
Day 65 – The Blood Letting
Day miles: 9.4
Trip miles: 1233
I slept in until about 7:30AM in the super comfortable hotel bed. I ran down for coffee and breakfast. I had a banana and burrito that I had bought at the store, but I figured those would be my second breakfast.
The hotel spread was actually pretty good, with eggs, sausage, pancakes, cereal, a few other items and both coffee and juice. I sampled a little bit of everything while chatting with Backcountry.com online to resolve a delivery issue. I purchased a new pair of shoes and shipped them ahead to the Encampment, WY post. Backcountry usually recognizes general delivery addresses and then ships via USPS, but they had shipped via UPS. Post offices don’t usually accept packages from third party delivery providers like UPS and FEDEX. I got the issue resolved; hopefully the shoes will beat me there.
I spent the rest of the morning trying to catch up on writing and watching the Karate Kid in the background. Checkout was at 11, but I sat in the lobby for a few more hours to write.
I booked a Lyft ride to the trail pass rather than try to hitch. It was just easier and quicker that way. My driver was a cool guy from Bulgaria.
Once back on trail, I immediately sprayed myself with some deet. The terrain was mellow, but very grassy and wet, and the mosquitoes were particularly relentless. I had a fairly short day and when I decided to set up my tent, swarms of them piled on me and bit me through my shirt. So much for permethrin….
A big thunderstorm moved through tonight with some pretty intense lightning. I was grateful to already be in my tent, and it was soooooo good to have a tent with a working zipper tonight. The mosquitoes were not as thrilled about that….
Tomorrow I will hike a full day and I hope that the mosquitoes won’t be quite as bad. I’m only 52 miles from the Wyoming border!
Day 66 – The Armor
Day miles: 27.8
Trip miles: 1260.8
Generally, most creatures have some kind of role in their ecosystem. Spiders are creepy, but they eat bugs and other insects. Vultures are gross, but they are the garbage patrol of the sky. Everything has a purpose, and different forms of life provide checks and balances to other forms of life. I would really like to know what real purpose mosquitoes serve. What possible positive benefit are those little blood thieves offering to the world?
It rained quite hard last night, and at one point there was a pool of water under the bottom quarter of my tent. Fortunately the tent floor did not have any leaks. Not sure I would have been able to say the same for my own tent – having the new loaner tent is nice!
The mosquitoes were delighted by the rain. All of their neighborhood pools, spas, and breeding grounds got a nice top up. They were ready to celebrate early too, waiting for me to wake up, staring at me from the tent door, which they clung to with eager desperation.
The area I camped in was so full of mosquitoes that they had bitten me all through my permethrin treated shirt yesterday. I knew hundreds of them would surround me while I took down my tent, so I put some deet on my exposed skin and donned my rain jacket. They could bite through my shirt, but not through both my shirt and jacket. This would be my mosquito armor.
I got going as quickly as possible to help my cloud of friends get their morning exercise. It was overcast but nice out. I spent the morning gradually climbing, and eventually sat down on some rocks for a break and to try to dry out my tent.
I was gradually working my way up Lost Ranger Peak, which was a little over 11,800 feet. There were several thunderstorms forming and in progress in the distance, including one parallel to the ridge I was climbing. I hoped I would not get caught in one as I went over the top of the peak.
Fortunately, the Universe spared me and I made it up and over. After that, it was all downhill back to tree line, and then further down into the valley. I ended up walking more miles than expected today because it took me a while to find a place not covered by blowdowns. I finally found a nice flat spot by a stream, just as some evening thundershowers kicked in.
I had some nice views today from the ridge and Lost Ranger Peak. I wore my rain jacket all day to minimize mosquito bites, which worked great but made me sweat a lot. The trail in this section was very boggy and there were a number of snow banks to cross, though nothing of any concern or difficulty.
I felt a little like a storm dodger today. Luckily the lightning and rain did not catch up to me until after I was in my tent. I saw a deer with a nice set of antlers today, as well as some pika and a marmot.
I camped about 24 miles from the Wyoming border! If everything goes well, I will be in Wyoming tomorrow afternoon. That is going to feel weird and amazing. Colorado has been such a big part of this hike, as well as an important state for me personally to overcome.
I didn’t want to jinx it yesterday, but it appears that the Jamaican mafia have all been incarcerated or relocated from my belly into witness protection. I don’t care which; I’m just happy they are gone. I had no issues yesterday or today. That’s what happens when you try and live the fast life in Grand Lake. I learned my lesson and this Icarus intends to keep his wax wings nice and firm from here on out.
I was grateful that the storms danced around me and not on me today, and that I didn’t let the insane mosquitoes drive me mad. Hoping for good weather tomorrow!
Day 67 – Into Wyoming
Day miles: 25.3
Trip miles: 1286.1
It rained heavily last night and early into the morning. As I made coffee in the morning, I made a mental note that I would need to find a place to dry out my gear later on. I would have a dry out lunch somewhere, hopefully on a big hot rock.
I disassembled my wet tent and set about hiking. Today was going to be a big day for two reasons: (1) I would pass the halfway mile marker, and (2) I would leave Colorado and enter Wyoming. Both of these were equally exciting.
Based on this year’s CDT trail mileage, the actual halfway point would be 1487.65; however, I was looking at mile 1500 as my own psychological halfway marker. From a timing perspective, I have been on trail just a little over two months, and I expect that in another two and change I will reach Canada. I do intend to pick up my daily mileage a bit in the flatter sections of Wyoming. I want to make sure that I finish the trail before it really starts to snow up north. Those snowstorms can start surprisingly early! The thing is, you never really know until it’s too late.
I started the morning with a soggy hike up a ridge. It wasn’t raining, but the trail was a bit overgrown and all of the plants were covered in rain from the night before. My feet quickly began to make that telltale “squish, squash” sound with each step.
Later I came out onto a road where there was a bridge over the river. I could see a hiker taking down a tent on the other side off away from the road. I crossed the bridge, but then realized that the trail didn’t follow the road. I doubled back and found the trail, immediately noticing that it was very much overgrown.
I pushed though the heavy brush and blowdowns. A couple appeared going southbound as I was making my way through an obstacle course of tree limbs. “We’re taking the road,” one of them said as they snaked by. Road? What did she mean by that? I wondered….
I decided to check the waypoint comments in FarOut to see if I had missed something. Sure enough, previous hikers mentioned heavy brush and overgrowth and recommended taking the road instead. Ironically, the dirt road I had turned on just before I realized I was off trail actually connected back with the CDT after a mile. I looked at my location – I was only a mile from that junction via the trail as well. How bad could the overgrowth be? I felt like I should just press forward, so I did.
The overgrowth was bad. I was pushing through trees and climbing over blowdowns. It was slow going, but not for the whole mile, so all in all it was just a blip of pain. The kicker was that there was fast-moving creek with a bridge out that I had to ford. It was very swift and deep in places. I went upstream a bit and found a spot that looked about as good as it was going to get. I had a couple of eddies to I help with the force of the stream, but then a wider section without them. This was the most challenging part. The rocks were slippery and it was difficult to feel out next steps because of the power of the stream. I unbuckled my pack in case I went down, but moving slowly I was able to get across without going for a swim. The water was never more than crotch deep.
Once I was through the ford, the trail opened up again and overgrowth was no longer a problem. I caught back up to the two hikers I had seen doubling back before. “I should have taken the road,” I said, and huffed up the hill past them.
I also passed two other hikers I hadn’t met yet. Unlike at the beginning of the trip, I seemed to be meeting new people regularly, but then not really seeing them again. I guess you just never know when someone will pop back into your orbit on trail. That’s kind of a fun aspect of it all.
I hustled today to make good time while the weather was nice. I had been considering taking another full day, then going into Encampment, WY on Monday. I have a resupply box I mailed myself from Breckenridge that I need to pick up and the post is closed Sunday. But, I also want to shower and do laundry. It’s getting pretty hot now that I’ve come down in elevation. My clothes stink and are covered in sweat salt. So, I decided to push hard today so that I could walk 20 miles or so tomorrow and get to the pass to hitch into town in the early afternoon.
I found a nice place to dry out my tent and quilt and took a snack break. I hung my quilt from a trail sign and spread my tent on the ground in the sun. A group of people rode by in their Razors on the ATV track I was sitting in front of. I’m sure I looked like a hobo with my gear all strewn about.
I caught up with several other small groups of hikers today, including three nice folks at an awesome little ground spring at the Wyoming border. Crossing the border felt great. It felt like a real achievement for me, even though I knew it was an achievement that, on the outside, meant nothing really. But on the inside, Colorado had been tough! The hiking was harder than I anticipated, it stormed way more than I expected, and it spat me out in a cloud of mosquitoes that tested my sanity at times.
My satisfaction was in the payoffs – seeing all of its beauty. It was the most beautiful hiking I have experienced to date! My victory was in the mental fortitude required to get through its challenges. That made me feel good, or more precisely, confident.
The mosquitoes seemed to have magically calmed down today. It was like I woke up to what had been a world filled with vampires and suddenly they were gone. I mean, they weren’t gone, but I found myself able to stop hiking without being instantly swarmed by a family reunion ready for their hiker buffet.
I also passed the halfway point of the hike today! The actual halfway mark, based on the official length of the CDT (not factoring alternate routes) is 1487.65. It’s easier, however, just to think of halfway as 1500 miles. Either way, I passed both milestones today. Mile 1500 is just inside the Wyoming border.
As I crossed into Wyoming, I was grateful for the wonderful weather I’d had today. I found a nice, dry campsite at the top of a hill, nestled beneath some mostly alive pines. The trail had been fairly boggy today in patches, but the green meadows and trees were gorgeous. I’m looking forward to my first full Wyoming day tomorrow!
Day 68 – The Riverside Layover
Day miles: 19.2
Trip miles: 1305.3
The morning was beautiful. It didn’t rain last night, I didn’t get a bunch of condensation in my tent, and the mosquitoes weren’t a big issue. I got going fairly early because I wanted to get into Encampment / Riverside at a reasonable time.
The towns of Encampment and Riverside are right next to each other. This is the first stop in Wyoming. I intended to stay at an RV Park in Riverside where there are more amenities. I would still have to walk to the post office, which was 1.1 miles from the RV park. I mailed myself a resupply box from Breckenridge, which I needed to pickup on Monday. I also had a new pair of shoes sent there, but they may not make it in time.
The day warmed up quickly. The morning was a slosh fest, both in terms of boggy terrain and walking through tall, wet grass. As I gained a bit of elevation, the scenery became a bit more bouldery. Most of the day was just undulating hills with forests that opened into meadows. The meadows usually had some muddy or boggy aspect to them.
I reached highway 70 at about 2PM. I had passed an older couple hiking near the trailhead there. I tried my luck hitching, but it took a while. Eventually, that same couple came back down to the parking lot and took pity on me.
They were actually from Steamboat Springs, but were doing a bit of exploring themselves. They were super nice and dropped me off right at Lazy Acres RV Park in Riverside.
The RV Park was cute and conveniently located next to the gas station and across from a cafe. I showered and threw in a load of laundry, then went to the gas station to get some snacks. I met some new hikers today: Steelhead, Thyclops, Blister, Pirate, and a few others. Blister told me that the cafe was closed. Drat! I had heard that the bar next door, The Mangy Moose, might serve food. I decided to finish my laundry and charge electronics and then figure out dinner.
In the end, the Mangey Moose kitchen was closed when I got there. I ended up just getting a microwave burger and chicken sandwich I from the gas station. Fortunately they also have breakfast burritos for tomorrow and are open by 7. There just aren’t a lot of food options in these two towns.
Tomorrow I plan to go to the post office early to get my box. It doesn’t look like my shoes are going to make it until Tuesday, so I may see if they can go ahead and bounce them to Rawlins, my next town stop. I think I would rather do that so I can keep hiking tomorrow.
I was grateful for the kindness of strangers today, as well as the deliciousness of town snacks. Tomorrow will be an interesting day!
You might also like
