Brian’s Microblog

July 12, 2026

We didn’t sleep as well as we had hoped - maybe the motel bed was too comfortable. Julie got up early and walked to Walmart but didn’t find much of what we wanted. The motel breakfast started at 7:30 which felt late to us, but they had a few nice things.

We spent over an hour doing sink laundry and washing our camp cookware and mugs. I worked on updating the blog and ran into some difficulties because Flickr (where all my photos are hosted) did a major update to their app. Eventually I found a way around the problem.

The main shopping area in Salida is in the old downtown, over a mile and a half from our motel. I looked at Lyft but they wanted $40 for a ride so we decided to walk. There are some neat old houses - Salida was founded in 1880.

Between Natural Grocers, Salida Mountain Sports, and Safeway we found most of what we wanted and substitutes for the things we couldn’t find. Not having our box meant we had to change several meal plans.

There is a candy shop that has some nostalgic candy - it was fun to see candy from the 1950’s, 60’s, etc. We got some Big Hunks (which don’t melt) and some hard candy.

There was a group of mostly KTM riders from the Denver area on a three day loop taking jeep roads to Lake City and on to other destinations - it’s going to take us a week to get to Lake City! We talked with one of the guys for a while and I would definitely like to bring a motorcycle out to explore some of the jeep roads in the area.

We had a tasty pizza for lunch at Moonlight Pizza & Brewing.

The bags of food, stove fuel, and toiletries felt heavy as we walked back to the motel. Julie sorted out the food and repackaged some things while I worked on the blog, paid some bills, and caught up with emails.

My dad had been valiantly exploring every avenue at the Post Office to try to figure out why our wayward resupply box went to Kansas, and when it would get to Salida. No explanation could be found, but it went from Kansas to Alaska - WTF USPS!

We walked to Casa Calaca for dinner and had some entertaining drinks. The food was good, too.

Julie researched the next stretch of trail and we did some planning. If we returned to the Boss Lake trailhead it would be 112 miles to Lake City where we would resupply. If we skipped the trail between Boss Lake and Monarch Pass it would only be 101 miles. We weren’t sure how many days it would take us, but we decided to skip the 11 miles. We can stop at Monarch on our way back from Denver to New Mexico and hike those 11 miles and pick up the resupply box that will (presumably) be waiting at the Butterfly House.

July 11, 2026

We slept in until 7:00. It had been another night of stormy winds starting around 9:30 and going on for quite a while. Apparently it also rained at some point, and it was quite chilly - the tent was wet inside and out in the morning. We could tell the sun was getting closer to coming over the ridge so we stayed in bed a little while longer until the sun hit the tent, then got up. Some damp things had frozen overnight. Neither of us felt like we had slept very well.

We got on trail at 9:30. The trail passes the smaller upper Hancock Lake and then climbs steeply up to a saddle.

The view on the other side is dramatic, with some huge, spiky cliffs above some beaver dam lakes.

The trail going down doesn’t bother with switchbacks and is quite steep in places, but mellows out after a while and follows down the valley.

Eventually we reached the Boss Lake trailhead. From there we walked a bit over a mile out to Highway 50 on a rough road.

We checked the Monarch Lodge which said it was open, but no one was at the front desk and no response to the radio/intercom they had. We walked a ways further to the Butterfly House hiker hostel where we expected to find a resupply box my dad had mailed several days earlier. They didn’t have the box and most of the rooms were taken.

We had hoped to stay at the hostel but the vibe was weirder than we expected. Also in past years they had a food cart there, but this time the only food they had was frozen pizzas from their freezer for $10. We wouldn’t have anything for breakfast. We decided Salida would be more comfortable so we started hitchhiking.

Michelle, who had been out mountain biking, picked us up and drove us to a motel in Poncha Springs. It had a “No Vacancy” sign so she drove us to another one in Salida that some friends of hers had stayed at. We got out of her truck but, by the time she turned around in the parking lot, we found it had no vacancy either. Michelle was willing to drive us to another one, but the manager came out and said his brother’s motel had one room available and it was about a block away. This was like a chauffeur service, especially compared to our previous hitch.

We checked in to the Salida Inn and Monarch Suites and did some sink laundry so we would have something clean to put on after showering.

With internet we discovered our resupply box had been sent to Kansas for some reason. There is a Salida ZIP code on the box, but maybe Salinas vs Salida? USPS was very, very confused - the next day the box arrived in Anchorage, Alaska!

We walked a few blocks to Soulcraft Brewing for dinner. We watched the last part of the World Cup game where England beat Norway.

Back at the motel we watched Argentina beat Switzerland and ate some ice cream sandwiches from the gas station for dessert.

About 8 miles for the day.

July 10, 2026

We woke up around 6:00 and it was very chilly - with my parka on my legs were chilly. We decided that since we didn’t have to go too far today we would lay in for a little while. Soon the sun started hitting our tent - we got very lucky with the trees and the tent placement. We got up around 6:20 and went to look in the brushy valley where the creeks ran to see if there were any moose, but there were none.

We started making some hot drinks and one of the nearby campers told us that there were two moose down in the meadow. I turned the stove off and we went to watch as the two bull moose slowly made their way up the valley. We watched and followed from across the valley for probably 15 or 20 minutes. One seemed much larger than the other and, while they mostly seemed to move independently, at one point there was some kind of confrontation or interaction between them.

You can see the dead trees near the tent. Because beetle infestation has killed so many trees in the Rockies this is a concern for all the hikers. Some people we talked to wouldn’t have camped there, but we looked and the trees were leaning in ways that would miss the tent, or live trees would block the ones that could go towards the tent.

We made cornmeal grits with jelly and peanut butter mixed in, another Chef Corso recipe, but we also added some of the peanuts and other trail mix stuff we had. It made for a nice, hearty, warm breakfast. Meanwhile the sun was warming things up pretty quickly.

We eventually got the tent down and everything packed up and started on trail at 9:20. The trail goes up the valley and then crosses a couple of streams. Then it begins to switchback up the side of the valley through a Lodgepole pine forest. As mentioned above, a large portion of the trees in this valley and some nearby valleys we traversed are dead.

Tin Cup Pass, a popular jeep destination, was just up the road near our campsite and we soon got a view of it.

After climbing above the tree line we followed a long valley up to a saddle. We dipped down into a valley and then climbed another saddle to arrive above Tunnel Lake. The trail goes around Tunnel Lake and then drops steeply down to an old railroad bed.

It got windy and showery for a bit.

The railroad bed made for easy walking for about three miles. There was a history sign part way down the trail, but it only talked about early snow plowing technologies for trains. We were hoping it would explain why the railroad had been (only partially?) constructed here. We met several day hikers and a few bicyclists in this area - a change from the past few days.

Our trail climbed up and away from the railroad bed before we got to the trailhead for the railroad. There was a little stream tumbling down a rocky hillside with flowers beside it that was like a painting or a scene from a film.

The trail followed a ridge and then dropped into the valley where the Hancock Lakes form the headwaters of the main fork of Chalk Creek.

We found a campsite down in a little dip that our neighbors from the previous night described. Then we went to the lake and filtered water, did some laundry, and I jumped in to rinse off the sweat. We made a bean and sausage soup with cold-soaked coleslaw for dinner. For dessert we made hot cocoa and walked up to a rock overlooking the lake. A young lady was looking for a campsite but she stopped to talk and ended up eating her dinner while we sipped our cocoa. She had completed the PCT last year and really enjoyed through hiking. The CT was all she had time for this summer because she will be starting a nursing school program in late August.

As we spoke the evening light turned the tan rock ridge to the east a beautiful golden color and we watched some elk on the other side of the valley. We also saw a large rabbit for the first time on this trip.

11 miles over eight and a half hours.

July 09, 2026

It was a stormy night! We were just starting to fall asleep around 10:00 when some strong winds began. There were a lot of gusts and we started wondering just how securely our tent stakes were planted. Then it started raining. It rained off and on for about an hour along with the strong winds. Finally it either stopped storming or we fell asleep.

When I woke up in the morning, a bit before 6:00, I found my face and the top half of my sleeping bag were covered with dirt that had blown in under the vestibule. My pack had blocked the lower half of my sleeping bag so it was not as dirty. Unfortunately, even with the wind, the laundry I had done yesterday morning still had not dried while hanging inside the top of our tent.

Julie had gotten up earlier to use the porta-potty at the Pass and captured this.

We were going to get up, but then it started raining again. We waited for about 15 minutes and it stopped. We got up and wiped off the outside of the tent and tried to get going. We were midway packing up and it started sprinkling again – very frustrating!

We made some hot drinks and a couple we had met while we were reverse slack packing from Copper Mountain back to Frisco, “B Team” and “Snail Trail”, came over and talked to us. They had set their tent up at the little saddle above Cottonwood Pass because they had arrived late last night. Unfortunately when the strong winds came up their tent ended up being damaged and they had to take it down and hike down and set up near our tent. I guess their night was worse than ours!

Luckily the rain shower did not last long and we packed the tent up only somewhat damp, but filled with dust. We got on trail around 7:45.

The first thing the trail does is switch back 450 feet up to the top of a ridge above the pass. There are some amazing 360° views from there.

We would continue going down into large valleys, sort of skirting around the valley sides, then climbing back up again to a saddle.

We knew it would be a tough day for us so we tried to take snack and rest breaks regularly. Most of the trail was decent to walk on but each valley had a couple long sections of scree where the trail is just a jumble of rocks with a sort of flattish path. Julie tripped on something in one of these rocky sections and fell. Fortunately it was just painful with a few abrasions, bruises, and a scratch on her glasses - it could have been much worse.

Although it was tough hiking the views were “top of the world.” Every saddle and ridge revealed new mountains and new perspectives on distant mountain ranges.

At one point we could see distant mountains to the east and west, probably fifty to sixty miles in each direction. It’s mind blowing to think how many mountains there are in this area.

We stopped at a brushy little creek to filter water and eat lunch, then on to the next saddle. Finally we reached the ridge above the road to Tincup Pass. The trail switchbacks down to the bottom of the valley and we faced some strong winds until we descended below tree line, then we found a campsite near the North Fork of Chalk Creek.

We made an “add boiling water” dinner, had some hot cocoa, filtered more water, then went to bed.

16 miles with about 3500 feet ascent and 4500 descent over 11 hours.

July 08, 2026

It rained from 4:30 to 5:00 in the morning. We fell back to sleep and didn’t get up until 6:45. Overall we slept fairly well - wearing our parkas to bed kept us warm enough.

We had to do laundry and filter water before we could get going, and we made a fruit crisp (Chef Corso recipe) for breakfast. We finally got on the trail at 10:00.

Our camp was on a ridge that made one of three sides of a big valley. We were fairly high on the ridge but the trail made its way down to the other side of the valley. That east side of the valley turned out to be somewhat rough. Some of it was like a steep-sloped bog, and then there were other areas of rock jumble. It looked like an easy, gradual descent on the map, but it was not easy hiking. Eventually this valley emptied out into the wide, flat bottomed, valley of Texas Creek almost 2000 feet lower.

There had been clouds moving through most of the morning, and it even sprinkled on us for a few minutes, but the sun came out in the wide valley and it felt hot. There was a tricky stream crossing that we later learned had flooded a while back. At another balance-challenging crossing we caught up with a trio of hikers who had passed by while we were putting our tent down. They weren’t very talkative. We stopped to filter some water for the climb to Cottonwood Pass and Julie soaked her feet.

The climb was steep at times and the first few miles were all in the forest - no distant views but there were a lot of pretty flowers. Eventually we climbed out of the forest into a long valley of brush with sort of boggy ground. This is the kind of place where we should see a moose, but we didn’t.

Julie thinks that the moose are teasing us. We see their scat often, and also see their hoof prints on the trail, but we never spot one. We even saw hoof prints on the trail after a rain shower, so we knew they were fresh.

We climbed over the last comically steep bit of trail to a saddle that is more or less even with Cottonwood Pass. A road runs over the pass so we had to cross the highway. We camped near a small lake that is just below the pass. This is the last place with close-to-trail camp sites in the next 16 miles.

10.9 miles 2225 feet of ascent 2029 feet of descent, over eight hours.

July 07, 2026

We slept well and it was not very cold. We got up around six and aimed to leave camp at eight. A woman who appeared to be around our age stopped by. She has adopted this section of trail to keep up with maintenance. We had a nice conversation with her and learned that we did not need to stop in Winfield - she thought the Inter-Laken historic site was much more interesting. We ended up getting on trail at 8:10.

The trail dropped steeply about 1200 feet from our campsite down to the Clear Creek valley. There we turned to work our way up the valley and to the west for several miles. Eventually the valley curves to the south, ending in a bowl holding Lake Ann. We saw some of the old Winfield mining stuff from a distance. The trail is fairly mellow for most of this section.

Once it starts climbing towards Lake Ann the trail gets rough and steep. While the approach to Hope Pass was steep and rocky, the approach to Lake Ann is steep and rooty - lots of tree roots to step over.

We made it up to Lake Ann after a couple breaks and a lunch stop. On a snack stop we got a little ten-minute rain shower. We talked to a guy going north on a Collegiate Loop trip during our lunch stop. We asked about camping opportunities on the other side of the pass and he mentioned Illinois Creek had a few sites.

Up at the lake the weather changed and it started raining. We hunkered under one of the few groups of trees at this altitude for almost an hour. The rain stopped and started and there was distant thunder - not conditions suitable for climbing the pass.

Eventually the clouds lightened enough we decided to try going over the pass. We knew it would be steep but it turned out much of the final ascent is on scree fields with lots of large rocks.

It was tough hiking but flowers grow in unlikely places. There was also a crazy pika that wanted to lick Julie’s trekking pole and taste her shoe.

We got over Lake Ann Pass as some threatening clouds returned. The terrain on the other side seemed much different. It overlooks a large valley containing Taylor Park Reservoir. That afternoon it also contained big rain clouds to the west.

On the way down from the top we saw several marmots up close, even a couple young ones wrestling. When I figure out how to post videos it will come with a cuteness overload warning.

We reached a trail junction that was confusing. The trail sign seemed to indicate the Colorado Trail was the higher option, and that is what the Far Out app says as well. However Open Street Map says the lower trail is the CT’s Collegiate West loop, and the old data book that Julie has also appears to have mileages and altitudes from the lower trail. We ended up taking the higher trail.

We made it to Illinois Creek with some clouds threatening rain but found only one lumpy campsite there. The lower trail crosses the creek too, so maybe the guy we spoke with was on the lower trail? Anyway, we ended up walking as fast as we could for a couple more miles in search of a site before the rain arrived.

Eventually we arrived at a great site near an unnamed creek but a tent was already set up there. We found a sloped site across the creek and took it since it was well after 7:00.

We ate some mashed potatoes with salami and cheese, then set up the tent.

Almost 15 miles with 3000 feet ascent and 2200 descent over 11 and a half hours.

July 06, 2026

John made oatmeal for us then John and Norma drove us through the very smoky town of Leadville. The smoke was thick north and continuing several miles to the south of the town, but was somewhat less as we turned off to the Interlaken trailhead.

We thanked them again for all their hospitality and help and said our farewells, then started hiking at 9:15. The trail follows the south side of the Twin Lakes (actually reservoirs) for several miles, more or less flat. We put on our N95 masks after half a mile or so because of the smoke.

After a couple miles the trail arrives at a decision point: either Collegiate East, the original Colorado Trail route, or Collegiate West which is a bit longer but more scenic (because the trail is higher).

Near the area between the two lakes the trails make a web of interconnecting routes that all basically continue in the same direction. The official Colorado Trail was closed due to dangerous trees and the detour was one of the other trails. That trail took us to a group of historic buildings which were from the Inter-Laken resort. We went into the Dexter House, the owner’s home. Lots of restoration work has been done and it has beautiful woodwork inside.

While we explored inside and climbed up into the little cupola upstairs a boat arrived with a small tour group to see the buildings. One of the guys was suffering from the smoke and asked if we had any extra masks. I gave him one of a few paper surgical masks I’d brought.

We stopped after another mile or so to eat some leftover pizza. The smoke seemed lighter so we stopped wearing masks. After another mile plus we got to the trail junction to start the climb to Hope Pass.

In four miles the trail climbs 3200 feet from 9300 to 12500. This was some tough going and we took several breaks. We stopped at around 11000 to make a late lunch of almond butter, peanuts, and dried fruit in a tortilla after some snack breaks and accidentally dropped one of our carefully counted tortillas in the dirt- oops!

We each listened to our own audiobooks for a good portion of the hike, first because walking along the lakes felt like a lot of very similar terrain, and then to help ease the time while we slowly climbed up the steep hill.

There is a small lake in a bowl near timberline around 11800. The data book says there are campsites here, and we arrived around 4:00. We dropped our packs and spent some time trying to find a good site but got frustrated. The only nice site was quite a hike down off the trail from where we left our packs. We ended up deciding to just walk over the pass and camp on the other side. The good thing about the wandering around was that lots of marmots were also wandering around and looking cute.

It was only 700 feet further up to the pass, but it was a real grind. From near the top we could see back to the Twin Lakes, and even to Turquoise Lake where the Willow forest fire started, through the haze. There was a small snow drift covering part of the trail.

At the top of the pass a number of mountains to the south were revealed but, unfortunately, it was smoky on the other side too.

The trail down the other side of Hope Pass generally started with a much gentler grade and, in general, a better tread. It did get steeper and rougher in places as we descended.

Eventually we found a beautiful little creek crossing the trail after descending over 1000 feet. We refilled our water bottles there and this was the first time on the trip that we ran our water down to almost nothing. However, we were happy to have not carried extra water over the pass.

Shortly afterwards, around 7:00, we found a couple campsites with one taken by another camper. We set up the tent in a spot where it didn’t quite fit and made a simple dinner of salami and cheese with mustard and mayo wrapped in a tortilla. We went to bed before 9:00.

10.5 miles over almost 10 hours, 3,600 feet ascent, 1,300 feet descent.

July 05, 2026

We got up fairly early and John made us a breakfast of oatmeal and English muffins. Then he and Norma drove us up to one of Copper Mountain ski area’s lower parking lots where we found the end of Colorado Trail segment 7. We did this segment backwards because the climb is a bit shorter. Because we got a ride to Copper Mountain we only brought one backpack with lunch, water and filter, first aid stuff, and raincoats.

We got on the trail a little bit after 8:00. The trail wandered down Tenmile Creek for a little ways to find a bridge and then it started going up, up, up!

It was fairly brisk in the morning, and we were in the shade for the first few miles of this climb. It does climb quite steeply at times. Eventually, it turns and follows along the ridge of the Continental Divide, which is the ridge between Peak 6 and Peak 5 of the 10 Mile Range, up to a saddle where we get to walk on the continental divide itself. We found some snow up in this area, but also some beautiful flowers.

We met several other Colorado Trail Hikers on this segment because we are going the wrong way. So we saw several new people as well as a couple who we had camped near earlier. We had some good conversations with some of them, including a very free spirited young man. We also saw two mountain bikers – the western part of this segment is definitely a trail only for expert mountain bikers!

We got some really nice views as we worked our way up the hill, but as the day went on hazy smoke begin somewhat obscuring the further mountain peaks. We stopped for a while near the top and had a lunch of leftover pizza and dried fruit. We saw a couple of marmots in that area. We also heard a pika but could not spot it.

As the trail finally reaches the Continental Divide it is near a ski lift on the east side of Peak 6. The trail follows the ridge north and up towards Peak 5 and we found some beautiful flowers managing to grow among the jumble of rocks.

The trail crosses to the east side of Peak 5 and descends gradually towards a perpendicular ridge that forms part of an impressive bowl.

We descended steeply into the bowl and then more gradually down and out to the highway over several miles. We caught the bus and returned to the townhouse.

Norma made us a delicious tamale casserole for dinner and then we watched England beat Mexico in the World Cup. We also showered and did a final load of laundry.

14.7 miles, 3000 ascent and 3600 descent, in nine hours.

July 04, 2026

Our first “zero day” - a day when we rest and resupply and make zero progress on the trail.

We got up and had nice hot drinks with our friends, then we walked a few blocks to a fundraising pancake breakfast to benefit the local youth ski team.

They charged $15 per person and the food was self-serve. They also offered fruit, a nice touch, but it makes me think our volunteer firefighters could charge more than the $10 we do.

We walked down a few blocks of Main Street. The road was closed for a parade in the early afternoon but many people had placed lawn or patio chairs along the road to reserve their spots.

We returned to the townhouse and I worked on the blog and Julie organized our leftover food along with some resupply our friends had brought in order to figure out what we needed to buy. We decided that after we “slack pack” the segment from Frisco to Copper Mountain, our friends will drive us to a trailhead near Twin Lakes and we will pick up the trail on segment 11. Segments 9 and 10 will remain closed for the rest of the year even if the fire could be put out in a day because the forest service would have to cut fallen trees, check for burned trees that might fall on the trail or campsites, and repair trail damage.

We met John and Norma on a bike and barge trip in 2015. Another couple from that trip, Cline and Diane, were driving from northern Colorado to southwest Colorado and they stopped by for lunch. We hadn’t seen them for years and it was nice to catch up and learn what they had been doing.

They had to get back on the road and we had to go to REI and the grocery store to finish re-supplying.

After we got the food organized and packed we had a relaxing evening with John and Norma. We got takeout pizza and watched some fireworks and tall ships that had arrived in New York City for USA’s 250th.

July 03, 2026

We got up a little before and a little after six respectively. We had only one hot drink this morning and split a protein puck. We wanted to get an early start so that we could get into Breckenridge and Frisco to deal with some things before the Fourth of July. We ended up getting on trail at 7:45.

The trail climbs fairly steeply out of the valley where the Swan River is. We climbed 1300 feet in just 2 1/2 miles. We took a couple of little breaks to eat some protein bars on the way up. Near the top, we met a CDT hiker with trail name Trash Lobster. We talked to him for a few minutes while some mountain bikers rode by. He is over two months into his hike.

We noticed that much of the forest we walked through this day had been thinned, both small trees and mature areas.

As we walked around the high point of the trail for today, around 11,000 feet, we got views of the Keystone ski area.  We talked to several other people, I think partly because this part of the trail is the Continental Divide Trail as well as the Colorado Trail, and also because people from Breckenridge and Frisco access it for day hikes or rides - there were lots of bikes.

We passed the 100 mile mark on the trail in the afternoon. As we finished a little song we sang there a CDT hiker arrived. We spoke with him a bit and it turned out we were able to give him some water so he could make it over the hill to the Swan River where we’d come from.

We arrived at the bus stop on Highway 9 just six minutes before the free bus to Frisco arrived. Instead of going directly to our friend’s townhouse in Frisco we were looking for an optical store because one of the nose pieces of Julie’s glasses had broken. Some local folks on the bus recommended a place near the transit station and gave detailed directions.

We found the Eyetech store. Julie showed them the problem and they quickly replaced the nose pieces on her glasses and then refused any payment. Since we were at a shopping area we picked up a bottle of wine so we wouldn’t arrive empty handed. On the bus back towards the townhouse we talked to some other through-hikers and they had some advice about bypassing the closed trail segments.

With all that feeling of generosity we arrived at our friends John and Norma’s townhouse and their generosity was overwhelming. We sat on their deck and had wine and appetizers.

We showered while they got dinner ready. We had planned to take them out to dinner but they pointed out how full the town was and that the restaurants would be packed. They served a simple but tasty dinner and we caught up and talked about our trip and logistics. Then we got to sleep in beds with real pillows.

13 miles with substantially more descent than ascent over 7 hours.

July 02, 2026

We slept fairly well. It was chilly but nothing that couldn’t be managed by wearing our puffies inside our sleep systems. Julie got up around 5:30 and I stayed in bed for a little while longer.

There was a big valley to the east of us with a ridge on the other side. The sunrise over the ridge was a bit dramatic because the smoke had returned overnight.

It was a pleasant campsite and a chilly morning, and not a lot of miles for the day, so we decided to take our time getting going. We also had a one or two bars of Verizon service, so I managed to update our blog with two more days (days 4 & 5) of text and photos.

We got on trail at 8:30 and hiked a little over a mile to a creek so that we could refill our water supplies. Then we continued slowly climbing towards Georgia Pass.

There were expansive views as we neared the pass, but the views to the north and west were hazy with smoke. This is the first major mountain pass of the Colorado Trail southbound so it felt like a big accomplishment.

After the pass we had a gentle descent for several miles that quickly went into a Lodgepole pine forest. We finished listening to The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley, an audiobook we had been listening to for several days. We enjoyed the mystery and the story, although the narrative jumps back and forth in time a bit too frequently. We stopped for lunch and made curry chicken salad (based on a Chef Corso recipe) on crackers.  After a few miles, it got very rocky and pretty steep with some tough footing.

At the bottom of the valley, where we cross different forks of the Swan River several times, we were surprised to see a huge dog kennel area. It looked like there were a number of sled dogs.

We stopped to set up camp at about 4:00 in an area with several campsites near the North Fork of the Swan River. This river will be the last water available for several miles as the trail goes up and over a ridge south of the Keystone ski area then towards Frisco and Breckenridge.

Probably because of the water situation there were several other people camping in the dozens of sites.

We made some African peanut soup using instant sweet potatoes, peanut powder, and peanuts with spices (another Chef Corso recipe). Then we filtered a whole bunch of water so that we could get an early start tomorrow. We switched to using our backup water filter and it is so much faster than the one we had been using – we will just have to replace that one.

While down at the water we talked for a while to a young man and woman who had met on the Appalachian Trail and were two months into hiking the Continental Divide Trail. They were carrying a funny combination of minimal gear along with some impractical souvenirs from the journey. It was unclear if they were a couple or just hiking buddies, but he had gifted her an old Colorado license plate that was strapped onto her pack over her waffle pad.

A bit under 11 miles in about seven and a half hours, total ascent 1600 feet total descent 2300 feet.

June 30, 2026

Note: Whoops! Accidentally posted day 7 and skipped day 6!

It was a very chilly night. We both ended up putting our puffy down jackets on inside our sleeping bag/quilt. Julie ended up feeling warm enough, but I was on the edge of being shivery at times. We were pretty tired so we slept in until a little after six and then took the morning slowly. We made some hot drinks and then ate a Good Belly breakfast bar we picked up from the outfitter store in Bailey. Unfortunately these turned out to have expired in March - they were still very tasty but tested the strength of our teeth!

Then we made second cups of hot drinks and then finally got serious about getting going. We watched some deer out in the meadow and then got on trail at 8:45.

The trail starts by descending for about 2 miles back down to just over 10,000 feet. We got some nice views of Kenosha Peaks, which are very rocky and impressive at the tops. After about half a mile there was a little outcrop which had a nice view down to South Park and would have had a good view of the Ten Mile range on the other side of South Park, but the valley was very hazy with distant smoke. There was fairly good cell reception at the outcrop so we stopped there for about 15 minutes to catch up on email and Julie got a Duolingo lesson in.

The rest of the 2 mile descent went by pretty quickly. The grade was pretty gentle. At the bottom, there is a creek near the Lost Gulch trailhead where we stopped to refill our water bottles. I also needed to change into cooler clothes and reapply tape to my little blister. The moleskin that I put on did not stick at all. We met several other hikers in this area, some through-hiking and some section hiking. The trail junction here is the start of segment 5.

We walked another 2 1/2 miles or so, mostly slowly descending, and stopped for lunch. We found a nice log to sit on in the shade and took our shoes off to let our feet breathe, plus I had to reapply some of the tape for the blister. We ended up listening to an argument between a bird and squirrel for about a half an hour. The morning had started very clear, but as the day went on more clouds started appearing. By the time we finished lunch, it seemed more cloudy than clear. Hopefully this will help with the forest fires that are affecting trail segments 9 and 10.

There are some stretches in here where many of the pine trees have died, probably from beetles. Julie remarked in one section that it was like walking through a graveyard because so many gray tree trunks were on the ground.

In the past we have parked at Kenosha Pass and walked the Colorado Trail a mile or two towards the east several times - it’s a pretty place to walk a dog who has been in the car for a while. Many parts of this trail segment seemed very similar, following a south-facing ridge with a lot of aspen and a few conifers, and occasional views out to the south.

We stopped to fill our water where the trail crosses Rock Creek because our campsite would be dry. Our water filter seems to be getting slower and slower so we plan to replace it in Breckenridge.

We started looking for campsites around 11 miles. We saw a nice one, but it was very windy there so we kept going. The Far Out app mentioned one at about segment mile 12.6 that is not obvious but we found it a bit after 5:00. It is a nice site, just in the trees at the edge of a large meadow, with views to the mountains we hope to be crossing in a couple days, but unfortunately there are ants everywhere.

We set up the tent and made dinner. As the sun got lower it reddened - unfortunately it seems the smoke is coming back. We also learned that the fire near Leadville has grown again and Colorado Trail segments 9 and 10 are definitely closed.

12.6 miles over 8 1/2 hours with 1400 feet ascent but 2300 descent

July 01, 2026

We slept well this night. It was a good 10 or more degrees warmer than the previous night, but we were about 1000 feet lower. Neither of us had to put our coats on under our quilt/sleeping bag and we felt comfortably warm until around four in the morning.

Julie got up around 5:30 but I fell right back to sleep and didn’t get up until sometime before 6:30. We had some nice hot drinks, split a Protein Puck, then another round of hot drinks. It was quite chilly initially but, as we started packing up and brushing our teeth etc, it began warming quickly.

We hit the trail at 8:20 and had about 3 and 3/4 miles to hike to Kenosha Pass, where the trail crosses Highway 285. We had sent some additional instructions to my dad last night to bring a few things more than the box of extra food and spare equipment that we had left with him.

We met up with my dad at about 10:30.

We did some laundry in a little bucket that my dad brought up and then traded out some gear. I got rid of about a pound and a half (we felt we no longer needed the bear spray, and I decided to go without the short sleeve shirt and cooling sleeves) and added a half a pound (rain kilt and rain over-mitts). We resupplied with a bunch of food and we were unable to resist taking some extra food that we did not need immediately, but that would be very hard to find in most stores. This made our packs several pounds heavier. Then we ate half of the giant sandwiches that my dad brought from Jersey Mike’s Subs. We got back on trail at noon and started trail segment 6.

Someone(s?) had collected downed trees and created dozens of cones or teepee-type constructions near the first mile or two of segment 6.

We walked a couple of hours and stopped for lunch where there was a nice log in the shade in an aspen forest. We ate another quarter of the sub sandwiches. For dessert we got out one of the items from our Yum box which was a durian cream wafer cookie. It smelled bad as soon as the package was opened! Julie couldn’t eat it because it tasted like a weird mixture of onions and fruit. I ate it just because I didn’t want to have to bury it somewhere, and it was a wafer cookie.

We continued on, up and over a ridge to Jefferson Creek. We stopped to rest, filter water, and decide our strategy for where to camp in order to get to Breckenridge on July third. From the creek the trail will climb 2000 feet in 5.5 miles to Georgia Pass. There is a water source about halfway up the hill, then no more until we drop most of the way down the other side. We saw on the Far Out app that there is a camp site about a quarter of the way up.

We found one nice looking camp spot and I had started unpacking, but Julie noticed several dead trees that were poised to fall on the tent site, so we packed up and went another quarter mile and found an awesome spot with an amazing view.

We arrived at that camp at 7 PM. 12 miles over 10 1/2 hours with 2400 feet ascent, but with a long break at Kenosha Pass in mid morning. We made a simple dinner of tortillas wrapped around almond butter, peanuts, and dried pineapple, then went to bed shortly afterwards.

June 29, 2026

We got up and took quick showers (again!) and then walked a mile into Bailey to eat breakfast at the Cutthroat Café.

A young couple who had passed us by with their dogs at our first campsite recognized us at the cafe. They had gotten off-trail because their dogs were struggling after the exposed segment 2. She is going to continue from Kenosha Pass, but he will stay home with the dogs. Anyway, they told us about a forest fire near Leadville and apparently a couple trail segments are closed at this time. That is still a week ahead of us so we will have to see what develops in the meantime.

We got a ride from the café from David, a school teacher in Bailey who lives only a couple miles from the Rolling Rock trailhead, which is where we needed to get back on trail. He was nice enough to take us back to the Two Bridges Lodge so we could pick up our backpacks and then take us up to the trail. We learned about a big wind storm That occurred in this area in December, and many trees have been blown over and there are some thinning and fire brick cutting operations going on. We would walk through one of them about a mile at the trail.

We hadn’t crossed paths with too many other through hikers in the previous segments, but we found several other people who are also hiking the whole trail at the start of this segment. We got on the trail at almost exactly 9 o’clock.

This segment climbs over 3000 feet so we definitely started climbing right away. After about a mile and a half we entered the Lost Creek Wilderness.



The trail begins following and what used to be an old road. We interrupted a mother Dusky Grouse and her little ones, a couple of which went to the other side of the trail so we stopped so the family could reunite.

Initially the old road is fairly pleasant with a few somewhat steep climbs, but generally level or rolling. However, about 5 miles in after crossing a creek, the road begins to climb steeply. The steep and rocky climb continues for over a mile. Eventually, a trail breaks from the road and goes uphill from there! The road was very rocky and difficult to walk on even if it hadn’t been so steep, but at least the trail starts with a nicer tread. However, as the trail continues up the hill there becomes less and less soil, so it becomes rocky as well. In just over 2 miles the trail gains 1200 feet elevation.  Eventually, at about 10,600 feet elevation, the trail reaches a little spring where we filtered a couple liters of very chilly water.

After that, the trail slowly descends, joining another old road on the south facing slope of a ridge where we saw only coniferous trees.

After a mile or two of gradual descent, the trail leaves the Wilderness and emerges into a long meadow in the valley of the North Fork of Lost Creek. It goes up this valley at a slight slope for 6 miles. Light smoke from some distant fire seemed collect in the valley.

Somewhere near the start of hiking up this valley we would have passed trail mile 49, which means that we were 10% finished!

We got really tired about half way up the valley. We realized we hadn’t really eaten anything since lunch and it was almost 5:00. We stopped to rest and eat some snacks, then filtered some more water, then finally arrived at the campsites we had planned to reach at 7:30. A long day!

We made dinner and set up the tent. The site that we chose had a magnificent view back down the valley to the east that we had hiked up. We saw a couple deer out there late in the evening. They took off suddenly and a little while later we heard some coyotes. We finally got to bed just after the full moon rose, red from the smoke, around 9:15.

14.4 miles and 3000 feet total elevation gain over ten and a half hours.

June 28, 2026

Julie got up before five while I laid in for a little while longer. We got up and made some hot drinks and then some oatmeal, then we packed up and hit the trail at about 7:15.

We did a little better than we thought on the 4 1/2 mile climb. I guess the cool morning temperatures and resting our legs a bit paid off.

We took a little snack break about midway and I changed the long pants I had started with for shorts as it grew warmer.

We arrived at the Rolling Creek trailhead around 10:00. We put our thumbs out for a few cars with no luck although there was more traffic headed north towards Bailey than we expected at this time of day. After six or seven cars passed we started walking towards Bailey. Then the next car, a sporty Audi coupe, stopped for us. The car has four seats but the driver, who works as a camp counselor at a nearby camp, had his bicycle in the trunk so the seats had to stay folded down. We got the packs in and then Julie jumped in so I sat on top of her in the front seat for the eight mile drive to Bailey. The young man driving had souped up his supercharged six speed manual, and he liked to talk fast and drive quickly. A very memorable first hitchhiking experience!

We stopped at the little outfitters store and got some backpacking breakfasts and sunblock and then walked to a coffee shop to get some hot drinks and check emails. We saw a bridge behind the coffee shop and I thought it might be the bridge we had read about in Waterton Canyon and I was right - it was a railroad bridge that was moved to Bailey after Waterton Canyon was changed from rails to road. Now it’s being used as a pedestrian bridge to access some trails. There was also a small car show back there.

We walked towards the other end of “downtown” Bailey to Craft Mountain Brewing. The beer, food, and staff here were great. We had a sandwich and a couple orders of fries - huge and delicious fries - and a couple beers.

Between the first order and the additional order of fries Julie walked across the street to the Conoco convenience store and picked up some protein bars and a couple of Big Hunks for desserts on trail. Big Hunks don’t melt like chocolate.

Check in time at Two Bridges Lodge is 4:00 but Julie called and the innkeeper said they would prioritize cleaning the hostel room and we could arrive at 2:00. We walked the mile to the Lodge and arrived a little early but they have lots of nice, shady benches along the North Fork of South Platte River.

The Lodge’s hostel room is super luxurious with a kitchen, living room with TV, and free laundry facilities. They even have some “loaner” clothes so that hikers have something to wear while you do all of your laundry. It is incredibly well set up for backpackers - five stars!

After showering and doing laundry we walked the short distance to Two Dads Taphouse and Eatery for another good meal.

Upon our return to the Lodge we met a fellow hiker whose trail name is Bright Side. We watched some of Captain America: The First Avenger.

4.6 miles and 1200 feet elevation gain.

June 27, 2026

We slept a little better as it was substantially cooler than the night before. We got up a little before six and decided to just strike camp and head to a trailhead with a toilet, getting us on trail at 6:30. About a mile down the trail at the Little Scraggy trailhead we took care of “business” and then made hot drinks and had some protein pucks for breakfast. The bathroom here was surprisingly popular, with several people driving in just to use the bathroom and others using it before heading out with their mountain bikes.

Our walk from the trailhead started through a nice Ponderosa forest with interesting large rocks scattered here and there. Eventually, it dropped down into a little valley with some aspen trees along a creek.

The little valley was underneath some very large and impressive rock formations. We went about 3 miles and took a break to have a snack and some drinks. We found a tick here on Julie’s sleeve.

We finished the break around 10 and it started feeling very warm. We crossed paths with a lot of bicyclists on this trail or, really, they crossed paths with us. But they were almost all very polite and a few stopped to talk with us.

The trail climbed a small ridge out of the valley and crossed rolling hills of Ponderosa Pines.

We met three ladies hiking near the turn off to the Buffalo Campground. They were really nice and offered to give us some water, even though the campground does not have water. It turns out that they had filled large containers at the same firehouse that we had yesterday. We took a liter just to make sure that we could make it to our planned crossing of (and filtering at) Buffalo Creek.

We also were able to dump half a pound of trash in the dumpster at the campground and use the vault toilet there. Then there was a quarter mile hike back up the hill to the Colorado Trail.

We arrived at Buffalo Creek about a mile later. We checked out several of the many campsites on either side of the road and creek before choosing one. We stopped here for the day after about nine miles of progress at about 1:00 because the trail will climb almost a thousand feet over the next four and a half miles - we needed to give our legs some rest and it would be better to do the climb in the cool of morning.

We ate lunch, filtered water in the creek, set up the tent, washed ourselves a little and washed socks and underwear. Some other through-hikers began appearing, looking for campsites, around 4:30.

We were worried that the afternoon would seem overly long, especially since there is no cell service in this area. But with all of the tasks and some journaling and reading, the afternoon passed quickly. We had another dinner that Julie had prepared, this one with powdered black beans, rice, dehydrated vegetables, and mole which was very tasty.

9.5 miles over five hours with only 600 feet elevation gain.

June 26, 2026

At around 5:00 the birds were determined to wake everyone up. The tent was dry inside and out, so it must not have rained for long last night. I woke up and saw more lightning flashes around 1:30 - a somewhat stormy night.

The morning view from our tent was pretty with gentle morning light on the cliffs across the river.

We made hot drinks and ate a couple Protein Pucks. We packed up and headed down to the river before 7:00. Once there, we had a lot of water to filter and we also both wanted to use the vault toilet. We finally started making progress on the trail at 7:45. It was a pretty early start for us but I think we were the last through-hikers to get on the trail. We saw a few leaving as we finished filtering water, and one of them stopped to introduce herself and chat. Many of the hikers seem really friendly.

The trail climbs and switch-backs up and out of the South Platte River Valley. After about a mile, it enters a rolling, treeless area. This is the burned area that many sources warned us to try to cross as early in the morning as possible due to the lack of shade and considering that the next reliable water source is in ten miles.

As predicted it felt hot in this area. It was in the 80s after about 10 AM, but a number of thunder clouds rolled through and we got sprinkled on a few times, and at other times had clouds with a good breeze, so it didn’t feel too bad most of the time. This part of the trail seems like it meanders around kind of aimlessly, although it does eventually make its way around this really big rock outcropping called Raleigh Peak. I lost the nifty clip that holds my umbrella onto my pack strap somewhere in here. We used our umbrellas initially for shade and a few times for rain showers. We started trying to take a photo of every different type of wildflower that we saw along this stretch.

To help get through this section we were listening to music and audiobooks. I ended up finishing one, The Death of Sleep, that I had been working on for the past couple weeks. It was an interesting story but not amazing. We stopped for water at the North Fork Volunteer Fire Station where we saw three other hikers and a bike packer all using the water spigot. Then we went just under a mile further and found a nice level campsite (with cell service!) a bit west of Deckers Road around 4:00.

We ate one of the curry meals that Julie had prepared for dinner and then had some Twinkies with dehydrated fruit for dessert. The dessert was based on a backpacking recipe for strawberry shortcake by Chef Corso.

We took a short stroll after dinner to a little hill with a panoramic view of the area and the distant mountains to the west.

With the long evening and cell service I played a couple phone games and then got some photos and a journal entry for day one of the hike uploaded.

Almost eleven miles in a bit under eight hours with 2,400 feet elevation gain.