Brian’s Microblog

July 13, 2026

We got up and tried to shower and get everything packed and ready to go before 7:30 when the motel breakfast started.

After breakfast we started walking and holding out our thumbs. We walked about a quarter mile and got a ride from with a very nice local lady who took us to Poncha Springs so we would at least be clearly headed to Monarch Pass. There was not a lot of traffic heading up the mountain but we didn’t have to wait too long before a Texas summer visitor who had gone to a concert in Red Rocks, but is staying near Montrose, picked us up. We had some good conversations with both drivers.

We got dropped off at the Monarch Crest store and restaurant. We went inside and ate some ice cream and bought some giant burritos to have for lunch. We found B Team and Snail Trail there and talked to them while eating. We started out on trail with them around 10:15, but after about half an hour they ended up walking away faster than we were. We leap-frogged with them a few times when they or us took breaks.

About five miles in, the trail rejoins the Collegiate East trail which is the official, but slightly shorter and less scenic, Colorado Trail. This put us in the middle of segment 15 of the Colorado Trail.

We walked about another mile and then stopped for lunch. Some dark clouds had gathered and a few drops fell off and on so we put our rain jackets on while we ate half of the giant burritos. Snail Trail snapped a photo of us and shared it.

After we finished eating and began walking it started raining and then hailing a bit. It didn’t look like it would last long so we just kept going.

We passed B Team and Snail Trail who had found shelter behind some trees. After a mile or so the rain stopped we found a primitive shelter that some people camp at.

After another mile we caught up with “Bear Squared”. He had hiked before with B Team and Snail Trail and they had mentioned at the Crest store that we might see him. He is from Australia and hiked the Colorado Trail in 2018. We hiked with him for a while until we stopped to finish, or at least try to finish, the big burritos. B Team and Snail Trail Passed us and we caught up with all of them at a vault toilet where the trail follows Marshall Pass road for a while. They headed out while we took a short break.

There was some kind of logging operation going on near there, maybe salvaging beetle-killed trees.

This part of the Collegiate and Colorado Trail allows bikes and motorcycles so we had been passed by both occasionally. We were walking on the Marshall Pass road and realized there were dozens of old blacksmith-type nails and spikes in the road. We kicked a few off the road until we realized we might be at it for hours - we wondered how they got there.

Colorado Trail segment 16 starts at the road.

There was a spring that someone plumbed to a pipe at about 15.5 miles. Some people have built a neat little trail up to the pipe. We filtered water there.

At 16 miles there is a little meadow and we found B Team and Snail Trail, Bear Squared, and a father and son all camped. It was 7:30 and we were ready to stop, too, so we found a spot. We set up the tent, made dinner, and went to bed.

16 miles over nine hours.