Brian’s Microblog

July 23, 2026

I heard alarms going off in another tent at 4:45 and 5:00. We didn’t get up until about 5:30. It had rained from about 10 to 11 the night before, sometimes quite hard. The inside and the outside of the tent were both very wet, the inside from condensation. I kept wiping the tent off but more moisture kept condensing on it in the chilly morning.

We had some hot drinks and Amish pies from the little store at the Matterhorn Motel for breakfast. The pies were disappointing - maybe would have been better if we’d had a microwave.

We got on trail a little bit before 8:00, but then we had to stop and filter some more water because we didn’t filter much due to the moose last night.

The trail climbs a series of ridges, each higher than the last, for six miles.

We learned that our firefighter friend who has been checking our mail and looking in on our house was called out to a wildfire and will be away for at least a couple weeks. Fortunately some of our several great neighbors agreed to take over. (We could still see a cell tower for the first couple ridge climbs.)

After six miles we reached the highest point on the Colorado Trail, 13,271 feet.

After that we descended steeply to some old mining roads that are jeep roads now. We walked past a few small, old mines.

Then the trail leaves the road to cut over to Lost Trail Creek Valley. We stopped and had some lunch – Nutella with fruit and nuts wrapped in a tortilla. The trail goes up this valley and towards the upper end of the valley we saw three more moose from a long distance.

The mountains surrounding the Lost Trail Creek valley are rugged and impressive looking. There are a bunch of unusual rock formations near the saddle at the top of the valley.

The descent on the other side is more gradual, and new mountain ranges were visible.

We followed the trail down a ridge and got a view of the Cataract Lakes. As we got closer we noticed a couple moose on the east side of the biggest lake. It started raining and we put on rain gear.

We followed the trail further to the intersection of the trail to Cataract Lakes and turned down it. The rain stopped. We found a campsite on the west side of the biggest lake and set our tent out to dry. One of the guys we’d talked with the night before came over to say hi. He and another guy were camped at the north end of the lake.

We got the tent set up and went to the lake to filter some water but the rain started again so we only got enough to make dinner. We had arrived around 4:00 so we had plenty of time - we sat in the tent and looked at the guide book to plan tomorrow’s hike. After the rain stopped Julie made instant mashed potatoes with chicken and cheese. We had some San Juan Shortbread we’d bought in Lake City for dessert with hot cocoa.

We filtered more water and heard a coyote and saw that the moose across the lake were noticing it, too.

We went to bed a bit after 8:00 since neither of us had slept well the night before.

14 miles over about eight hours.

July 22, 2026

We got up and had some leftover dinner and Lake City Bakery pastries for breakfast, then we showered and packed.

We left the motel around 9:00 so they could clean the room and went to the Hiker Center. One of the volunteers was making little donuts that were delicious. I managed to get another couple days of blog updated while we waited for the shuttle up to the trail. We talked with some of the other hikers, including a guy from Texas, “Lifer”, who is 75 years old.

A bit before 11:00 they arranged for a second driver because there was about eight of us hikers hoping to take the shuttle. We got to the trail a bit after 11:30.

We ran into Brightside, who we hadn’t seen since Bailey, at the parking lot. We told her not to miss the bakery.

The trail follows a jeep road for a few miles. We saw a sheep herder’s wagon, then four sheep, then saw the shepherd with his horse and dogs a mile later.

We stopped and ate an upscale “pig in a blanket” from the Lake City Bakery for lunch.

The trail leaves the road and climbs over a very smooth ridge. We got to the top and saw a cell tower on a nearby hill - we had very good reception for a couple miles. We also got some great views of mountains, including Red Mountain and the distant Uncompahgre Peak.

We could also see back to where we had hiked down from Snow Mesa on Sunday.

After descending a bit the trail climbs and begins following a ridge. After a bit under nine miles we arrived at the last water source for another nine miles. Several people were already camped there, some out in the large meadow and others in amongst the (mostly dead) dead trees.

We set up the tent and then joined a group sitting in a circle and talking for a while. Then we went back to our tent and ate a calzone from the bakery for dinner.

We went to filter some water and saw a moose in the brush. We decided to just fill our collection bag and do the filtering back at the tent - once we were in the brush there was no way to tell if the moose might be moving towards us.

We had a tasty piece of fudge for dessert, then set up our sleeping bags and went to bed somewhat early. We read books on our phones for a while before trying to sleep.

9 miles in about five hours.

July 21, 2026

We had stayed up somewhat late and didn’t get up until 6:30. Julie walked to the Lake City Bakery again and brought us pastries for breakfast and some calzones to freeze for our next dinner on trail.

We showered and Julie checked the Hiker Center for hand sanitizer and checked that we could get a ride to the trail tomorrow. I added a couple days text and photos to the blog.

We ate lunch of leftover pizza. Then we walked to a path along Henson Creek that goes down to where it meets the Lake Fork of the Gunnison River.

We stopped at the craft fair but there wasn’t anything we were interested in. We went to the Kennedy Dry Goods store - one of the volunteers at the hiker dinner owns the store. We bought some San Juan Shortbread for the trail. Julie got a spare pika sticker from Michael Underwood Photography.

We stopped by the Hiker Center again and one of the volunteers suggested we try a mango smoothie from Cafe 98. They were right: it was a great treat, really fresh.

We walked to the Post Office to send a postcard and mail some of the souvenirs we’d purchased home. Then we visited the Lake City Bakery to get breakfast for the next day as well as a lunch and some desserts and breakfasts for the trail.

The town felt different because all the through hikers we knew had left in the morning and only a couple new ones had arrived. It seemed like maybe more of the tourists who might have canceled reservations had come to town.

Back at the motel I worked on the blog again and enjoyed a couple of the beers we’d bought the day before. We got New Belgium’s Honey Orange Tripel - really tasty, but I really felt the 10% alcohol content. Hopefully not too many errors in the blog!

For dinner we walked the block to the Packer Saloon and Cannibal Grill. It’s a bit “tourist trap” but the food is good. (Alfred Packer bio if you don’t know why it’s the Cannibal Grill.)

Back at the motel I continued to work on updating the blog while Julie studied the script for the musical Into the Woods.

July 20, 2026

We slept until 6:30, unfortunately not as well as we hoped - maybe it was a bit too warm in our room. Julie walked down to the Lake City Bakery and came back with several delicious pastries and a couple savory pastries/pockets. We ate the sweet pastries and saved most of the savory ones for lunch.

We walked down to Hiker Center to check the hiker boxes. We found a couple of ziplock bags and a small deodorant. We also picked up our clean clothes - it felt like valet service! Then we walked to the north end of town to the grocery store to shop for supplies. We found most of what we needed.

We brought the groceries back to the motel and then visited the nearby Hiker Center again to back-flow our water filter with the Sawyer syringe they had - hopefully that will speed up the filter a bit. Then we borrowed their loaner bicycles to ride down to the south end of town. The bikes were not great but it was easier than walking. We found an “add boiling water” dinner at the sporting goods store, then got a bottle of wine and some beers from the liquor store.

After dropping those off at the motel we returned the bikes. Then we ate the pocket/calzones for lunch and relaxed in the room for a while. We got some bills paid and emails looked at. Our WiFi at home had stopped working so we asked our caretaker to check on the battery backup.

We walked a couple blocks to the main old town shopping area and went to the Michael Underwood photography gallery. He has captured a lot of amazing photos from the area. We bought some stickers and small souvenirs and, because Michael recognized us as through hikers, we each got small free stickers.

As we walked (and biked) around town we kept running into other hikers. It is interesting and fun to be in a small town where we don’t know anyone, yet constantly find people we recognize. Lake City also clearly has a lot of community organization. For example, there is a swampy pond at the north end of town that has a trail with benches and a picnic table that was clearly a volunteer effort.

We found that most of the rooms at our motel are filled with other hikers and we chatted with them. The rooms have folding chairs for their tiny patios and in the afternoon many of us were sitting outside. There were several rain showers in the afternoon and it was pleasantly cooling - the rooms don’t have air conditioning.

It turns out that many of the rooms with hikers had been reserved by others, but with the Elk Fire causing the town to be in level one evacuation, most reservations had been canceled. That is, we might have had to stay somewhere else, but the fire actually helped us. Similarly, many reviews of the Lake City Bakery mention long lines, but Julie never had to wait.

For dinner we walked to the north end of town to the Silver Slice pizzeria. It is a small operation but they make very good pizza!

After dinner we found canopy tents being set up in the old downtown area for a what looks like a craft fair, and there was live music at the Packer Saloon and Cannibal Grill so we wandered around a little.

July 19, 2026

Another chilly but fairly calm night. We got up around six. We only made one round of hot drinks and we managed to get on trail at 7:35 just as the sun finally made it over the ridge to shine on our campsite.

We hiked down to East Mineral Creek and filtered some very chilly water that looked a little yellow before filtering - a well-named creek. Then we hiked steeply up and over a ridge. From there we crossed a rock jumble below a cliff where we stopped for a snack in the shade. After that we began a three and a half mile climb of 1300 feet up to 12,700 feet.

The climb brought us over a ridge to completely different country - a high, rolling, plateau with huge views of distant mountain ranges. It was warm on the plateau. We stopped for lunch and Jim, a hiker we had been leapfrogging since the day before, walked by and mentioned that it suddenly felt like North Dakota but 7,000 feet higher.

After about five miles we arrived at a canyon that provided a way off the plateau. For two miles we dropped 1300 feet to Highway 149 where we waited for an hour and a half for a shuttle from the Lake City Presbyterian Church to pick us up.

We’d made reservations at the Matterhorn Motel and the friendly volunteer driver from the church dropped us off there. We unpacked a little, showered, and washed some underwear in the sink since everything was dirty, and then walk a block and a half to the church where they were hosting a hiker dinner.

For a dozen Sundays in the summer, the church provides a main course and church members bring potluck sides and desserts. Through hikers on the Colorado Trail or Continental Divide Trail are welcomed and cheered. It was an amazing feeling of generosity. They even have volunteers who will do laundry for hikers because there’s no laundromat in town. We sat with a couple of the hikers we’d met on trail, one we hadn’t met yet, and some of the church members and had some good conversations during dinner. One of the volunteers said she’d do our laundry, so we grabbed some laundry bags and walked back to the motel to fill them with dirty clothes, then returned them to her.

After dinner we wandered around the town a little. There are lots of historic buildings and some nice shops.

12 miles over about seven hours.

July 18, 2026

We woke up a little bit before 6:00 and the cows started talking to each other loudly a little bit after 6:00 so we got up then. It had been a pretty chilly night and we were both a little bit cold even with our puffy jackets on inside the bedding.

We used nearly the last of our water to make some hot drinks, leaving just enough to brush our teeth and have a few gulps to hike towards a new water source. We left camp at 8:00.

After about 3/4 of a mile, we passed a gate and the evidence of cows was reduced afterwards. In another mile or so we found a tiny creek flowing across the trail from the hillside. We went ahead and filtered a couple liters there. Even though it was very silty, we figured the cow patty content was very low.

After that, the going got a bit tougher. The slope increased, which matched the creek – where for the last 12 miles or so it flowed slowly and sinuously, now we often heard it rushing. This part of the canyon exhibited a little bit fresher erosion, with lots of large rocks to step over in the trail.

Towards the head of the valley, the trail crosses the main Cochetopa Creek. We stopped here to filter some water. A cute little bird that might have been a fox sparrow was taking a bath in the creek while we were filtering.

The trail got even steeper at the end of the valley and we climbed up to a saddle. Here we caught up with Greg and Highlighter. Highlighter had just come back down from climbing San Luis Peak, and Greg and we left our packs and headed up to the peak carrying just water and snacks. It’s about a mile and a half of steep climbing, 1500 feet. And it’s all on a big pile of rocks, a pile that gets surprisingly steep at the top.

It took us over an hour and a half to climb up, and we only spent less than 15 minutes at the top (14,022 feet elevation) because rain clouds were threatening. We got some Verizon service at the top.

It only took about 45 minutes to climb back down. We were hungry as it was after 2:00 and we hadn’t had lunch, so we quickly made and ate some tortillas with salami and cheese, then we got off the saddle in case thunderstorms arrived.

The trail descended a ways into a big bowl / valley with some rocky spires around it, then it ascended a bit to go over a saddle to the next valley, a larger one. We descended to a little creek and had started to think about campsites so we filtered enough water to camp. As we worked on the last bottle of water the rain that had passed by before arrived. It rained pretty hard so we found a spot behind some bushes that was somewhat sheltered from the wind and hunkered down.

The rain went on for over half an hour. We ate some snacks and made some jokes. Eventually it lightened up enough that we decided to start hiking again. There was supposed to be a campsite sheltered by bushes about two miles away and it was now almost 5:00.

Working our way up over the next saddle warmed us up. We descended to San Luis Pass and looked for the campsite in vain. The next camping described in Far Out was a bit over two miles further, but up and over another big climb.

We decided to go for it since making that much progress meant we could make it to Lake City for the Sunday dinner after all. Greg had told us that in addition to the daily 12:00 shuttle to Lake City there was an additional 4:00 shuttle on Sundays. There was no way we could make it by noon, but 4:00 was doable.

The climb was the steepest of the day (not counting the side trip to the peak without packs) and the wind started blowing hard from the south where it was raining far down the valley. It was difficult and stressful but we made it over and there was far less wind on the other side.

The descent into the East Mineral Creek valley was steep, but we were glad to get lower quickly. We finally found a really pretty campsite, although it was somewhat surrounded by dead trees. We arrived at 7:00.

We got the tent set up and made a curry dinner from Farm to Summit that really hit the spot. We made cocoa for dessert. As we finished brushing our teeth a moose suddenly showed up and seemed surprised we were there.

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12 miles on the trail plus a mile and a half side trip to the top of San Luis Peak, which involved in additional 1500 foot ascent, for a total of 15 miles and over 5000 feet ascent, over 11 hours.

July 17, 2026

It was a very calm night and we slept pretty well. We got up a bit after 6:00 and felt like two rounds of hot drinks would go well with our protein bars. We got on trail at 8:45.

We walked a couple miles in the big open area and found a couple bars of Verizon service as we crested a hill. We stopped for a while to check emails and make some lodging reservations in Lake City.

It started getting hot as the thin early morning clouds dissipated and we were walking in sagebrush country. We were glad when the trail (still a cattle access road) turned up a valley and entered a large forest of aspen trees.

We climbed over a ridge and dropped down into the Cochetopa Creek valley. The trail follows this creek upstream for twenty miles or more. Where we entered the valley it was fairly wide with numerous beaver dams causing the creek to curve back and forth. Some very dark clouds were further up the valley. Unfortunately a major feature of this valley is cow dung - the smell is pervasive.

We walked a few miles up along the creek and stopped in a nice aspen grove for lunch. We got our tortillas wrapped around cheese and salami with mayonnaise and mustard and had just started eating them when it started raining. We put on rain gear and finished eating.

Shortly afterwards the trail crosses the creek. There was a bridge at one time but it apparently washed out quite a while ago. It didn’t look like there was any way across without wading so we took our shoes off and waded across in our camp shoes.

We caught up with a guy we’d talked to earlier in the day filtering water at the crossing. We stopped to filter as well and Greg, who we’d met above the Breckenridge ski area, caught up with us.

We continued on, now on the west side of the creek, and saw that the beavers have been taking trees from surprisingly far up the side of the valley. In about a mile we entered the La Garita Wilderness Area. Unfortunately the cows range on the Wilderness.

After about four more miles we arrived at the Eddiesville trailhead, which is the start of segment 20. We used the vault toilet there, then continued across the road to re-enter the La Garita Wilderness Area.

We’d read about a nice campsite about a mile and a half in from the road - unfortunately it was already occupied at 5:15. We walked another couple miles before finding a nice-looking campsite.

We set up the tent and were working on dinner when Greg caught up with us. We joked a bit about how noisy the cows were being and he mentioned that he plays the flute. He serenaded us a bit and maybe it was a coincidence that the cows got closer and noisier?

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Greg moved on as the skies darkened and he was still looking for a site. As we finished “cooking” (waiting for the boiling water we’d added to the bag to do its job) our Three Bean Chile with cornbread it started raining. We moved into the tent to eat.

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Not long afterwards one of the cows showed up and seemed very curious about our stove and other smells around the camp. I went out and shooed it away but they are a little intimidating.

We needed to filter some more water, but we went down to the Cochetopa Creek and it smelled strongly of cow poop, and we watched the cows crossing creek and peeing in the water. We just couldn’t bring ourselves to filter that water and decided to minimize use until the next water source.

15.3 miles in nine hours, mostly fairly easy walking.

July 16, 2026

We woke up a little before 6:00. It was a bit warmer in this area, at lower elevation, so we did not need our puffy jackets to sleep. We got up just after 6:00 aiming for an early start. We managed to get on the trail at eight.

The trail follows a little-used road up Pine Creek. At our campsite Pine Creek was dry, but about 3/4 of a mile upstream the road crosses the creek and water was flowing through a culvert there. We stopped and filtered a couple more liters because our next water would be about 8 miles further.

The trail (road) began winding up some tributary canyons to get up on the side of the valley for a couple miles. Then the trail leaves the road and goes straight up a hill to get to a saddle. It is quite steep for a short while there.

Once over the saddle the trail joins a different little-used road. That road leads to a well-used forest road, but we turned off after less than a mile on another cattle access road.

In this area is Cochetopa Pass, which translates in the indigenous language to “pass of the bison”. Archeological evidence shows that bison (as well as native peoples and other species) used this pass and other trails in the area to move between different environments that are separated by tall mountain ranges.

The cattle access road goes over a saddle and follows Los Creek down a valley. A north-bound Continental Divide hiker had told us the day before that the water was trickling in Los Creek but there was a side road that leads to a stock tank with nice water. We had planned based on this and so passed up an access to part of Los Creek that had a gentle flow. Unfortunately we either misunderstood, or that young lady has a very different idea of how far out of the way they would walk to get water. After wandering around a bit we ended up digging a little hole in a marshy area where water was trickling and filtered a liter and a half of dirty-looking water to get us to the next source.

The trail follows a road away from Los Creek up to a saddle. We stopped before the saddle under the last shady tree near the trail for lunch. “Energizer Bunny” hiked up shortly afterwards and joined us to eat her lunch. She has done a few other fifty-ish mile through hikes that sounded intriguing, including one around Catalina Island. She left a few minutes before we did, but we hiked at about the same speed, so we followed her at a distance for the next few miles.

We felt a few drops of rain at the end of our lunch and the clouds would continue to threaten rain all afternoon. Once over the saddle the primitive road enters a large, relatively tree-less valley. We did a lot of walking on roads today!

That cattle access / fence line road comes to a county road that we walked for a couple miles before turning off to another cattle access road which is the start of segment 19. Near this turn-off we found our first “trail magic”.

A couple named Marj and Andy who had done the Colorado Trail last year were camping there in their self-built van and wanted to give back. We caught up with Energizer Bunny and Highlighter enjoying the magic. We ate ice cream sandwiches, drank Gatorade, had some fresh fruit, got my phone charged, and dumped all of the three-plus days of trash we were carrying. Plus, they had some Leuko tape to cover some blisters Julie had developed. They also had gallons of water so we refilled some bottles. It was a wonderful, relaxing, surprise and Marj and Andy seem like great people.

We continued on another primitive road and soon it started raining. We got our umbrellas out because it didn’t look like it would last long. Within a half mile or so the rain stopped. We arrived at Ant Creek where Julie had read about a nice campsite. We went a little off-trail to check and there were a couple nice campsites under a mix of aspen and pine trees.

We sat down to do some planning. We had hiked 14 miles already, it was 4:15, and the next campsite with water would be Cochetopa Creek in six miles. Or we could stay at Ant Creek where there is a trickle of water. Or we could filter water at Ant Creek and look for a dry campsite somewhere, although none of the campsites described sounded very appealing. We had arrived at camp around 7:00 for the past couple nights and it made for a slightly stressful evening so we decided to stay at Ant Creek.

I used the water to wash clothes and take a little sponge bath. We spent some time trying to plan out the next few days. If we could arrive in Lake City on a Sunday there is a through hiker buffet dinner at one of the churches there, and lots of hikers try to be there. We thought we’d have to push hard to make it so we decided to just plan to arrive on Monday instead.

We had an “add boiling water” dinner and went to bed early. We heard coyotes in the distance.

14 fairly easy miles over nine hours with ice cream sandwiches.

July 15, 2026

We woke up around 6:00 and got up at about 6:20. Most of the people in tents around us had already gotten up but were being pretty quiet. We made some hot drinks and ate some protein bars, then most everyone except a young lady whose trail name was Highlighter left by 7:30. We used the water in the lake to do some laundry and ended up getting on trail at 9 o’clock.

The half mile hike back up to the trail was pretty steep. We returned to similar trail as yesterday – following a ridge line up and down hills through Lodgepole pine forests. We did get a couple of nice views when we got out into some meadows, but the distant mountains were hazy.

Julie had been noticing that little chipmunks are able to adapt to all kinds of environments - we see them in forests and on talus slopes. They are speedy and acrobatic, and usually pretty shy. Maybe Julie’s trail name should be Chippy, and I can be Sippy because we call the bottles with straws that we have on our pack straps “sippy cups”.

Water was still scarce on this part of the trail. At Razor Creek someone had buried a stick so that where a bit of water seeps out of the ground it trickles off the stick, making it easier to collect.

It got quite warm until we stopped for lunch at about 1 o’clock. As we finished up lunch, thunder clouds began approaching from the northeast, more or less following us. They continued threatening for quite a while, and eventually we got a few spits of rain. The clouds started to look dramatic so we put some rain gear on, but it never really rained enough that we actually needed it.

Eventually, we took some switchbacks down a hill to Lujan Pass. Here the trail is a forest road for a couple of miles leading down to Colorado Highway 114 while following Lujan Creek.

The trail follows the highway for a couple tenths of a mile, then resumes as a trail on the other side.

It crosses Lujan Creek for the last time and we filtered water there. We caught up with Highlighter there, and after she left and we were still working on our water, the young man from Nashville who we’d met on our first day caught up with us accompanied by the young lady headed for nursing school who we’d spoken with at Hancock Lakes. We pushed on for another mile to find a campsite but I think they decided to camp there - they’d had a much longer day than we had.

We found a site along Pine Creek and set up the tent quickly because dark clouds had rolled in again and then had an Alpine Aire African peanut stew “add boiling water” dinner, our first time trying that brand - it was tasty but a little more watery than would have been ideal. The clouds just ended up making the sunset more interesting.

14.6 miles of Colorado Trail plus half a mile to climb out of Baldy Lake.

July 14, 2026

We slept OK. There was a little wind and rain overnight but nothing like some previous nights. We got up a bit after 6:15 and made a couple rounds of hot drinks to go with a couple protein bars. We were slower than all the other campers in the meadow and left last, getting on trail at 8:30.

The trail more or less follows a ridge to the west for several miles with various ups and downs. After 10 miles it climbs down to Tank Seven Creek where we were able to get some more water. Water is very scarce in this part of the trail. We stopped and had some lunch at a campsite there by the creek. The trail then follows Tank Seven creek uphill for several miles, through a long, winding meadow in a wide valley where we saw a couple different groups of cows. Eventually, the trail leaves the creek and climbs up to Sargents Mesa.

From there it continues more or less following a ridge, again going up and down. It wasn’t very hard walking, but it was a long day. It started getting hot in the middle of the day but then it got breezy and cloudy later. Although we followed ridges for much of the day the trail was mostly in the forest so we didn’t get many views. It was a bit boring so we finished the The Murderbot Diaries book 2 we had started the previous day and also finished the short book 3.

We turned off the main trail and hiked half a mile down a steep hill to Baldy Lake. It’s the only water for several miles and various sources said it had nice campsites. When we arrived around 6:45 it started raining and we found all the three groups we had camped with the previous night as well as a couple other groups already set up. A little tent city by the lake. We met “Highlighter” here.

We set the tent up quickly in a spot between some of the other campers so we would have a dry place to put things. Julie started some dinner and I went down to the lake to wash the dirt off my legs. This part of the trail has a lot of fine dust and I didn’t want to put my very brown legs into my long underwear overnight.

The rain lightened and was almost done by the time our dinner was ready so we could eat outside. We talked a bit more with Bear Squared and shared a cup of hot chocolate with him after dinner. As the sun went down a bunch of bats appeared to feed on the few mosquitoes that had been bugging us.

17 miles of progress on the trail with a half mile side trip to Baldy Lake, a bit over ten hours.