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.

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.