Brian’s Microblog

July 28, 2026

We left the Avon Hotel at 7:00. We walked to the Whistlestop gas station at the south end of town. We got some sausage and egg bagel sandwiches for breakfast and ate them.

Then we went out to the highway to hitch a ride up to Molas Pass. Unfortunately very few vehicles were going south of town. Lots of people went to the gas station and then went north or back into the town. Eventually a truck with three Hispanic guys stopped and picked us up. It was a little bit different than our previous hitches because there was very little conversation, and what little there was took place mostly in Spanish. We arrived at the Molas Pass scenic overlook a little bit before 8:00.

Note that this hitch has us missing about 6 miles of trail from the train tracks up to Molas Pass. We had been told that there was a way to take the train back to the flag stop and continue the hike without any gaps. However, it turns out that we would have had to buy round-trip tickets from Silverton to Durango and back, then I think ride all the way from Silverton to Durango and then get dropped off on the way back to Silverton. Those round trip tickets are very expensive and it would take all day to ride the train back and forth, so we are missing six more miles of Colorado Trail.

We walked for a couple hours and then stopped and ate the leftover pizza from the night before at a fairly scenic spot.

We walked another hour and stopped around noon to eat the sandwich that we had gotten “to go” from the restaurant. As we ate, the skies darkened further and it started raining. We decided to sit out the rain since we already had a pad set up to sit on. We were also not going because we could hear thunder. It mostly seemed to be just cloud to cloud lightning since we did not see any strikes, but we were nearing a saddle and did not want to be exposed during the thunderstorm. The rain was heavy off and on for about half an hour.

Eventually, the rain stopped and the skies got a little brighter so we decided to get going again. We hiked up for another 20 minutes or so and it started hailing. We found a little place to put our sitting pad and sat out the brief hail storm.

Finally, the hail subsided to a light rain and we made it up to the saddle only to find that the trail followed around the shoulder of a mountain to a different saddle a couple hundred feet higher up and across the small valley. The clouds continued to look threatening, but it was only light rain off and on.

As soon as we crossed this higher saddle we looked out on a sunny valley, and the weather looked much better on that side. We walked a couple hundred feet down from the pass and took all our rain gear off. We continued hiking down and within 10 minutes we had to put our rain gear back on because, despite the sun shining, it began raining again. It rained for a surprisingly long time all while the sun shone on us.

We finished listening to the audiobook Listen for the Lie. It was enjoyable - the writing is good and the personalities of the characters are interesting, but the mystery hinges on a sort of hard to believe event.

Eventually, the rain stopped and we stopped for a snack and to let some of the rain gear dry out.

The valley was pretty and we descended quite a way before following around a mountainside to Cascade Creek. There are a number of good campsites near a bridge that crosses the creek, but the best sites were already taken when we arrived at 4:00. We found a less-sheltered site and set up the tent just before another rain shower.

After pumping up our air mattresses we laid down and read for a while. The rain ended and we kept relaxing until we realized we should probably make dinner. We got out of the tent and found “Lifer” talking to our new neighbors. He was camped just a little further upstream. We talked to him while Julie made some Italian split pea soup she’d found at the Silverton grocery. It tasted good but maybe a bit too salty. We split a giant rice crispy treat for dessert.

We’d used the last of our water to make the soup so we had to go filter more from the creek. We talked to Lifer a bit more since he was close to where we got the water. Then we went to bed - neither of us had slept very well the second night in Silverton.

14 miles in eight hours.

July 27, 2026

We slept in until 6:30. We managed to get some hot drinks from the bar/kitchen downstairs, but I had to use my camping mug and a tea bag because Julie found the last mug in the kitchen. For the price we are paying at the Avon Hotel the amenities seem lacking.

It was really foggy in the morning. We walked several blocks up to the Kendall Mountain Cafe and had really nice breakfasts. Julie got the huevos rancheros and ended up with lots left over and I got a “Monte Cristo” breakfast sandwich of French toast with eggs, ham, and cheese. Their French toast is really good!

We stopped in a shop on the way back to the room and each bought a fourth pair of Darn Tough merino wool socks. We really like these socks but they take so long to dry when we wash them on trail, and it looks like we are going to see more rain, that we decided it is worth carrying a few ounces more to have dry socks.

Back at the hotel I worked on the blog a bit and Julie organized our food and finalized our shopping list. She went out and found that the bike shop had some trekking poles so I joined her and picked out some - another $100. We also found some good protein bars and drink mixes at the hardware store.

Back at the room I tried to drown my inflatable mattress in the bathtub because it has a slow leak. Unfortunately I couldn’t find anything definitive, although it might be leaking from the valve.

We ate our leftover pizza and Julie’s breakfast for lunch. “Lifer” and his brother, who hiked up to meet him on the trail, showed up and talked with us for quite a while. Interesting guys but boy do they talk a lot!

I worked on the blog and Julie researched water and camping options on the last few segments. There was a huge thunderstorm around 4:30 that went on until almost 5:30. Torrential rain with occasional blasts of hail and some major wind gusts. We were very grateful not to be out on the trail, but we thought about some of the hikers like Bright Side who had headed back up to the trail after riding the train into town and doing a quick resupply - hopefully it was not as bad up on the mountains above town.

We walked back to the Golden Block Brewery again. We got a very tasty “Chinese Laundry” pizza for dinner and a sandwich “to go” for lunch on the trail tomorrow.

July 26, 2026

We got up a little after 6:00. It was cloudy, the first cloudy morning in a long time. Our socks and underwear were still damp even though we had left one of the tent vestibule doors open overnight.

We made hot drinks and instant oatmeal for breakfast.

We delayed putting on the damp socks and wet shoes for as long as possible - it was unpleasant.

We got on trail a little bit before 9:00. We dropped a bunch of elevation in the first mile but then the trail alternated between being down by the creek and going up the side of the valley to avoid cliffs. At one point the trail was just large rocks in the creek.

Erosion is definitely still happening in this canyon, and we passed a couple places where avalanches had piled a bunch of trees in the bottom of the canyon. The slopes of the valley sides are impressively steep.

We arrived at the Durango & Silverton train stop on the Animas River at about 10:00 after a bit over two miles of hiking. The train is scheduled to arrive at 11:04, so we had plenty of time to eat some snacks and chat with other hikers and climbers - climbing Vestal and Arrow peaks is popular, and the train offers a shorter way to get close to the base of the mountains.

The train arrived on time and we paid $35 each for the half hour ride into Silverton. The tracks follow the Animas River through some narrow and scenic parts of the canyon. The track is pretty bumpy and walking around while the train is moving is challenging. We got some sodas and were happy to sit down with them.

In Silverton the train just parks on 12th Street - there is no train station or anything formal. We retrieved our packs from the baggage car and walked over to the Avon Hotel where we had reserved a room.

It was a bit before noon and check in wasn’t until 3:00. No-one was working at the hotel except a cleaner. We texted the owner as instructed to ask about leaving our packs but never received a reply. We, along with several other hikers who had arrived on the train, just left our packs in the second floor common area.

We walked to El Bandito Mexican restaurant and had lunch. The waitress had recently arrived from Peru and we practiced our Spanish with her. The food and drinks were good.

Then we went to the grocery store to see what kinds of meals we could get. We found some of what we were looking for, but couldn’t find many things we wanted. Very limited choices. We picked up a few things we knew we needed and it was $100 - resupply days are surprisingly expensive.

We walked around town looking for places to buy new trekking poles and other supplies. Unfortunately the stores that might have trekking poles were closed because it was Sunday. We ended up going to the Golden Block Brewery. We got a tasting flight plus a glass of their barrel aged beer and a cheese pizza. The beers were very good and they manage to impart clear, interesting flavors to their beers - recommended. We brought half of the pizza back with us.

Finally it was 3:00 and we returned to the hotel and checked in by phone call. We showered and then put our dirty clothes (everything except what we were wearing) in a bag and I went to the laundromat. Julie returned to the grocery store and got a bottle of wine and some hummus and carrots.

We ate the hummus and carrots in the room for a while before deciding that we really were still hungry. We walked to The Eureka Station and split a salad and some very tasty sweet potato fritters, then split a peach cobbler for dessert.

July 25, 2026

It was chilly but not as cold as the night before. We still woke up with the inside and outside of the tent wet. However, we stayed in bed until almost 6:30 and the sun began hitting the tent - lucky positioning! We got up and pulled our sleeping bags out and put them on a large rock that was dry (and freshly cleaned from the rain last night!) so that they could dry in the sun since they were a bit damp as well.

With the shortage of water, we decided to hike a little way and get more water before making hot drinks. There was a creek in a bit less than a mile and then we stopped after another 3/4 mile or so when we found a flat rock with a bit of a view.

Shortly afterwards the trail crested a ridge and the views started being epic.

For about three miles the trail goes up and down small ridges that are all on this high, large ridge. There are no trees and bushes only near ponds or tiny streams, but the ground is green with grass and little flowers. There are mountains all around - it’s a very different landscape.

We stopped at the top of a hill to make a video. If this isn’t the most scenic spot on the trail it’s definitely a strong candidate.

YouTube Video

Somewhere in here, the tip of one of my trekking poles broke off

After another half mile the Continental Divide Trail diverges from the Colorado Trail - the Colorado Trail turns west and stays inside the Winemuche Wilderness while the Continental Divide Trail continues south. After climbing up a ridge the trail reaches a saddle at the top of the Elk Creek canyon.

The trail switchbacks down into the valley, initially with a view of a couple of hanging lakes. Then down into a steep-sided canyon with some old mines.

Finally it reaches a tiny creek and follows it down. We dropped 2800 feet in six miles before finding a campsite.

The scenery, especially near the upper end of the canyon, is spectacular. Huge rocky peaks on the south side of the canyon and steep slopes (and sometimes cliffs) on the north.

There was another pika that wanted to check out Julie’s shoe.

And a marmot watching the trail.

We stopped for lunch and it started sprinkling. We managed to finish lunch just under an umbrella, but afterwards it started raining. It rained for over an hour, then stopped for a while before starting again.

We passed a massive collection of downed trees, like a log jam. Apparently there was an avalanche here a couple years ago.

We passed the 400 mile mark in this valley.

YouTube Video

We had a hard time choosing a campsite. We almost stopped at a pretty nice one but it seemed a bit early so we continued on. It started raining lightly shortly afterwards which caused some regrets.

Eventually we found a fairly nice site, although a huge fallen tree about five feet off the ground made it a little awkward.

We were both out of clean socks and underwear so we rinsed some in a creek a quarter mile before the campsite, but we weren’t set up to actually wash them. It’s not clear anything will dry before the morning, anyway.

Julie found a tick on her pants while filtering water, but that’s only the second tick that we’ve seen on the whole trail.

We made an “add boiling water” macaroni and cheese dinner. We added some turkey sausages and Cholula salsa to try to jazz up the fairly plain Mountain House meal. We had some brownies we bought in Lake City from a girl raising money for some charity for dessert along with hot cocoa.

There were a lot of flies at this camp, but they weren’t always active.

While we were finishing the cocoa a rabbit came into camp. It was very interested in something near the tent - maybe a previous camper spilled something? We were excited to take photos but then it suddenly came over to my very wet shoes and started nibbling on them. I shooed it away and looked for a safe place to put my shoes and then a moment later the rabbit started nosing my pack. We hung the packs on broken branches of a big tree with a dry spot underneath, and my shoes in a different tree.

The sun briefly shone on the canyon wall before setting.

10 miles over about eight and a half hours. It sounds slow but we took so many photos and stopped to look in an old mine, talk to other hikers, and examine campsites - it felt like a very full day.

July 24, 2026

Julie got up a little before 6:00, just in time to say “good morning” to the couple of guys we’d camped near the night before as they headed back up to the trail. I got up a little later. Once again the tent was wet inside and out. I tried again to wipe it down with a microfiber towel but water kept condensing on it - next time a different strategy.

We made hot drinks and had pumpkin bread and poppyseed cake from the Lake City Bakery for breakfast. We got on trail at 8:40.

We hiked up a small but pretty valley with a small waterfall. It was a steep climb up to a saddle. Instead of going down on the other side we followed a ridge around to another saddle and came out on the side of a big, beautiful valley underneath some cliffs. We stopped at this amazing view and ate some Fillo’s Walking Tamales. We’d never tried them before but we will buy them again - a nice change from protein bars.

The trail follows up the big valley, which is a tributary to Cuba Gulch, for a half mile before diving down to cross the valley and climb the other side.

Crossing that saddle brought us to the main Cuba Gulch valley. We could look down the valley to a steep mountainside with a number of old mines on it.

We stopped for lunch on the climb up out of the top of Cuba Gulch. A marmot came out to check on us as we finished lunch.

We walked along a sort of plateau or flat ridge for a bit, then dropped into another valley only to climb steeply up another ridge.

We dropped into another valley with a couple mountains that looked like they had serrated tops along the west side and found a beautiful little creek to filter water from. It turns out this is the headwaters of the Rio Grande River.

We followed down the side of the Rio Grande valley and continued along the foot of one of the serrated topped mountains and came out on Stony Pass Road. The trail follows the road almost up to Stony Pass, but there is a trailhead to the Weminuche Wilderness just before the top.

The trail skirts the mountain south of the pass and climbs a ridge over to Deep Creek valley. Unfortunately a big thunderstorm arrived just before we got up the ridge. We found a tiny canyon and hunkered down with our raincoats and umbrellas for over 45 minutes while lightning struck the ridge above Cuba Gulch several times.

Finally the storm pushed on to the north enough that we could go the last tenth of a mile over to the valley to the south. We were relieved to get down and off the ridge, and eventually it stopped raining.

Far Out said there were campsites and water near a trail junction. We saw some other people camped there but they were coming from the south and had collected water from the other side of a ridge that we didn’t want to go over since the thunderstorm was still close. We found a sloped spot for the tent and set it up not a moment too soon because it started raining again.

We huddled in the tent and made a cold-soaked dinner with couscous and dehydrated vegetables. We watched an episode of Rizzoli and Isles while the couscous soaked, and then while we ate it. It rained for over an hour - luckily the show had subtitles because the rain was noisy. Finally it stopped a bit before 8:00 so we could brush our teeth and pee before going to bed.

13 miles over about nine hours. It was an interesting day because we were literally high on the scenery for most of the day, and then chilled and worried for the last few hours.

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.