I had just finished a five mile day hike with running shoes, but I thought I should give the boots another chance. I should have packed the running shoes. The 1.6 pounds would have been worth it.
I put on my backpack, probably 27-28 pounds. I had gone overboard on the food with elaborate meals and lots of snacks. I put moleskin on my left heel and started hiking. I hiked about 30 minutes and could feel some pain on my left heel. The moleskin wasn't big enough so I put a Band-aid Advanced Healing Blister band-aid on the new hot spot. Within another 30 minutes, the blister band-aid was torn lose with the moleskin. I put on more special blister band-aids and moleskin. Needless to say, I developed another blister on my left heel and a new blister on the sole of my right food right by the toes. I will spare you the details but those blisters were on my mind 75% of the time. I filled up my Camelbak and had a liter of Gatorade after sterilizing my water with my Steripen. It kind of felt like the "Emperor's Sterilizer" hoping it was actually killing germs with the blue light. I got the water at the second stream since I still had some in my Camelbak and it had a better flow of water than the first stream. It was about 2-3 miles into the trail. I realized that I would have never found water if I had hiked to the trailhead when I was hiking Segment 2. Good decision to turn around on my last trip.
I kept hiking, went up a good size hill to over 8000 feet and a decline that lasted about 2 miles. I passed by Buffalo Creek Campground and Meadow Group Campground on my way down to Buffalo Creek. I had hiked about 8 miles in 6 hours. My feet were killing me and now when I try to find a nice place by the creek to have a nice warm dinner, it starts sprinkling. I decide to walk a little longer and figure it will be a non-cooked meal. Then it stopped raining and I was still near the creek. I started cooking and it started sprinkling again. I used my umbrella (thanks, Ray Jardine for the advice) to cover my stove and myself. Only spilled a little bit of the ramen on myself. I had more planned for the meal but decided this was enough. I had eaten about 1/3 of the food I had planned for the day. Oops!
I hiked another mile and it started sprinkling some more. I figured I better stop here. I threw my gear from inside my backpack under the umbrella so that I could get to my backpack, sleeping bag and sleeping pad. I set up the Big Agnes Fly Creek UL2 that I had bought for my new summer of backpacking. It was almost a pound less than my Eureka Zeus 2 and was a double wall. I don't know if it was worth the investment. Seemed about the same. I had some snacks and hung all my smelly food in my bear bag made from my tent bag and a rope. With the gun club, a few miles away, shooting guns until almost 7pm that night, I doubted there would be any bears around. I sat on a rock and listened to a bunch of teenagers who had set up camp on the next ridge until it started raining harder. I was ok with the reality that I hadn't brought my iPad. I read the pages I had photocopied from the Colorado Trail Guide Book and the maps. Wonderful book.
It rained for about an hour or two that night but not very hard. I was on the top of a small ridge so the water ran away from the tent. It quieted down the teenagers and I was actually able to sleep on this Nemo Astro Insulated sleeping pad. Another Backpacker magazine editors choice. Good decision even though it weighs a lot more than a thin closed cell foam pad.
In the morning, I cooked some oatmeal, threw in some of my gorp and had some Starbucks Via coffee. It was my first time to try it. I hadn't put in enough dry milk and stevia but it was still great. The fly (rain cover) was totally wet on top. I tried to dry it on a big rock near my tent since the sun was shining on it. Didn't work. Now I remember Ray Jardine saying to have a waterproof bag for your tent because many times you would have to pack it wet while on multi-day trips. I hadn't remembered. I turned on my Spot again so that I would have record of the trip on Spot Adventures. I didn't send an update but I knew the family could track me online.
I hiked the final 3.3 miles, took a while because it was uphill and my blisters were killing me. I had completed Segment 3 one day before scheduled. I pretty much knew I would hike all the way back to my car today. I had a wet tent and sore feet. I hiked back down to Buffalo Creek, had lunch and sat there with my boots and socks off for about 30-40 minutes. I used up the last of the moleskin and only had one more band-aid. I would never look at my feet again and push through 7-8 miles by sheer will and insanity.I hiked up to mile 6 and then mile 6 to mile 4 (remember I'm walking back) was uphill the entire way. I wrote somewhere else is was 90-something percent uphill. It was actually 100% (I don't know why I lied). I had to find a weird looking tree about 500 feet in front of me and decide to walk to it. Then I would rest. Then I'd find another tree with two trunks and walk to it so I could rest some more. I did this over and over for 2 miles, but it only took me about an hour. Even with all that resting. I walked all the way back till about 7:15pm, 15.6 miles that day. I changed into my running shoes at the car but I couldn't push in the clutch without intense pain. I got home and took a long bath, deciding to dry and put away all my stuff today (which I did).
Things I learned on this trip:
- Boots - the heck with them. I think I'll take them back to Dick's Sporting Goods Store and get some Gore-Tex running shoes (Backpacker Magazine Editor's Choice, of course)
- Food - I brought the 'right amount' of food last trip and about 3 times as much as I was supposed to this trip, even finishing a day early. I found when you are dead tired, you don't want to eat. Bring LESS FOOD. Bring more Gatorade (sugar-free this time).
- Water - Steripen was a success, especially with the anti-bacterial wipes for the lip of the Nalgene. I might get a collapsable water container instead of a Nalgene, to save weight.
- Trekking poles - I forgot to mention them. They salvaged the trip. They are wonderful. I bought Black Diamond Distance Z-Poles. 12 oz, and SO amazing! Worth the weight by saving my knees, helping me keep my balance and even helped me climb. They even helped me set a pace.
- Spot Connect is a winner. The trick is NOT to turn on and off my cell phone. Leave it in airplane mode and the phone lasted the entire trip.
- I like hiking even though I can hardly walk when I'm done. I think running shoes will be the key. That is what I used to backpack in (except for winter camping). I don't know why I ever tried boots.
- I like pepperoni and summer sausage, that will be a repeat.
I might take a weekend off and work on accounting for USCS after going to a movie with a friend on Friday night. Then off to backpack Segment 4 (round trip). I'll keep everyone posted.
Colorado Trail Segment 3 round trip
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