Colorado Trail Segment 2

On May 13th, I planned on backpacking Segment 2 of the Colorado Trail and camping one night.  It turned into a day hike.  I had old Trails Illustrated maps (10 years) and maps I printed from TOPO! software.  I remembered hiking a few miles with a friend 3-4 years ago.  I got my gear (minus the Z-poles, GPS, and Steripen).  I went to Dick's Sporting Goods to see if they had some Salewa ALP Trainer Mid GTX (because it was Backpacker's Editor's Choice for 2011 and its blister free guarantee).  They didn't have them so I bought a pair of Timberland Chocorua Trail Gore-Tex mid-weight boots.  I had a heavier pair of Timberlands that never gave me trouble.  I should have searched harder for the Salewas.

So I started on the hike in the morning.  Immediately, I realized the trail had been rerouted from what my maps had.  I hiked up a pretty steep incline at first.  Within a half hour, I was checking my feet because my left heel was bothering me.  I had just hiked uphill and that seemed to really irritate the back of my left heel.

After an hour of hiking, now I was in the burn area (Buffalo Creek Burn Area), I checked my feet again.  Sure enough, I had a blister on the back of my left heel.  I put on a bandaid and some moleskin.  After an hour or so, I was back in a wooded area that had been saved from the fire.  There was a pleasant breeze. Snow-capped mountains were in the background.  The temperature was ideal.  But I was stopping every hour to take off my shoes and socks to move the moleskin and replace the bandaid.  It was taking a lot of the joy out of backpacking.

Burn Area

I was in the burn area for a few hours and started running out of water.  I had been in the Buffalo Creek Recreation Area before and knew there was a lot of water but not here.  I thought this was the Hayman Fire Burn Area and I knew that went about 20-30 miles.  I started wondering if I was going to be in burn area for a long time.  I should have done more research.  I couldn't tell how far I had hiked and what looked like a short distance proved to be a lot longer with all the switchbacks and curves.  I also started thinking that every mile I hike, I have to hike back.  I decided to turn around after sitting on a large rock in the middle of the burn area for about 30 minutes.

Buffalo Creek Fire Burn Area

I walked back.  I decided to stop checking my feet and just force myself to walk by sheer will and a lot of prayer.  It had taken me 6 hours to get as far as I got and 5 hours to get back.  I got in my car and drove home.  I had carried my tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad and a lot of food for nothing.  When I got home, the blisters weren't much worse than when I had checked them last.  The bottoms of my feet were sore and I could hardly walk.  My knees hurt a lot.

The next day, I updated my trip on Spot Adventures.  You can see my trip there.  I also got my notebook and wrote down what I learned:

• The Spot Connect device had worked well.  It hadn't sent the first "check-in" message and it left a couple gaps.
• Cell phone - it was connected to the Spot Connect device by bluetooth.  I could text people from high ridges since I was still pretty close to SW Denver.  The battery lost a lot when I turned the phone off and later turned it back on.  I wondered if I should get a solar charger and started researching those.  Maybe I needed an additional GPS in case my phone died after a few hours.
• The pain in my feet and knees made me wonder about taking a shorter trip next time but I just HATE sitting around, waiting until the time I can go to sleep.  I had brought my iPad but I had wondered about that choice.
• I realized I had forgotten to take one of my meals.  I was fine because I didn't end up staying overnight.
• Water - I ran out about an hour after I turned back.  I had to eat snow and food with water in it for the last 4 hours.  There wasn't much snow at all.  I also wondered about a lighter water purifier.  I also remembered stories on spotadventures.com about Segment hikers knowing the water availability.  I needed to research that.
• Boots - blister on left heel, knees started hurting after 5 hours and the soles of my feet hurt.  Did I need to break them in longer?
• Fleece jacket and pants - they seemed heavy for summer hiking and I needed a light weight option.  I wondered if thermal underwear would be enough.
• I really need to lose weight.  My backpack weighed about 25 pounds.  If I could lose 25 pounds, it would be like I was carrying nothing.  If I lost 50 pounds, it would be like I was floating.

After all this misery with my feet, I realized I enjoyed hiking.  I looked up the Colorado Trail and found that they had maps and a guidebook. I ordered both.  The Guide Book was amazing. After buying the Colorado Trail Guide Book, I figured I had hiked about 8-8.5 miles each way.  I would verify on my next trip when I hiked back to where I started.  I figured I had hiked 16-17 miles round trip.

After the trip, I bought a light weight down jacket by Patagonia, a Steripen water purifier, and a GPS on Ebay for $52.50 (including shipping).  I made quite a few trips to REI, even getting a pair of Black Diamond Distance Z-poles the night before I left for my second trip.  I tried to break in the boots further by wearing them 4-5 days before my next trip.  I decided against a solar charger.  Maybe if I brought my iPad, it could talk to the Spot Connect when the phone died.

Colorado Trail Segment 2 Day HIke

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My backpacking gear (base without food, clothes and water)

Weights in ounces:

• Backpack - GoLite Day Pack (don't remember model) - 16 oz (1 lb)
• Tent - Big Agnes Fly Creek UL2 (2 man tent but gives me room for my gear inside the tent) - 42.3 oz (2 lb 10.3 oz) (Still thinking about going without the bug mesh and floor when I don't think bugs are around, saves a pound)
• Sleeping bag - Lafuma Warm n Light 1 Kilo Down (19-degree, seems more like the low 20's; weighed less when I bought it) - 39 oz (2 lbs 7oz)
• Sleeping pad - Nemo Astro Insulated - 24 oz (1 lb, 8 oz)
• Garbage bag to line my Backpack - 1 oz
• Stove - MSR Pocket Rocket - 3.9 oz
• Canister of butane - 11.65 oz (forgot to put this on original list)
• Cook pot - Snow Peak Trek Titanium 1 liter without frying pan - 3.6 oz
• Utensil - Light My Fire Original Spork, - 0.35 oz
• Bic lighter - 0.75 oz
• Water Purifier - Steripen Adventurer Opti (uses UV light, I also use antibacterial wipes for rim) - 4 oz
• Trekking Poles - Black Diamond Distance Z-Poles - 12 oz
• Compass & whistle - Brunton (don't remember model but got it 10 years ago) - 1 oz 
• Headlamp - Black Diamond (don't remember model but like an ION) - 1.1 oz
• GPS - Garmin Etrex (cheap old one with basic functions) - 5 oz
• Twine for Bear Bag - 2 oz
• Toilet Paper - 0.75 oz
• Water containers - (2) Platypus 2 liter with one drink tube kit, Wide Mouth Nalgene collapsable (I don't have to bring all of it on all trips) - 5 oz
• First Aid Kit - homemade - 4 oz
• Extra batteries - 2.3 oz
• Sunblock and bug protection - 4 oz
• Hand sanitizer - 0.65 oz
• Personal locator beacon - Spot Connect - 5 oz
• Maps in Ziploc - 1 oz
• Bandana - 2 oz
• Cat hole shovel - EZEE - 2 oz
• Knife - Gerber Splice - 2 oz (I might replace with Leatherman Micra, scissors are sharper, 2 oz)
• Toothbrush and toothpaste - 1.55 oz
• Hipsac/Fanny Pack - 4 oz
• TOTAL - 201.9 oz (12 lbs 9.8 oz)

I could drop over a pound by replacing my sleeping bag with something like Montbell Super Spiral Down Hugger #3 (1 lb 5 oz).  Drop a pound by not using the bug mesh and floor to my tent.

The Nemo Astro Insulated was the first time I had a sleeping pad that was comfortable enough to actually sleep instead of enduring sleep deprivation while camping so I won't be cutting that.  

I use my tent bag as my bear bag.  I fill my bag that holds my sleeping bag with all my extra socks and clothes as my pillow.

If I add 20 oz of food for each full day I'm gone and average about 2 liters of water at 35.2 oz per liter, that adds 110.4 oz for food and water for a 2 day trip to knock out a segment of the Colorado Trail for a total of 312.3 oz or 19.52 pounds.

I have more weight cutting to do but I'm happy with this for now.  Last updated 6/4/2010