Once again, I headed into the mountains without looking at my Colorado Trail Handbook and trying to find the Colorado Trail with my GPS. However, the topo map data is from 1984 geological survey so the Colorado Trail was nowhere near where it had been. Finally about 1pm, I parked my Impreza WRX on the eastern end of Tiger Road, miles after it turned into a dirt road. I tried to park as close as I could to where the topo map said the Colorado Trail crossed the road.
I finally found two men walking down the road. They had been fishing and I felt like God was telling me to give them a chance and ask them if they knew where the Colorado Trail was. Neither did but one of them mentioned that there were people walking on a trail parallel to the road up a hundred feet north. I cut across the forest and quickly found the trail. That was great.
I hiked maybe a half mile and the Colorado Trail CROSSED the road the men had been walking on. I guess they just hadn't seen the signs or hadn't been fishing that far. Once I got across the road, the CT started gaining elevation. I ran into two backpackers and asked them how close I was to Georgia Pass. They said about 4 miles but it was uphill the entire way. That made sense since I had hiked to Georgia Pass from the Kenosha Pass last month. So I headed off. It wasn't too steep because it had lots of switchbacks but I was still huffing and puffing.
As I got close to the pass, there were some storm cloud a few miles away and I had heard thunder earlier in the hike. I quickly tried to get to the point I had reached in June so I could turn around and get back under the tree line. I made it fine about 4pm but I started noticing that I wasn't feeling well on the return trip. My back was sore and my stomach was bothering me. I noticed a certain dizziness. I asked the Lord's help and kept pushing through.
It kept threatening to rain for an hour or two but finally started raining enough that my shorts were getting very wet. I had only brought a rain jacket but no rain pants. It wasn't very cold so I knew I would be fine. The ground was slippery so I was glad I was using trekking poles. They have saved me from a LOT of falls in the past.
About 6:45pm, I got to Tiger Road and decided to take the road back to my car as I didn't want to miss it. Pretty close to 7pm, I found my car. I had covered it with a car cover. A couple people had recommended not taking a 2012 Subaru Impreza WRX into the forest and leaving it unattended so I decided to cover it when I was hiking. It was wet so I put it in the trunk and dried it out when I got back home. I think I knocked out another 5 miles of Section 6. With 12.3 in June and about 5 this weekend, I'm about half way. The rest will be on very level ground so it should be pretty easy.
I scared the rabbit away again. About 15 minutes later, I'm not kidding, the rabbit jumped onto the corner of the tarp just above my head. I thought rabbits were these little scared animals who ran from everything.
Finally about 4:30am, since I couldn't sleep, I decided to wake up and eat some breakfast. I aired out my sleeping bag, brushed my teeth, etc. Once I packed up everything inside, I got out of my tent a little after 5am. The sky was just starting to turn blue but it was still pretty dark. As I was pulling up the tent pegs, I noticed this "large animal" in the meadow about 50 feet away from my tent. In the twilight, it kind of looked like a cow. I hadn't seen cow patties on this part of Segment 6 like I had during the first 5 miles but it wasn't completely crazy to see a cow while backpacking. I packed away my tent, then put on my fanny pack and RikSak.
As I started to exit the meadow, going around the 'cow', I started to realize that this animal was bigger than a cow. I was thinking, "what is a horse doing here?" Now that would be unusual! The weirdest thing, the "large animal" started walking over to me, kind of like a horse might. But when it got about 15 feet away from me, I noticed that this wasn't a horse, this was a MOOSE!! In an instant, I remembered that males sometimes charge people. This one didn't have big antlers, but I didn't have any desire to touch a moose. I remembered rounding up cattle at my parent's house in Missouri, waving our arms to keep them from coming our way so I started waving my arms with my trekking poles. It worked and the moose ran back about 35-40 feet. I quickly moved toward the trail and when I looked back, the moose was still following me. I swung around and waved my arms. This time, it stopped and didn't follow after I made it up onto the trail. I was too startled to take a picture and it probably wouldn't have turned out any way. I've since looked through pictures of moose and elk to make sure I wasn't mistaken. It definitely had the weird shaped body of a moose. Definitely the most exciting backpacking trip I've ever had!
I hiked the remaining 7 to 7 1/2 miles and got to my car by 8:15am.
This was an interesting trip for a few different reasons:
This was my third time to hike Segment 5. I had hiked the eastern half of it, then came back to hike the western quarter and finally yesterday and today, I knocked out the final quarter.
I couldn't drive all the way to the North Fork Trailhead and had to hike almost 4 3/4 hours to get to it because CR-56 was blocked off. The beginning of April is pretty early to be hiking in Colorado. I actually didn't see a single person my entire hike except when I was in sight of my car. A pickup was turning around at the gate where the road was closed.
I forgot my trekking poles so I had to use a stick to support one side of my tarp. I left the other side sagging.
I'm going to talk about my trip from a new perspective of equipment that I bring and why I use it and what happened with it:
ITEMS in my Rik Sak:
Western Mountaineering Highlite - It was between this bag and the Jacks R Better Sierra Sniveller. Jacks R Better can also serve as a jacket. I just didn't know if the jacket/sleeping bag combination would work for me since I toss and turn a lot switching from side to side. I'm glad I chose the Highlite, it fits me well but also stuffs into the little space I give it in the Rik Sak. The zipper works well and it doesn't seem to get wet easily. The temperatures were in the upper 20's so I did get cold. About half the water in my 1 liter bottles was frozen so it got cold.
ZPacks Hexamid Twin Tarp with Extended Beak and Bugscreen - Joe Valesko did a great job with this tent/tarp. He has a 6-8 week waiting list and I originally wasn't going to wait that long to get my tent but one came up with a repair in the Bargain Bin that I could get for immediate delivery. This tarp, which comes pretty close to the ground on 3 sides is only 6oz after I applied the seam sealer. Current models don't need seam sealing. About a month ago, I sent the tarp back to Joe to get the bug screen added. It almost doubled the weight to 11.75 oz. It didn't take the 6-8 week wait time so I used it this weekend. I forgot my trekking pole, used a stick that was too short so it was kind of cramped but it was fine on my trip last September. The bug screen didn't tear (I put my painter's plastic cloth, 85 cent stuff that I cut into 4 pieces, on top of it. I didn't pitch it in ideal conditions either. I was kind of on top of marshy soil, which I was ok on top of the painter's plastic cloth. It had plenty of ventilation. I look forward to pitching it with two trekking poles. I can't find another tarp/tent for the weight with bug protection and rain protection. There are lighter tarps but we get a lot of afternoon rain storms when I'm backpacking in Colorado.
Patagonia Polyester Fill Jacket actually didn't fit in the Rik Sak with the larger size of the tarp with the bug screen sewn in. I wore it the entire time any way but I'll just tie it around my waist with my rain jacket. When I was at REI last year, I thought I was getting the down pullover jacket but I must have grabbed the polyester one by mistake. It has worked great. I tore the sleeve with my trekking pole once and it has worked with the tear. I do need to get it repaired. I use it ALL THE TIME during the winter and with backpacking in the summer.
Gossamer Gear Nightlight Sleeping Pad - at 3.65 oz, it can't be beat for weight savings. However, it barely protects you from the ground. Camping and backpacking has always been an adventure of hiking with sleep deprivation. I'm praying for 5am or the first glow of sunlight so I can get up. It was COLD this morning, my hands and feet hurt, so I tried to be hiking by 6am. I would like to look at a Thermarest NeoAir XLite S. At 8oz, it will be heavier. The bigger problem is that it will take more of the room in the Rik Sak, I think. I need to go to a store and look at it. I also get the short version and my legs are unprotected. I put the foot of my sleeping bag in my zipped up rain jacket and I wasn't as cold. Later in the summer, I put my Patagonia jacket in the rain jacket and put the foot of my sleeping bag on top of the two. That works but it was too cold last night.
Gossamer Gear RikSak - at 2.1 oz, I really like this backpack. I used it to carry my iPad and other items for short trips when I went to Europe for 3 weeks for work this January. Because of my back surgery, carrying my gear on my back even with a hip belt (which is actually hard for an ultralight backpacker to have enough gear for the bottom of your pack to reach your hips) just wasn't working. See previous posts. I had to move to a lumbar pack but couldn't find one big enough for my sleeping bag, tent and bulkier items. The RikSak came to my rescue and I only carry about 3 lbs on my back. Sometimes I'm taking off my jacket and my RikSak is coming with it. I don't even realize it until I actually see the RikSak and its contents in my hand.
I'll finish with the Lumbar Pack and its items tomorrow.
On Friday, September 2nd, I got all the way to Woodland Park and realized I had forgotten my trekking poles. I had to go about 30 miles back home so I decided to just go backpacking the next morning.
On Saturday morning, I drove to Kenosha Pass, CO by way of Denver, since I take Highway 24 often into the mountains.
View from Kenosha Pass
I got on trail about 9:30am, starting from the western end of Segment 5. My plan was to hike Segment 5 and the western end of Segment 4 that I hadn't finished on a previous hike. Segment 5 is fairly flat without a lot of elevation gain or loss. The trail isn't very rocky overall but there are some segments that are rocky. It was an enjoyable hike. I hiked 16 miles on Saturday, which was all of Segment 5 and two miles into Segment 4.
Rock Creek crossing
6oz Cuben Fiber Tarp by Zpacks.com
My 14 pound combination of backpack and lumbar pack performed well. Three things that I want to change are: first, switch out my ultralight weight sleeping pad for an air mattress. I'll start working on a light weight solution but it will probably increase my load total to 15 pounds. That thin pad was too hard to sleep on since I sleep on my side. My hips start to hurt. Once I realized that I couldn't sleep, I decided I wasn't going to hike another 12 miles to finish Segment 4. I would just hike straight back.
Second, I use my cook pot to get water out of the rivers to sterilize with my Steripen UV sterilizer. However, I keep my stove, lighter, wind screen, and pack towel in my cook pot. Each time I got water, I had to take out all of those items. I'll start thinking about a solution but it might be a necessary inconvenience to save weight.
Third, I don't want to hike as far next time. 32 miles was the furthest I've ever gone. I was getting really tired when I had 2 hours or about 4 miles to go. I also started having back problems again within days of getting back home.
I think my 14 pounds of gear, food, water and fuel isn't hurting my back. I did fine on my 9 mile hike to Missouri Lakes. I think it is just the 32 mile distance this weekend. I was pretty exhausted and could feel pain in my right hip and lower back when I had a few hours to go.
After talking to my chiropractor, I decided I didn't want to chance my back with a 24-26 pound backpack. I decided to day hike half way from the east of Segment 4 then turn around at the half way point. My plan was drive to the other end of segment 4, then hike back to the half way point, hiking the segment in two day hikes.
I left work early on Friday after coming in at 5:15am. I drove up to the Rolling Creek Trailhead and set up my camp about 1000 feet from the trailhead. I hadn't slept much the night before so I laid down in my tent. After not being able to take a nap, I returned to the car to return some of the stuff I brought that I didn't need and to get my iPad. I watched most of a movie then went to sleep about 9pm. It rained on and off.
North of trail
The next morning, I woke up about 5:30am and took my tent, sleeping bag, mattress pad, and anything I didn't need for the hike back to the car. I laid out the damp rain fly across the back of my Subaru Forester (back seat laid down) so it could dry while I was hiking. I packed up only food, water and the 10 Essentials and was hiking by 6:30am. Segment 4 heading east is uphill the VAST majority of the time until you get to about mile point 7. I was glad I was hiking in the morning.
The trees are very thick so the sunlight didn't hit me much for the entire trip to the North Fork Trailhead. It made it difficult to get any pictures because the trees blocked the views.
At one point, I hit a very marshy area and the trail seemed to have overgrown a lot. I was glad my shoes were GoreTex. After about 1/4 mile, I was out of it in a big meadow. I couldn't tell where the trail went but got out my GPS out. I seemed to be north of the trail but the trailed headed west. I went to the west end of the meadow and did find a trail. After hiking for 5 hours, I was in the big valley that the Colorado Trail talked about and came to the Lost Creek Wilderness sign so I knew I was almost to the North Fork Trail. There was a very strong stream running down the middle of the valley so I refilled my water bottles. I had gone 8.9 miles in 5.5 hours. No blisters. A completely different hiking experience with these shoes instead of the boots.
Valley at end of hike
On the way back, I noticed the trail went a different way than I remembered when I came. Nothing seemed familiar. No marshy area and lots of switchbacks on the new trail. Sure enough, I had taken a wrong turn the first time and had followed the old Colorado Trail. I'm starting to realize that the Colorado Trail has been changed a lot over the years.
Valley at North Fork Trailhead
There were a lot of portions of Segment 4 where the trail was very rocky. My return trip, being downhill most of the way, only took me 4.25 hours. But the bottoms of my feet were very sore. I decided to finish the rest of segment 4 next weekend. But 17.8 miles isn't too bad. No blisters!!!
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.
On May 28, 2011, before hiking Segment 3, I decided to complete Segment 2 of the Colorado Trail. I drove up to the Buffalo Creek area and parked at Little Scraggy Trailhead, which is the end of Segment 2 and the beginning of Segment 3. From what I had read in the Colorado Trail Guide Book, I had about 3-3.5 miles to walk to where I had turned back before. I decided to leave my backpack in the car, take a day pack instead with just my Camelbak Unbottle and some snacks (probably too many snacks). I also decided to wear my running shoes instead of the boots. I hiked about 2.5 miles in an hour and got to the big rock I had sat on at the end of my last hike. Since Segment 2 is 11.5 miles, I had actually hiked 18 miles last trip (9 miles each direction). No wonder I was so tired. It took me about an another hour to hike back. I had hiked 5 miles in 2 hours with running shoes and a day pack. No blisters, no pain. That is how it is supposed to be.
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.
