Blog

Return to the Desert- Encampment to Rawlins

Posted on: Tuesday July 11, 2017 Continental Divide Trail

I’m sitting in my hotel room in Encampment, looking out the window, when I see a familiar figure. Wild Land! I kidnap him, forcing him to split my hotel room. In the morning, we get breakfast and new hats for the long, hot, dry section ahead.

Steamboat to Encampment

Posted on: Monday July 3, 2017 Continental Divide Trail

The third car to pass me picks me up. My ride doesn’t really speak English, so I just chatter at him for the long drive to Steamboat. He drops me at the grocery store. I use the bathroom and immediatly realize I have blood on my face. Well. Brave man.

Denver to RMNP to Steamboat.

Posted on: Monday July 3, 2017 Continental Divide Trail

Our hitch drops us at REI, which is the ultimate place to be a thruhiker in Denver. I buy socks and shoes, while Wild Land looks for somewhere to stay. Everywhere is expensive, but we find a little hostel and go drop our stuff. An hour later, I have a new phone and, short of redownloading everything, my chores are done. Now all I have to do is eat.

Grand Lake to... Denver???

Posted on: Tuesday June 27, 2017 Continental Divide Trail

High on the Continental divide, there is a meadow. It is lush and green and surrounded by snowy mountains. There are two small ponds, one with lillies in it. And from there, a brown trickle flows. I stand with my feet on either side of it and watch leeches bury in the mud. From here, hundreds of snowmelt streams feed into this one tiny stream. It grows and swells, before being tamed by dam after dam. It passes through lakes and reservoirs. And then, hundreds of miles away in Arizona, it carves through red and pink sandstone cliffs. This tiny river, so small I could dam it with my hands, will become the mighty Colorado, sculpter of the Grand Caynon.

Thunder and lightning, very very frightening- meep! Silverthorne to Grand Lake

Posted on: Saturday June 24, 2017 Continental Divide Trail

Leaving Silverthorne does not go well. The bus radio says it’ll be 85-95 degrees today, with a 10% chance of thunderstorms. This, of course, means a hundred percent chance for Fun Size. Then I find out that, while I’m on the GDMBR, the road is busy. And that Spotify, essential for long road walks, has deleted everything I’ve downloaded. I pick up my bag awkwardly and reinjure my wrist, which I’d sprained back in April. I wrap it up and keep walking.

The Great Feed Fun Size Detour- Leadville to Silverthorne

Posted on: Tuesday June 20, 2017 Continental Divide Trail

Amy and Brad are fantastic hosts. They feed me and let me sleep at their place despite not knowing anything about me. I do my town chores and eat pizza. I feel good, but I still can’t face the thought of a beer. I also manage to weigh myself. Five pounds less than my PCT end weight. I haven’t weighed this little since I was a teenager. Town food helps me get a little back, but I need to do better. It’s just so hard to eat enough when I’m sick.

Salida to Leadville

Posted on: Friday June 16, 2017 Continental Divide Trail

Salida is cute and artsy and I’m half in love with it just because it’s not the CDT. My hitch drops me at the hostel and I do my chores. They have a scale and I weigh myself. I’m down 11 pounds already- my entire buffer of extra weight that I worked so hard to put on is gone. So out I go and I eat and eat and eat.

The trail might be trying to kill me... Del Norte to Salida

Posted on: Monday June 5, 2017 Continental Divide Trail

I zero in a cute little hostel in Del Norte. No one else shows up, so I have the entire house to myself for two nights. I eat and sleep and try and take care of myself.

Chama to Del Norte (The Great Divide Alternate)

Posted on: Tuesday May 30, 2017 Continental Divide Trail

Chama is where people go their separate ways… Flipping, plowing through the San Juans or taking an alternate. It’s here that Snow, Thunder, Tennesteve and I will split up. Snow and Thunder will ski the San Juans. Tennesteve will snowshoe. And I’ll go my own way.

Killer Bunnies- Ghost Ranch to Chama

Posted on: Wednesday May 24, 2017 Continental Divide Trail

I plan on heading out of Ghost Ranch before dark, but Thunder and Snow have a room and we pile on in. I eat breakfast and lunch and then am so full I can barely move. There are a lot of calories to replace. Ghost Ranch is not what I expected. It’s a strange, hippy, artsy place. Georgia O’Keefe spent a lot of time here and now other artists follow in her footsteps. Still, artists are a nice crowd and everyone seems genuinely interested in what we are doing. Ghost Ranch is also where a lot of dinosaur fossils were found and I spend a few hours exploring the museum here.