Rawlins Wyoming, mile 550
We are closing in now, passing miles and milestones alike. In Wyoming, marking mile 550 of this year’s hike (and, if you add together the sections we hiked in 2008 and 2009 we have now hiked more than 2,400 miles of the Continental Divide Trail with only a little over 300 left). We are closing in on the finish!
And it is with these goals in mind that we drive ourselves forward on some days. It’s not that there’s anything wrongwith the last section. But we did go through a transformation. We left the mountains behind (for now anyway) and dropped into barren, rolling countryside, filled sagebrush and sand and …
Encampment Wyoming - 450 miles.
Leaving Steamboat Springs we pointed again north as the trail follows the Divide very closely along the Park Range. Most of this section was in the Mount Zirkle Wilderness, a wonderland of broad ridges, a few peaks, a lot of lakes and some stunning wildflowers still on display. Fields of yellow, purple and an occasional swatch of other colors. Sandhill Cranes honking loudly from an Alpine Lake were a pleasant surprise. As was another “Alpine Porcupine”. I don;t know that this is actually a distinct species, but it seemed unusual to see a Porkie at 11,000 feet climbing a Krumholtz tree…or it would have seemed unusual, except …
Is the trail half done, or is there half left ahead to be done?
We’re in Steamboat Springs, our last town stop in Colorado and we are “barrelling down” on Wyoming. We have been hiking for 4 1/2 weeks now with the same amount of time left (exactly half the time we allotted). And we have done about 400 miles, a little less than half the distance. But now we are getting picky. Back to the question. We both look back at the trail we have seen so far in Colorado with wonder and awe, and look ahead at the rest of the trail with…….well, wonder and awe.
Our walk turned west …
The CDT from Silverthorne to Grand Lake does a lot of Up and Down. A lot. And it spends a lot of time above timberline. A lot. Of all the trail so far in Colorado, this section probably offers more Rocky Mountain High per mile than any other.
Our rainy days continue, and in the mountains that also means thunder and lighting. High ridges and extreme weather don’t mix well. We had several morning, yes mornings, where we stayed in the tent until the skies cleared enough to climb the next ridge. We sat out several mid day storms, and we camped short of our destination on a couple of nights …
We continued our march through mud from Leadville to Silverthorne. Heavy “monsoon flows” continue to characterize the weather with rain, off and on, through each day. Despite that we generally able to stay dry and/or dry out at least once each day. Still, I would love to know “who’ll stop the rain” so I can chat with them about upping the time table.
Leaving Leadville (Tennessee Pass) we encountere about 40 mountain bikers over the next 48 hours. Appears to be some kind of “race” along the length of the Colorado Trail. Most were pleasant enough, and looking pretty tired. At Copper Mountain Resort (which has exploded with growth since the …
