The vacation's over...phooey.

Today Brent and I went back to work. Officially. From here on out, this blog may get a little boring. What did we do today? We woke up, went to work, came home, went for a run, then we ate dinner, then we did random home stuff, then we went to bed. Boring.

We're both working at the same company we left 14 months ago, before we left for the Trail. Ironically, Brent's replacement left a short time ago, and his old boss called and offered Brent his job back, with a few perks that made the whole deal irresistible. When my old boss heard that Brent was coming back, she mentioned to his boss that she had some positions opening up that I would be qualified for, so I called, and our first day back was today! What is similarly ironic is that the person who replaced me in my position is leaving this coming Thursday. Somehow we managed to engineer a 14 month leave of absence in the middle of a recession, when some areas of the country have 14% unemployment rates. How the heck did we do that?!

Anyway, my first day back was fine. I think that I missed the easy interaction, and people. There were lots of people I didn't know, but lots that I did know too. The day passed quickly, and my trainer was a surprised at how much I remembered, which, considering it had been idle for more than a year, was a lot. I must just be gifted.

Brent will be working from home most of the time, but he came in too, greeted old coworkers, picked up a laptop, and stuff like that. We're pretty sure we still want to live in Old Town Fort Collins, so we'll have to be on the lookout for rentals or houses for sale. Our house is still rented, and the tenants have it until April next year. We're currently still crashing with Mom and Dad, but their place is pretty far from work, and you can't really walk anywhere from there.

Anyway, that was our first day back. I didn't take any pictures, 'cause that's against company security policy. You'll just have to be content with my assertion that everything was just fine!

Kim

Cruisin'

So, yes, we went on a cruise. If we don't sound particularly excited, it's because it was the exact same cruise we went on 3 years ago, except with different people and a slightly different intinerary. Same boat, same food, most of the same shore stops. This time we went with my dad's family, last time it was mom's. Another thing that was different (and great) was that Korin and Brian got an "Owner's Suite" (check out a picture/floorplan here), which mom, dad, and of course, Charli, stayed in with them. It had a big bedroom, a ginormous bathroom, a closet big enough to put Charli's crib in, a big living/sitting room, and a deck with a hot tub. Plus the butler, concierge service, and the super-special restaurant at your disposal. It had an espresso machine, and they gave us 3 big bottles of booze, and champagne on the first day. Brent, Sam and I spent most of our time there, just coming back to our puny inside stateroom to sleep. Here are some pictures of people enjoying the suite:



Don't we look like we're having a great time? We could shoehorn a lot of people in there.

The first stop was in Ketchikan, where Brian, Sam, Brent and I all went on a nice hike up Deer mountain. It was pretty foggy all day, and we ended up hiking right up into the clouds, but it was really pretty up there.

In Juneau we rented bicycles and rode around Gastineau Channel and across the bridge to Douglas. We found this great historical park there that had all of these awesome mine ruins. Unfortunately, we were running sort of late, and couldn't stop to take any pictures. We should have, but the ship may have left without us, and that would be bad. We had to be back because we were taking a sightseeing trip up Tracy Arm Fjord, where we saw seals, eagles, whales, waterfalls, glaciers calving, and lots of people with binoculars.

Skagway was the last stop, and we went looking for some internet (wireless on the ship is unbelievably expensive). After wandering around in town for a while, we went on a short guided hike along a portion of the Chilkoot trail, a 30+ mile hike that the gold miners had to take over White pass. The hike was great, and our guide was really cool, and it was all capped of by a nice float down the Taiya River.

Here's the full Yang/Davis/Lawler/Yamashiro/Palafox/Metzger party. A good time was had by all!

-Kim

Two National Parks in one day!

I picked up Brent in Durango, and we decided to spend a couple of days down here in southern Colorado before heading back to Denver. This morning we headed off to Mesa Verde (National Park # 1), where we took a tour of Balcony House. We had to climb 3 ladders to get there - these people took their security seriously. But they had a lot of cool stuff in their cliff houses. Balcony house is named for the "porches" many of the rooms may have had. It's speculated that the eaves you can see at the left were covered with reeds and clay, then used to sleep or sit out on, just like a veranda! The cliff houses were out of the sun, many of them had a spring or other water source, and, of course, a ceremonial kiva. They actually seemed like pretty nice places to live!

We stopped in Telluride for lunch, which was much as we remembered it from when we started our bike trip there years and years ago. Still a nice mountain town. This time we took the main road through town all the way through, and discovered that it takes you through a neighborhood full of big houses, to a really nice view of Bridal Veil falls. We stopped, but you could see the road switch-backing again and again and again. It looked really neat, like it would be an incredible (but really hard) bike ride.

From Telluride we headed to the Black Canyon on the Gunnison River (National Park #2). It was gorgeous, and the sun was setting. We took some short walks to the edges of the canyon, which was SCARY high - my dad would have had a heart attack. We did most of the scenic drive before we got worried about being in a National Park on a Friday night. It turned out that we shouldn't have worried, cause there was tons of camping at the campground. We slept well!

Kim

In Durango

I headed over to the laundromat in my raingear to do some laundry, and who should show up but another raingear-clad hiker, Eric, who we met way back in Salida! We swapped stories and got cleaned up, and headed over to the Durango Diner for an enormous breakfast. If you're ever in Durango, and in the mood for some butter with potato and egg and cheese mixed in, that's the place to go!

I hung out in Ivan's coffee shop (he wouldn't let me pay for my coffee - free hitchiking with gourmet coffee thrown in, not bad!) until Kim got to Durango. We stayed at a dive motel for the night, and had a nice dinner at a French restaurant - nothing like steak tartare to make your stomach sure you're not eating trail food anymore!

Finished! :(

Some warm air came in during the night - I woke up sweating and had to take off a bunch of layers of clothing - and I had camped at treeline, so it had been pretty chilly in the evening! I guess some warm desert air came in from the south.

Today's trail was much more interesting, climbing up over Indian Ridge, before beginning the long, 4500 ft descent into Durango. I had planned to camp a few miles from Durango and go in tomorrow, but I was counting on a water source the guidebook described as a "year-round improved spring." Sounded pretty nice, but here's the reality:

Not my idea of drinkable water. So I hiked the rest of the way to the end of the trail, about 6 miles - so with mixed feelings, I was done! Man, I'm going to miss this when I go back to work...

I hadn't been in the parking lot for 5 minutes before Ivan, a coffee shop owner in Durango out for a bike ride, offered me a ride into town. He dropped me off at Carver's, a local brewpub, which has a policy of a free beer for any hiker finishing the CT. So that worked out pretty well. I walked a few miles over to the Durango Hostel for the night - which is about the nicest hostel I've seen - it was like walking into an Ikea store...

PBR

My day started today with a big grey bird staring me in the face. I accidentally left a few granola bar wrappers out in my pack, and he must have been attracted to those. In any case, I opened my eyes, and there he was, staring back. He then panicked, and flew upward into the roof of the tarp. It took him a few seconds to figured out how to get out. And then, of course, I was awake.

The trail climbed over blackhawk pass in the morning, but spent most of the rest of the day in clearcuts and on logging roads, so there wasn't much reason to stop - except for the cooler of beer someone from Durango left out for CT thru-hikers. Ahh.. PBR....

Chased by storms

The motel owner where I stayed offered me a ride back to the trailhead, which was great! So I got a fairly early start, which was good, since the thunderstorms started around 10:30am. Looking back, there was even a fresh coating of snow on the mountains. I spent most of the day threading the needle on thunderstorms - lots of them were around, and every time I looked back, it was nasty looking where I had just left. So I just kept hiking, and luckily nothing major caught up with me.

The trail stayed over 11,000 feet in elevation most of the day, but the geology noticeably changed - lots of red/clay soil and sedimentary rocks. Also, there were lots of alpine meadows covered in wildflowers. After all the rain we've been getting, its going to be an amazing wildflower season.

I had a really nice campsite overlooking Engineer peak and a wide valley below me, and I could even see a bit of Lizard Head pass (outside Telluride) through the trees.

Into Silverton

Once again, it rained really hard through the night, but I was warm and dry. I putzed around a little in the morning before getting going - it was only a 9 mile hike into Silverton. On the way in I passed a really cool little spot, with some Beaver ponds and Arrow and Vestal peaks in the background:









The mountain range here is called the Grenadiers - it's not a huge range of mountains, but very distinctive:









I also crossed over the Durango-Silverton railroad line, an old steam engine line that now runs as a tourist attraction - the cheater's way into Silverton on the CT.









It only took me a few minutes to hitch a ride into Silverton in the back of a pickup truck. The town was really busy when I got there - the train had just arrived, and the town was full of people. That combined with the 4th of July weekend reminants, and all the locals seemed pretty harried. But after the last train left it got a lot quieter - it's a cute little town. I had mexican food for dinner, and it was actually good! Must be getting closer to New Mexico.

Brent hits Silverton!

Brent says that he pulled into Silverton at around noon today. His hike has been going fine and he's been enjoying himself immensely. Apparently, most of this last section was above treeline, with amazing vistas; he says that he's been having trouble deciding where to look! He particularly like Elk Creek Drainage, where he dropped down to 8,000 feet to cross the Animas River. He said that it's a glacier carved valley with waterfalls on both sides. This probably has to do with Colorado's crazy-wet summer we're having, but it still sounds pretty cool. Brent also mentioned that the mountain lightning storms have been fairly merciful. He only had to bail on a section of trail once, just after leaving Creede. He's been taking lots of pictures, which we'll post here, along with some trail-journaling, after I pick him up in Durango on the 9th!

kim

Elk everywhere

I woke up to the morning sun on the tarp, which was a wonderful change! The entire day I didn't know which way to look - there were great views in every direction. This stretch between Creede and Silverton is some of the best hiking of the entire trail. There were lots of herds of Elk, with many new calves, some of them very new, even still struggling to walk. I thought it would be really neat to see an Elk giving birth, but no such luck. I did try to record the squeaking sound the calves make - here's the video - turn up your speakers if you watch it, its kind of cool!


Not much else to say today, other than post lots of pictures. The day ended with a really dramatic descent into the Elk Creek drainage - huge cliffs and waterfalls everywhere, very beautiful!

Colorado Trail's highest point

I woke up to more rain this morning, but it cleared up as I was packing up, which was nice. The trail climbed right back above treeline. There was a lot of elevation gain, and I crossed the Colorado Trail's official highest point, at 13,250 feet - a very beautiful and isolated section of trail. And then I crossed over a to Carson Saddle, and was surrounded by motorized tourists - there was a jeep road up from the valley, and there must have been 20-30 people on loud, smelly ATVs running around. It was a bit shocking after not having seen anyone since leaving the Creede trailhead.

In any case, I crossed over another pass and was suddenly alone again, in a valley below Sunshine and Redcloud peaks. Kind of a strange interlude.

I had a shin splint starting up today - I blame my shoes, combined with all the climbing. But I took 4 ibuprofen and tied my bandana around my shin, and after 4 hours or so, it felt much better - that must've popped that stupid shin muscle back into place, to my relief.






Brent

Lots of rain!

Breakfast at my B&B was small. When she brought it out, my heart sank. Don't get me wrong, it was good - but a piece of cream cheese french toast and a silver-dollar sausage patty just isn't a good hiker breakfast. So of course, I had an early second breakfast at the firehouse cafe.

After a couple of breakfasts, I got a late start out of Creede. I asked around and found a local guy, Steve, who was willing to take me back up to the trailhead for a few bucks. He brought his daughter and a buddy - everyone wanted to go for a scenic drive.

Steve couldn't get all the way up the 4wd road, so after a long walk back to the CT, I finally got back on the actual trail by 1pm.

Again, most of this area was above treeline, and today I wasn't so lucky with thunderstorms. I crested a saddle, and it became quickly apparent that there was a lot of rain and lightning coming my way. My only option was to bushwack down to some trees I could see below me, about 800ft elevation loss. By the time I got to the trees, I was drenched and cold, but I set up the tarp, got into some dry clothes, cooked a warm dinner, and felt much better.

After about 2 hours, the rain had stopped, and I resumed my hike. The trail from here heads over Snow Mesa - a really cool 12,000ft high mesa, with great views of the San Juans towering in the distance. Also a terrible place to be in a thunderstorm, so I was glad I stopped when I did.

Towards evening I passed by a huge elk herd on the mesa - there were a lot of calves in the herd, and I could hear them making these little squeaking as I passed.

I got back to treeline about 9:00 and setup camp - with all the diversions today, I'd only hiked about 13 miles.

Brent

A diversion - San Luis Peak

I woke up a bit cold, with everything covered in condensation and ice - sometimes you just need to relearn the lessons of campsite selection, I guess. But today's hike was great! The trail was above treeline, in alpine tundra, for most of the day, and everything is still very green. I made good time, but had to hoof it up San Luis peak because of threatening thunderstorm coming my way. But I 'bagged' one of the most remote 14ers in Colorado, and had it all to myself. There was actually a coyote climbing up the ridge on the other side - I thought we might meet at the top, but he turned away when he saw me.

I guess I'm in the thick of the CDT thru-hikers. I met Wrongway today, who also hiked the PCT last year. We didn't meet him though. He started way earlier than we did, and was off the trail for a month.

Getting into Creede from the Colorado trail is a bit of a challenge. You hike about 2 miles off the CT to a trailhead, which is at the end of a 4wd road. If you can't get a ride from there, you walk about 4 miles down the 4wd road to another old mining road, which leads to Creede in about 10 miles. As I was getting close, I saw 4 hikers ahead of me, and thought, sweet! - an easy ride into Creede. But as I caught up to them on the trail, they turned off some different way. It turns out you can get down to the trailhead a little quicker by bushwacking. Anyway, as I got close to the trailhead, I could see they were down there, just hanging around. I thought maybe they were waiting for me, so I sped up to meet them. I was literally 50 feet away when they all jumped in their pickup and drove off. I waved and smiled and stuck out my thumb, but to no avail. But here's the thing - the road is really, really rough, so I was actually keeping up with the pickup walking. So here I was walking 50 feet behind their pickup, trying to make it obvious I wanted a ride without looking like a menace, but being completely ignored. At one point they came around a switchback, and we were looking right at each other. I guess they must've been convinced I was a ne'er-do-well by that point, because they wouldn't even make eye contact. So there went my chance at the easiest ride into Creede ever.

After about 4 more miles of road walking, though, a nice family from Fowler, CO picked me up. They were on vacation in Creede and out fishing, so that worked out well.

There weren't many hotel rooms in Creede because of the 4th of July weekend, so I ended up staying in a froofy bed and breakfast with yellow, baby blue, and pink decor. I felt a little silly, especially with all my gear spread everywhere, but oh well.

Brent

Brent Reaches Creede!

Brent just called saying he reached Creede just fine and dandy! He said that he's having a great time, and hardly misses me at all. Apparently, after I dropped him off on the 29th (at noon, remember?) he hiked so long and so fast that he still made 21 miles! Wow! And then, the next day, he was feeling so good, he took some time out to climb a 14er before coming into town!

kim