A Shorter Day On Trail

First Day of Collegiate West

July 10th promised to be a shorter day on trail, as we planned to hop over Hope Pass in the morning and land at Lake Ann for the night.

Weatherman and Goldfish woke up at 3 am to catch the sunrise over Hope Pass while Tetris, Mary, and I slept in until 5:30, planning on meeting the boys at the top.

The first 2.5 miles of the day led up to Hope Pass. We climbed up past tree-line and crested over to the pass to the most beautiful view: our whole vision filled with mountains layered on top of mountains.

Walking downhill was torturous. My ankles were sore, my knees hurt, and I only had one pole (a pole that Tetris had found lying on the side of the trail a few days earlier).

The day was beautiful and we stopped often to take long breaks. We walked 15 miles in total, ending at Lake Ann at 3 p.m.

At 3, we set up camp next to the alpine lake above treeline. This lake was lined by alpine tundra, and we jumped in the lake, sunbathed, and sat and relaxed by the water. The water was crystal clear and not too cold.

After swimming, we found shade and all lied down to take naps until dinner. After a long slow – needed recovery – afternoon, we sat around on Mary’s tarp, cooked, told some more jokes, played ukulele, and packed up and went to bed.

Heading To Town

On trail, I heard it said, “if you wake up two days in a row feeling like you just can’t keep walking… that’s when you need a zero day”. For me, that was July 11th.

Despite the beautiful day before walking with friends and the unmatched scenery, I was finding it hard to enjoy myself and morale was not rebuilding no matter what I did to try to get myself through the days.

Luckily, Mary and I had planned on zero-ing in Buena Vista where she knew some friends, and Buena Vista happened to be only 20-ish miles away. A day’s walk if we pushed.

We woke up to beautiful Lake Ann and as we walked past it in the morning, the reflection of the mountains on the lake were so crisp it actually disoriented me for a moment. We walked up to Lake Ann Pass where we ate breakfast and then said our goodbyes as Goldfish decided to take off and go a bit further and faster than us.

Mary, Tetris, and I walked together down the pass and we had some good conversations to pass the time. I was getting to the point, yet again, where I wanted to cry because I was so tired and burnt out. This was the third day in a row I’d been having significant moments like this and I knew I needed a day off in town.

At one point as we sat and ate our snacks, we were looking out at smokey view of the mountains and a weird “boop” noise reverberated across the forest. Weatherman, Mary, and I thought it was the funniest thing, but had no clue where it could’ve come from. We heard it a few more times. It did raise my spirits.

We walked downhill for hours and at the bottom of the mountain, Weatherman and I had a great chat and got to know each other on a deeper level, which was a real treat. We ate ramen at the bottom of the next climb and I cooked my ramen smack-dab in the middle of the trail because it was the only flat spot around.

With one more big climb to tackle we forded a stream, dried off, and put some Mamma Mia on the speaker. I led us uphill for at least an hour, tuning everything out, just trying to get through the climb.

By the time both Mamma Mia soundtracks had played all the way through (the first AND second movie), we had made it above tree-line and were surrounded by 14ers on every side. We continued walking an hour or so until the final saddle – the second highpoint of the day – was in sight.

Right before we reached the saddle, though, I reached my breaking point. Completely out of willpower, I sat down and said, “I can’t do this.”

Mary and Weatherman looked at each other and then at me and said, “Okay, well let’s take a water break.” We took a quick break, I gathered some willpower, and we continued upward to the nearby saddle. After the saddle we had a small uphill and then a downhill, and then the trailhead for Cottonwood Pass – the point where Mary and I were going to hitch into town and Tetris and Weatherman would continue on.

Mary and I heard that hitch-hiking down from Cottonwood Pass could be hard, but we immediately got a ride when we asked a girl about our age if she was heading into Buena Vista, and she said she could take us down. We hugged Tetris and Weatherman goodbye – not knowing when we would see the again – and got into the car to head into town. I was beyond relieved to be off the trail.

Buena Vista

Mary’s college roommates parents lived in Buena Vista and had offered to host us on our journey, but we hadn’t had service in days and didn’t know if they would be okay with hosting us so last minute. We decided to go into town and hope for the best anyway as we had told them we would be in Buena Vista around July 11thish, and we figured once we were in town we could contact them and see if we could still take them up on their offer.

We got dropped off at Simple Eatery in Buena Vista – a cafe that is also an outdoor gear shop – and as we sat in line Mary connected to the wifi and sent a text to Ron, the father of her college roommate. Suddenly, I hear Mary talking to the people two rows in front of us in line and I realize it is Ron and his wife – who we were hoping to stay with that night!

Ron and his wife had just gotten off the first segments of the Colorado Trail, and we had just happened to decide to go to the same place in town to eat at the same time. We all ate together and they were thrilled to host us in their house despite the last minute communication.

At dinner we exchanged trail stories and then we drove back to their house and ate ice cream, took showers, used wifi, and got ready for bed. I was so happy to be off trail and to know I didn’t have to start walking again the next morning because we were taking our first true ZERO day of no walking!!!

ZERO

Our only true zero day on the trail was in Buena Vista, and let me tell you, it was absolutely glorious. Mary and I woke up, ate eggs and toast, and were dropped off in town. In town I called my mom, a couple friends, and I bought some coffee and a scone.

Mary and I went down to the river in Buena Vista and hung out for hours, sunbathing on the rocks and calling various family members and boyfriends, etc. I loved sitting by the flowing water and relaxing, and we played a bit in the water as well.

The air was really smokey and hazy in Buena Vista, so the whole day had this golden-pink hue to it. I felt so calm and peaceful inside, and so thankful not to be walking.

It started raining in the afternoon and Ron came to pick us up and take us to the grocery store. I was so tired by the time I got back – even though I had done almost nothing that day – so I took a nap, woke up, ate dinner, and then packed up everything for the rail the next day and went to bed.