Crossing into Colorado on the CDT

This morning I got up around 7:30am and wound up laying in bed until almost 9am. We’re heading back to the trail today, but we aren’t going to be starting super early. Patty, who picked us up at the trailhead last night, had offered to drive us back to the trail today. We’re probably not going to head back until sometime in the early afternoon. 

Green flamingos outside of our motel room.

The room that we stayed in last night only had a couple plugs so all of us had to rotate off who got to charge their devices. So this morning, I was finally able to charge my stuff up while we got ready for the day. Then around 9am we walked just down the street to go to the general store to resupply. I only need about a day and a half of food because I still have a lot left over. This past resupply I definitely got way too much stuff, but it was really good stuff.

The adorable motel that we stayed at last night in Encampment.

At the store this morning I got a ridiculous number of drinks. That way I could fill almost 2 L of water bottle with juice. I love packing out juice on the first day out of town. Once everyone was back in the room, we reached out to Patty to see about a ride. She offered to take us to the breakfast restaurant just down the street before bringing us back to trail. We had asked if we could buy her breakfast, but she said she had already eaten for the morning.

Today when we left town I packed out 2 lites of juice.

Patty picked us up around 10am and brought us over to the 307 Grill. The breakfast there was ridiculously good and I was so glad that we stopped up there before hiking out. I got eggs Benedict for breakfast which was delicious. And I ate every single bite.

I got the most delicious eggs Benedict at the diner in town, 307 Grill.

I absolutely demolished my eggs Benedict this morning. 

Right as we finished eating and paid, Patty arrived to pick us up. Then she brought us back to the trailhead from there. Patty is one of the nicest trail angels that I’ve ever met and I was so grateful for her. She helped us out so much in the last 12 hours and was so kind.

When we got dropped off at the trailhead we only had 20 mile miles to go to get to the Colorado/Wyoming border. We’re planning on camping around there this evening because we had a later start. But all of us were feeling energized and fueled getting back to the trail. The big breakfast definitely kept me going for for hours. The first 2 miles of the day were road and then we got back into the woods after that.

Patty gave us all a ride back to the trailhead this afternoon.

We walked for about 8 miles before stopping off the first time for the day. Today is a little bit overcast and not too hot, so the weather is absolutely perfect. When we passed by a river about 8 miles into the day, we decided to stop off for a break. From there we only had about 12-13 miles to go for the day. That didn’t seem too bad.

Over the course of the day we did have some climbing to do but nothing too terrible. I was feeling really strong on the uphill, which was great. There were definitely a few stretches of very steep downhill which was bothering my knees a little bit. At this point I’m definitely preferring the steep uphill to the steep defense.

Some of the beautiful views that we saw this afternoon.

The miles were flying by and I was feeling really good at this point. We walked for another six or so miles and then passed by a campsite. Someone had driven in and set up alongside of dirt road. They had a huge canvas tent with a heater inside and there were a bunch of coolers around. We assumed that they were probably out hunting and that’s why they had so many coolers. We gave a holler to see if anyone was there but they must’ve been out on an ATV or something.

A sign from the trailhead that we passed along our road walk.

We sat by the campsite and took a nice long break. There were only six or so to go for the day after that. While we sat there the individual whose camp it was never arrived. We were a little bit hopeful that they might show up and offer us something to drink. After a while we decided to continue on. We followed along dirt roads for next few miles, which was great. All of us just walked together and it was very cruisy.

People have put white quartz on top of a lot of the trail markers recently.

After an hour or so of walking along dirt roads we got back on some actual trail. And from there we had only another hour or so to go for the day. I was really excited to cross over the halfway point and also enter into Colorado, so the miles were flying by. After another couple of miles we passed the 1500 mile marker along the trail. Because of alternates and different routes that you can take along the CDT we’re still a little bit shy of hitting the 1500 mile marker. But we’re really close.

Today we crossed into the Huston Park Wilderness.

I like to track our mileage every day so I have an idea of how many miles we’ve actually gone, not how many miles we are along the red line. If you track your miles along the red line, then it’s probably a fairly inaccurate representation of how far you’ve actually gone on the CDT. Unless you’ve stayed on the red line the entire time.

Today we crossed the 1500 mile marker on the CDT!

Not long after crossing the 1500 mile marker we arrived at the Colorado/Wyoming border. It’s so exciting to be finishing off another state and starting a new one. We only have two states remaining along the continental divide trail, which is so exciting. With 3 states down so far.

Today we officially crossed out of Wyoming, and into Colorado!

All of us took a bunch of photos and videos at the border crossing. Then we backtracked 100 feet or so to get to a campsite. We had walked by a pretty decent campsite on our way to the border and there was nothing else nearby. Luckily there was water near there so we filled up and then set up camp for the night.

Hello, Colorado!

There was only enough space for one or two tents so we decided to cowboy. This might be the first time that I’ve cowboy camped along the CDT shockingly. There’s been a lot of unpredictable weather over these last few months. You never know when it’s going to rain in the middle of the night. In the past on other trails I’ve cowboy camped a large proportion of the hike. It’s odd that I’ve done it so little on this hike.

Beautiful, rocky, views this evening.

After I got set up for the night, I made some dinner. I had some refried beans which I added taco seasoning and cheese too. I even had some hot water leftover so I made a hot chocolate. After eating dinner, I got back into my cowboy camp and called it at night. I’m so happy to have my 0° quilt now because I feel perfectly comfortable and warm. The 20° quilt was super lightweight and I really enjoyed it for most of this trail. But in colder temperatures, I’m definitely happy to have the warmer bag from now on.