Trail Angels, Gooseberries, and a 14k footer (CDT days 63-69)

Day 63

I woke up late today, but it ended up working to my favor when I saw Tunes in town! He, footloose, and frozen were getting slack packed by a friend they made on the AT in 2022 named Alley cat. Tunes said there was room for one more and I joined the crew! 

We hiked over tree line for most of the day. The views were incredible while they lasted, but some clouds rolled in around 1 and the hail, lighting, and rain/snow mix were not far behind. This was the worst storm I’d encountered yet and I had a few scary moments. Carrying metal sticks on a ridge line in the lightning never does get comfortable. 

After a couple hours of heavy wind and precipitation, the clouds finally parted and the sun came back out. We hiked to the grays peak trailhead where we were picked up by Alley cat. He took us into the nearby town of Dillon where he had provided motel rooms for us all. Strangers’ generosity continues to amaze! 

The last picture I took before things got way too scary for photography

Day 64

Today we were hiking up to Grays Peak, the highest point on the whole CDT and the only time we’d be above 14k feet. We got a ride back to the trailhead and Alley cat hiked with us up to grays peak. He is visiting from Michigan and crushed the climb at altitude! 

From left: Frozen, Tunes, Footloose, Alley cat, and I before starting the climb
At the top!

The climb up was challenging, but the real test was the saddle between grays and Edwards peaks. It was rocky, exposed, and required technical hand over foot scrambling. Luckily, the wind wasn’t too bad or it would have been a truly terrifying experience. On the saddle, I saw my first mountain goats! I imagine them laughing at us stumbling over the saddle while they scrambled up and down as if they were on a sidewalk.  

Saddle walkin

Once we made it down, alley cat got picked up. The rest of us hiked a few more hours to montezuma where we got dinner with Alley cat and Frozen’s uncle, Jim. He was nearby for work and made the trip out to see the leaves and was nice enough to treat us to dinner. The meal was fantastic! The combination of a light pack and great food the last few days had put some weight back on my body and morale was at a high. 

2 adult + 1 baby mountain goat

After dinner, we headed back to the motel where frozen and I were sharing a room. I took a shower and went to sleep soon after. 

Day 65

2 more days of slack packing and we were taking full advantage of it! We had a little over 60 miles to get to Leadville.

Today wasn’t bad at all in terms of terrain, but the weather was awful. It started off gray and a little wet and stayed gray all day. At least I didn’t have to pack up my wet gear in the morning. 

Toooons of gooseberries on trail recently. Not my favorite, but I’m not one to pass up free food

Today was full of descent and without a heavy pack, I was able to go fairly quickly down the mountains without tearing up my knees. We told alley cat we would be done hiking around 5 and made it there just before 4! Getting out of the wet is incredibly motivating. 

Fully kitted up to stay as dry as possible

We got picked up around 4:30 and raced to Leadville. We were getting dropped off outside of town tomorrow morning and would hike in in the afternoon. We got checked in at the motel, ate a quick dinner from our food bags, and were off to bed early.  

Day 67

Town day! It doesn’t feel quite the same since we have been in town and slackpacking for the past 3 days but I was pumped. We were probably going to double zero in Leadville to avoid the first winter storm of the season. 

We were all anxious to get out of the mountains. Especially after our storm experience on Tuesday. We got up super early today and were hiking by 6. We had just over 30 miles to get to town so we needed to boogie.

The day started off with a tough climb up an unnamed ridge into a steep descent and into a long and steady climb up to elk ridge and Kokomo pass. The CDT had intersected with the Colorado trail now and we saw our first CT thru hiker today. A nobo named Stoke. He said there weren’t too many left on the CT, but I was excited to be running into a few new faces here and there. 

One of the minor nuisances of Colorado has been the mountain bikers on trail. It’s not their fault or anything and they deserve to use the trails too, but it’s just another thing to have to watch out for going around corners. I’m sure they are just as peeved at my existence on trail as I am at theirs. 

Anyways, we made it up Kokomo pass after what seemed like an eternity and after listening to a bit of beach boys at the top, we started the descent into town. We  arrived just before 4, jumped in the shower and got laundry going, and headed to town for a quick dinner.  In town, I met burn unit, yeehaw, Bam, and Trench foot. Frozen, tunes, and footloose had run into them earlier in the trail, but this was my first time seeing them. Super exciting to be running into new southbounders!

After dinner, we returned to our home for the next couple days, the abbey. We went to sleep with dreams of a sweet, sweet double zero dancing in our heads.

Days 68 and 69

We spent 2 incredible days in Leadville waiting out the storm that blanketed the mountains in snow.

View of the trail from the abbey

Leadville had been one of the most successful mining towns in Colorado in the 19th and 20th centuries. They mined mostly silver and molybdenum, which is used to bolster the strength of steel alloys. In our first zero day, we spent a few hours at the mining museum exploring Leadville’s prolific mining past. I must admit I did not expect a whole lot from the museum, but I found it to be very interesting!

Some of the lighting solutions that have been used in the mines
I found this job description to be particularly horrifying

On our second zero day, a friend Frozen and them had made on the Appalachian Trail, slooper came to visit. She lived nearby in Crested Butte. Before she arrived, we just hung out at the abbey. I tried to finish the book I’d been carrying for entirely too long while Tunes plucked away on the guitar. He’d actually carried a guitar for the first part of this trail and much of the AT!

Once Slooper arrived, we got dinner at a Mexican restaurant before engaging in some karaoke at a nearby bar. I do have a video of myself singing, but you do not want to put your ears that and I will not allow it anyhow. I am ashamed of what I subjected that bar to, but I had a great time!

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