Breckenridge to Grand Lake, CO (mile 1,233 to 1,365)

August 27th to September 6th

Day 1: I allowed myself to sleep in a little this morning till about eight o’clock. I then walked down the street and grabbed breakfast at the Blue Moose. It was recommended as having good portion sizes. I then came back to my room and finished packing things up before heading out. I walked down the road to the bus stop and waited for the bus to arrive. Around 10:50 I was stepping off to continue the trail. It was a slow day. I was only doing about 13 miles. I made my way up into the mountains and it seemed the mountains were more dry like in the desert until I started climbing in elevation. There was sage brush around and light colored dirt and not a lot of water. About 6 miles in the dirt started to get darker and the plants became greener as I got higher into the mountains. The trail was relatively flat and not very steep so I was able to make good timing. When evening came I finally got to the North Fork Swan River. There was a nice flat spot with a nice fire ring against a large rock to make camp by. Across the trail 30 feet was the river to gather water from. As I was setting up my tent there was another hiker passing by and was looking for a campsite. He continued walking further up. When he started walking back after not finding anything I felt bad for him and offered him to pitch his tent around where I was. I introduced myself and he said his name was Jim from California. I got a fire going and we sat around it while we ate our dinner. We sat in relative silence staring into the fire and occasionally one of us would speak up and ask the other a question. When the sun was about set Jim turned in for the night. I sat around the fire a little longer before getting some water from the creek to put it out. I then headed for my tent and settled down for the night.

Day 2: It got down to 37 degrees last night so this morning was a little cold. I made my way down the trail and started walking fast to warm myself up. I began to climb in elevation. The next few days I’ll be walking along the ridgeline around 12,500 to 13,000 feet. By lunchtime I was up high and enjoying the view. The only down fall is all day the wind was battering me and pushing me. Since I’m on the ridge it’s constant 40-50 mph winds. The land seems to go on forever when you look out on the horizon. Not to much as worth telling happened today. Although I am finally off the Colorado Trail so hopefully there won’t be to many people and the wildlife will increase. I set up my camp on Landslide Peak and the wind has been hitting my tent all evening. I’m currently camped at 13,144 feet and it’s supposed to get down to 32 degrees tonight. Tomorrow I’ll walk over Grays Peak and get my second 14er. That is the highest point of the Continental Divide Trail sitting at 14,278 feet. For now I’m laying comfy in my sleeping bag as the temperature continues to drop.

Day 3: I woke up this morning and it was cold. The wind became really strong last night around midnight. I honestly thought my tent poles were going to snap the way it was bending them. The ridgeline was super exposed. I figured at that point there’s nothing I could do, but ride it out and hope it’s still standing in the morning. Morning came and everything was fine. I packed up my stuff and since I drank the last of my water around 3am I didn’t bother with breakfast. About 2 miles over the trail and across a few mountains. I collected about half a water bottle of water from some snow melt. I then continued on down the mountain. I came to an area where the trail went down, but there was not a trail. It was a pretty steep slope maybe at 45 or 50 degrees and the gravel was so soft that each step I took my foot sunk into it like sand and dozens of rocks would go rolling down the slope. I was making my way down determining the best way I could. All the rocks slid out from under me causing me to slide a bit. When I threw out my hand to catch myself a big rock came rolling down the hill above me and slammed down on my fingernail and then slammed into my leg. After a few profanities I looked at my now bluish fingernail and the slight scrape on my leg and since everything was still intact I continued making my way down. A few more slides later, but no more rocks, I finally got to the bottom. The trail joined a forest road at this point that led to the Argentine Pass Trailhead. I came across a spring and filled up my water the rest of the way and made some breakfast about 10:30am. I stuck my black and numb fingernail into the stream for a little bit to try and bring the swelling down. After that I continued on down the road. A little later I was at the trailhead and began to climb back up to the ridgeline. I was tired and felt drained so I sat against a tree for about 20 minutes. I drank some more water and ate a snack then turned on my music and began to climb back up to 13,000 feet. Within 3 miles I summited Mt. Edwards (13,856) and Grays Peak (14,278) The ridgeline between Mt. Edwards’s and Grays Peak was something else. It was only about 1.5 miles from Mt. Edwards but it took about 3 hours. Numerous times the ridge was so narrow that if you stepped slightly to the left or right you would fall straight down. It was a lot of grabbing onto boulders and lowering myself down. Several times I laughed and questioned what I was doing and felt a genuine concern for my life. One step at a time I got a little higher up and a little closer to the spine that lead up to Grays Peak. I finally summited Grays Peak and on the way down ran into some mountain goats. One was a mom with her baby. I then made my way down the mountain towards the valley. As I was walking through the valley around 7:00pm the sun was setting causing the tips of the mountains to glow orange. I finally got to the Grays Peak Trailhead parking lot. At first I planned on making camp there, but the same friends, JD and Cindy, who took me out for breakfast and hiked with me out of Leadville came to pick me up and put me up in their house for a few nights. So till Sunday I’ll be enjoying the comforts of a home and the company of good friends.

Day 4-5: Waking up to the smell of bacon is such a welcoming thing. Later in the day JD and Cindy took me to the Red Rocks Amphitheater where John Denver debuted his song Rocky Mountain High before it even hit the charts. It was an incredible place the whole time I was thinking of all the great bands that had performed there. We then went to Look Out Mountain and went to the Buffalo Bill Cody museum and saw his grave. I try and imagine what Colorado would of looked like back in his time before all the roads and cities. I had a great stay with JD and Cindy and it was nice just to be able to relax in the air conditioning and sit on a couch instead of the ground. We roasted s’mores at night and had a lot of good food! When I went to resupply at Walmart in Denver people thought I was homeless though.

Day 6: Sunday morning I went to church and then after we came home and had lunch JD and Cindy took me back out to the Grays Peak Trailhead and dropped me off. I made my way down the road and everyone was out for Labor Day. I started walking about 3:30 and figured I could get 8 miles in before the sun went down. I made my way along I 70 and every couple hundred feet were raspberry plants. I must of spent 30 minutes stopping and eating them. They were so good. I finally made my way under the interstate and got to the Herman Gultch Trailhead. I hiked about a mile up to a flat area where I made my camp around 7:30. Around 9:30pm I heard something come running through my campsite. At first I thought it was some other person and it sounded like they were sprinting and twigs were cracking underneath. The rushing sound startled me and my first thought went to the wacko guy who stabbed the guy on the Appalachian Trail. I yelled out “Hey, what are you doing in my campsite?” No response, just more twigs snapping and brush breaking. I could hear something moving to the right of my tent in the dark now. I repeated my question as I reached for my pistol and put on my shoes. I didn’t like the idea of waiting in my tent for something to appear. Let alone sitting down. When I opened my tent and shined my headlamp out I heard something snort. I was relieved that it wasn’t a person, but was left to figure out what kind of animal is hanging out in the brush next to my tent. I finally narrowed it down that it must’ve been a moose that ran through. A deer would of ran off at the sound of my voice and it sounded like it had hooves. After about 10 minutes of standing in the dark shining my headlamp looking for eyes reflecting back. It finally started to move away. I went back into my tent and settled down for the evening, still a little on edge. After a long time of not hearing anything I relaxed and began to drift to sleep.

Day 7: So many people were out early this morning for Labor Day. Most were passing by my tent before my usual 7:30 start. I walked up the trail a bit and came to some people who had horses and mules grazing in the grass. They were camping the right way. They had their white canvas tent with smoke coming out of the smokestack and lawn chairs sitting in the sun. As I walked up and started talking we saw a moose start coming across the creek to challenge the horses and mules. It was a young bull. At the sight of the moose approaching the horses began to move away but the mules stood their ground. When the moose cautiously started moving towards them the two mules side by side began to move towards the moose. The young bull realized he was outnumbered and turned around and began to walk off. It was a pretty cool sight to see. I then continued on and passed so many people. I finally turned off the Herman Gulch trail and onto the CDT. There was no one around now. I ran into a few people section hiking, but all day I was pretty much walking along the ridge line. I planned to camp next to a small lake and do some fishing, but when I got there in the evening the lake was dried up. I was disappointed because I hiked a little off the trail to get to it and hoped to have some trout for dinner. I then made my way back up towards the trail around 6:30pm I set up my tent. I heated up some water for my dehydrated dinner and watched as the sun set over the mountains. It lit the sky up orange and then on top of the orange it was a beautiful blue. The crescent moon began to shine and made the last remnants of sun light even more beautiful.

Day 8: I drank the last of my water last night knowing there was a spring 1.8 miles down the trail at Berthoud Pass. All through the night though I woke up thirsty and occasionally was dreaming of water flowing from streams. Morning came and I made my way down the mountain towards the ski warming hut in the parking lot of Berthoud Pass. I emptied what trash I had and took advantage of the bathrooms. I then looked for the stream to fill up my water and found water gushing from a drainage ditch. I filled up a bottle and drank almost all of it before filling it up again. I then made my way up the trail towards Mount Flora. I went over it and then zig zagged down the rocky switchbacks on the other side. I came to a gushing creek called Mill Creek. Surrounding it were wildflowers and pine trees. I sat and ate a snack just watching the wind blow across them. I then made my way up the next set of mountains only to stop dead in my tracks. All along the rocks around the trail were nice red raspberries shining bright in the sun. I threw my back down and began eating all the ripe ones I could find. Thirty minutes later and about a hundred raspberries later, I finally got on my way. I crested the saddle and the trail went back into another valley. As I was making my decent a storm formed over the mountain. Before I knew it I was getting hailed on. The hail was a little bit smaller than dime size. I continued walking getting pelted, but with the hopes of making it to Heart Lake and doing some fishing. Once I reached the bottom of the valley the storm finally stopped and all the hail on the ground began to melt causing everything around me to look steamy. The sun came out and I began to dry off. I got up the other side of the valley and began to climb James Peak. I got to the top right around 6:20pm. It was 13,309 feet. I went down on the other side and followed a ridgline as the rain picked back up again. Clouds were rolling across the top so close that I could reach my hand out and touch them. I finally got to the junction to Heart Lake around 7:30pm. I went off the ridge down into a bowl shaped area with the mountains surrounding the lake. By the time I set up my camp it was to dark to fish. If I caught one I’d have to gather fire wood in the dark and make an area out of the wind to cook it. I figured tomorrow evening I can make an early camp along another lake and hopefully have fish for dinner instead.

Day 9: I woke up this morning to the sunshine hitting my tent and the sound of the waves from the lake gently lapping the shoreline. I just sat up in my sleeping bag and began to eat my breakfast enjoying the beauty around me. After breakfast I packed up my stuff and began to climb back up to the ridgeline. The day was easy going the ridgeline wasn’t very steep so it was enjoyable. The only downfall is the constant wind at extremely high gust. I descended down the ridge to the Indian Peaks Trailhead. I entered into the Indian Peak Wilderness and climbed back up onto the ridge. The clouds were beginning to build around me and I could see some rain falling in the distance. I just hoped it didn’t come my way. The trail began to go down in elevation and just as I started to go downhill a loud boom of thunder rung out. The dark cloud had passed over, but luckily it was going the other way. The trail began to wind through some forest and meadows. I looked out in the low lying grass of the meadow and saw a mama moose and her baby standing about 50 feet away. After a few minutes of watching them I continued on. I seem to be running into more CDT hikers heading south. We exchange what news we have about what lies ahead and what to look out for then wish each other luck. About 5pm I made my camp along the Meadows Creek Reservoir. It’s more like a lake. The first thing I noticed walking up were the hundreds of coyote tracks in the mud along the lake. I set up my tent and then broke out my fishing rod. I wanted to catch some trout and have them for dinner. I soon realized that 1.) my fishing rod is really cheap. 2.) my tackle is to light to cast very far. After a little while of attempting to fish and only casting about 5-8 feet in front of me I decided to just go ahead and make dinner from what’s in my backpack. I’ll have to get a better rod and some weights to put on my line. I sat on a rock enjoying my dinner as I watched the sun set over the lake. It was gorgeous reflecting off the water orange and yellow. When the sun finally went down I got into my tent. Not long after I heard the coyotes start to howl. Hundreds of them all around the lake echoing off the mountains. It sounded like a kennel, but with a lot more dogs. I know they won’t bother me, so I’ll just listen to them as I drift asleep.

Day 10: I woke up this morning and it was a lot colder than my gps said it was going to be. I packed up my stuff and no more than 1000 feet down the road I stumbled upon 3 bull moose. Two with descent racks ran off, but the one that stayed back and continued eating was by far the biggest. At first I thought he had dried blood all over his rack and remnants of the flesh of whatever he fought. But later I was telling another hiker I ran into about it and he informed me that he was shedding his velvet and when they scrape their antlers they have exposed blood vessels. It’s not till after that process that their antlers harden. None the less I gave him his space. I then continued walking and had a gorgeous day. I only did about 13 miles since everything south of Grand Lake is the Rocky Mountain National Park boundary. You need a permit and a bear canister to camp there. I continued down into the valley and came across Monarch Lake. It was so still it was reflecting the mountains on the water. A lot of people were out walking around the lakes today. I came across a fisherman and stopped to talk a bit. I told him I never fished for trout only bass and asked if he had any tips. He gave me some and then hooked me up with a weight and some proper gear. I thanked him and continued on down the road. I walked along the bank of Lake Gatsby and it was gorgeous. The trail then went up on the hills along the bank and all the trees were dead and had fallen down. The lack of shade really made the sun seam hot. I startled a mule deer and we both stopped and stared at each other. He wouldn’t run away and was no more than 30 feet from me. I even tried talking to him and he just stared back at me. After a little while I told him bye since he wouldn’t run off and continued on. I finally made it down to a nice beach campsite complete with a fire ring. It’s no more than 100 feet from the Rocky Mountain National Park Boundary. I called it an early day and took out my fishing pole. After setting up my tent I tried my luck for fish. The water seemed to choppy from the wind. I’m not a trout expert, but I don’t think they like choppy water to much. I kept trying hoping to have something for dinner. After a few hours I was getting hungry and called it for awhile. It began raining a little. Once nightfall hit I could hear the fish jumping in the water just a few feet from my tent. The moon was reflecting off the water and I decided to give it another go. I tried lighting a camp fire, but all the wood was wet. I wanted to get some embers going so when I caught a fish I could have a meal. Since I couldn’t get a fire going and it was now about 10pm I called it a night. One of these nights I’m going to have fish for dinner though. Tomorrow I’ll be in Grand Lake.

Day 11: Last night a bear was sniffing around on the hill above my camp. I was right next to the boundary of Rocky Mountain National Park. He moved on and didn’t bother me, but he took his sweet time. This morning I had just 7 miles to get to town. Along the Colorado River I came across to eagles sitting in the trees above the trail. They then soared across the river to another tree. I continued on with only 5 miles left to town. I walked around the lake and onto the Main Street. I ate lunch at the Sagebrush BBQ and Grill and ordered both the pulled pork and brisket sandwich along with three sides. It took to waitresses to bring it out. I wonder if they placed bets to see if I could finish it all. Hopefully they didn’t because I didn’t leave anything. For now I’m resupplying and I’ll be off tomorrow morning towards Steamboat Springs. I’m a little over a week away from Wyoming.