As noted in an earlier post, I had to bail out of a PCT thru attempt this year after inflaming a herniated disc that I've had for a long time. I got the all-clear from my doctor and PT to get back out on the trail, and I'm starting to plan my next month out. I was planning on doing a decent chunk of the remaining PCT (probably Ashland-Skykomish, but as a flip-flop to do the WA sections first), but I'm increasingly finding that fire closures and/or the credible threat of future fire closures are complicating things a bit.
Where all of this takes me is that I'm starting to look at the Colorado Trail as a possible alternate trip, especially since I've turned my eye towards another attempt at a PCT thru in 2017. (I.e. no desperate rush to get in as many PCT miles as possible this year.) I'm relatively familiar with the general trailhead logistics of the route from past investigations into doing this, and I'm obviously plenty comfortable with my gear, etc. at this point from my PCT hike (from which I also have a number of ready-packed resupply maildrops). Obviously, I would pick up a decent mapset and databook in advance of going out there and would study them as well.
My only real reservations about doing something like this is the general last-minute nature of the whole plan. While I'm plenty comfortable with planning out long-distance trips (as well as improvising within those plans when needed), I feel strange about going from idea to execution in the span of about a week for a 486-mile trip. I suspect a lot of this is merely psychological, since I know my trailhead logistics on both ends, have appropriate gear, have a rough idea of where I'd probably resupply (to be finalized), and am comfortable with the distance/terrain involved.
If I did the CT, I'd probably hit the trail around 8/22 or so and plan for 20-mile days to start, with a likely increase to mid-high 20s after a little bit. (I still have my trail legs as far as I can tell from my "recovery" hikes, and I was doing high 20s/low 30s in the High Sierra, so I think the mileage is reasonable.)
As I write this, I see that there's not really a question here- I'm mostly just using BPL as my "idiot check" for doing this. (And I still might just go back to the PCT.) While, at this point, I feel like I have a pretty good handle on what I need to do to prepare for something like this, it does feel very strange to so quickly pull the trigger on a trip that most people would spend weeks/months planning.
