Lessons learned on colorado trail

i'm leaving in 5 days to do the whole thing with a friend and this was helpful!

Some notes / questions:

Gear:
1. I used only iodine / chlorine in the past but bought a Katadyn filter since I figured it'd let us carry a lot less water in places with lots of water. Split between two people, the 13 oz filter is barely a cup of water. Saves weight (also have backup tabs for a few days).

2. Same clothing as you + a super warm 14 oz 850 fill Down jacket. Very similar sleep system as you – 32 F bag + Ridgerest. Tarptent Double Rainbow.

3. Not sure if you are blaming your insoles for your blisters. I'm using Superfeet and hike up 2500 feet everyday on the treadmill with them and no hot spots so far.. of course, down hill could be bad. Also tried a couple of weekender 35 milers.. worked just fine.

Navigation:

1. I'm taking SOME of the Trails Illustrated maps — mailed into resupply boxes. Also tore up the guidebook into the resupply boxes. The databook, we'll carry the entire way.

Other:
1. Was hoping to mail something to Princeton Hot Springs and to stay a night if they have space. Do you mean to say that they are usually booked up? I figure they might have space on a weekday.. either way, no big deal as long as we can pick up our maildrop.

2. Could you tell me what else you saw in the Twin Lakes General store (besides fake iodine)? Bagels, cheese, salami? Any fresh fruit? (We are mailing a resupply box there.)

3. I think I read in the guidebook that Janet's Cabin (and maybe other 10th Mtn Division huts) are for winter use only.

4. Thanks for the tip on Fireside Inn.. mailing food there, hope to find a double room available.

5. What you say about food caches is the first and only negative thing I've ever heard about or experienced in Colorado. Unfortunate.

"I caught a cold stretch, nights were low-30's-ish. Marmot hydrogen (30deg), tarptent contrail and ridgerest and it was *cold* at night. I consider myself a warm sleeper and was still wearing every piece of clothing (ex-rainwear) and fully mummied-up. "

I assumed you've had the same setup before in similar conditons and were just fine? If so, then I wonder if it's because your body was tired — maybe near the start of the hike when it hadn't adjusted to multiple-days of continuous hikes? Curious, were your dinners adequate enough?

Insoles

What with marketing hype, seems like a lot of people just assume buying Superfeet can only help. It can, but not always. Were you having problems with your shoes beforehand? Sometimes, a "one design fits all" product can actually be harmful — if it's solving a problem that you don't have.

When a newbie back some years ago, I too bought Superfeet — and for me, it generated excruciating pains for my knees after hiking about 7-8 miles! I can't exactly pinpoint this to Superfeet — but I know I've never gotten this kind of pain before Superfeet — nor after ditching them. Be careful.

Thanks for the warning about hiding food cache from humans!! :)

Gear:
>> 1. I dont see how a filter lets you carry less water than chemicals (other than being able to binge at the stream and carry nothing). For me, the 13oz (prob over a pound when wet) was not worth it. The taste aint bad, and the 30-sec water stop versus 10 mins to pump was nice.

>> 2. I'd skip the down jacket, or mail it to princeton or something. the earlier (lower) part I seriously doubt you will want it. I think the sleep stuff is right on, I just got a cold stretch.

>> 3. I had superfeet insoles in my shoes too (and then in my pack for the next 200 miles… :)), Im just saying that at the first hint of hotspots pull the insoles. For me, blisters come when my feet are volume constrained.

Navigation:

1. I'm taking SOME of the Trails Illustrated maps — mailed into resupply boxes. Also tore up the guidebook into the resupply boxes. The databook, we'll carry the entire way.

>> Seems like a good approach. The only somewhat tricky part (for me at least) was the logging roads after twin lakes.

Other:
1. Was hoping to mail something to Princeton Hot Springs and to stay a night if they have space. Do you mean to say that they are usually booked up? I figure they might have space on a weekday.. either way, no big deal as long as we can pick up our maildrop.

>> They were fully booked when I stayed there with family (tues-thurs). If you want to stay, def make a reservation. The restaurant there is pretty good too. There is not really great camping on either side of the trail though. Its ~3 miles of paved(!) roads and private land before, ~2miles paved after.

2. Could you tell me what else you saw in the Twin Lakes General store (besides fake iodine)? Bagels, cheese, salami? Any fresh fruit? (We are mailing a resupply box there.)
>> It was pretty marginal. I went in there looking to graze and basically left empty handed. Its like a gas station with some random camping stuff. I dont remember if they had fresh fruit. However, I stayed at the roadhouse lodge down the street and it was *awesome*, highly recommended. Nice clean room + homecooked meal.

3. I think I read in the guidebook that Janet's Cabin (and maybe other 10th Mtn Division huts) are for winter use only.
>> http://www.huts.org/hut_details/janet_hut_details.html says otherwise. I camped in the rain about 1/4 mile down trail from it, and walking by it the next morning was kicknig myself for not going a little further. A perfect setup for getting the ~6miles of above treeline passes out of the way in the morning too.

5. What you say about food caches is the first and only negative thing I've ever heard about or experienced in Colorado. Unfortunate.
>> Yeah I'm still amazed. I'm wondering if a note or something in there like "hey I need this" would have helped…?

I assumed you've had the same setup before in similar conditons and were just fine?
Actually the tent and bag were new. It could be I was tired, but pretty much everyone else I talked to was also really cold at night.

I got the insoles a month or so before leaving as I was having knee-clicking issues from pronation. It fixed that, but then created other problems. This is the first big hike I've done in sneakers, so Im definitely in a learning curve for how to address foot issues on the fly.

I was pleasantly surprised that removing the insoles really didnt affect anything badly – maybe a little more foot-muscle work but sneakers in general (compared to boots) do that too.

Chris, what superfeet were you using? I tried the green ones several years ago and they almost crippled me. Or at least it felt that way. I switched to the blue ones and have been using them ever since. I have a low arch by the way.

I did mean drinking up some water at sources but mainly avoid the min. 30 minute carry you need to do with tablets.. and I suspect the water is cold in those streams in CO.
It seems like there are many segments where there is water every 3 miles or so.. let's say an hour walk. In that case, I may not carry any water at all. I'm carrying the pump assembled on the outside of my pack and it takes a minute of pumping to get a liter of water from it.. I'm taking it only because there are 2 to share the weight. Anyway, let's see what happens a week into the hike..

Thanks for the heads up about Superfeet.. it's really helped me so far in the last month or so and I felt especially great after a 22 mile day on the Appalachian Trail near the PA / NJ border (notoriously rocky and painful). I have the green kind and use them in trail runners. I have really high arches and I used to get pain under my foot even at 12 – 13 miles (even with boots). No more.

I hope they let us use the hot springs at Princeton Hot Springs for the $10 fee even if they are all booked up.

The Down jacket might be overkill for the first half of the CT but I'm also hiking later than you (mostly in August). Mailing it to Twin Lakes or somewhere sounds nice.. but it is also an expensive jacket.. I'll see. Thanks for getting me thinking about it!

Normally a floorless shelter doesn't mean you sleep on the cold wet ground. You have either a drop cloth, ultralight bivy or in some cases a sleeping pad is enough.

I go the ultralight bivy route as it doesn't way much more than a drop cloth and it protects better when there is a lot of spray, splash, spindrift.

Great thread, Chris Alonso and all, thanks for posting: worth bookmarking for future reference. The CTF is hungry for this kind of info – don't hesitate to connect:

The Colorado Trail Foundation
http://www.ColoradoTrail.org
bill@ColoradoTrail.org
ctf@ColoradoTrail.org