Glad you guys enjoyed the video. Last year, I hiked from Denver to Twin Lakes (about 175 miles). This year, I intended to complete the trail, but due to the fire closure in Segments 25-28, I decided to come back next year to finish (turns out that they lifted the fire closure as I was pulling into Lake City).
I spent 9 days on trail this year, from Twin Lakes along the Collegiate West route to Monarch Pass, resupplying at Salida, and then hiking from Marshall Pass to Spring Creek Pass, where I hitched a ride into Lake City. I then got a ride from my sister back to Denver. I did about 170 miles total, averaging around 20+ mile days (mileage for full days ranged from about 18 mi to 26.5 mi). The highlight of the trip was probably the Collegiate West, especially Segment 3, with all the high elevation above 12,000 feet for about 20 miles or so continuous. I got stormed on twice in a row on two consecutive afternoons in the Collegiates at around 12000 feet, with lots of cold rain, lightning, and hail. I found that the only way really to keep relatively dry and warm was to throw my tarp over my head and just huddle there, waiting for the storms to go away. On the last day before arriving to Salida, I waited for 1-2 hrs to get over the last pass and eventually gave up after climbing to 12000 feet due to the storms. (When one storm passed, another would arrive). I had to backtrack and take a jeep road to Hwy 50 where I met my brother-in-law Nathan who had taken the shortcut as well to Monarch Mountain Lodge due to bad blisters on his feet.
The La Garita Wilderness was also pretty awesome, especially the high section which crossed San Luis Pass (nearby 14er San Luis Peak). I wan’t feeling too well that day, and the storms were chasing me up the pass, I so I decided not to summit San Luis Peak, even though it was only about 3 miles round trip from the pass and about a 1400 ft elevation gain.
As far as acclimatizing to elevation, I spent about a week in Denver prior to embarking on the CT from Twin Lakes, and went on several day hikes in the Denver area at around 10,000 to 12,000 feet. I got sick on day 1 of doing this while at 11,000 feet (nausea, vomiting). I frequently get altitude sickness in CO coming from the east coast. I did take some Diamox the next couple days and I eventually did acclimate. I also did a 24 mile loop in the Lost Creek Wilderness (1 night) to help me acclimate and that probably helped. I’ll have to do another video / write-up on that trip as well. It was pretty hot and dry and so I got a bit of heat exhaustion / dehydration, but I managed to get through.
I plan to go back next year to finish the last 125 miles of the CT. In case anyone is considering it, the CT is an awesome trail. Under normal circumstances (no fires, etc.),and given adequate vacation time, you should be able to complete it in about 4 weeks or so. Between wanting to get back to family and the fire closure it was a bit tough this year.
I’ll post a post-hike gear video detailing all the gear I used on this trip, as I tried out quite a bit of new gear this year, including a custom cuben pack from SWD as well as the Zpacks Hexamid Tarp. Stay tuned!
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