Year: 2015

Up well before dawn and started hiking by flashlight. It wasn’t so much that I was anxious to finish as that I knew I wasn’t going back to sleep and might as well start hiking. There had been a substantial rainstorm during the night, and the lush wet vegetation overgrowing the trail soaked my shoes Read More …

at 37.4513, -107.9754 Last camp. There is nothing special about it, which I guess is appropriate. I’m in a dense wet forest a thousand feet below Kennebec Pass, the last pass on the trail. Although I hiked with Willis today, he decided to stop at Taylor Lake, some 4 miles back and a much nicer Read More …

at 37.6794, -107.9779 Got a reasonably early start from the hostel this morning, with Jan, the owner giving me, Willis and Pawn a ride to Molas Pass at 6. My plan was to take 4 days to hike the last 75 miles of the CT. I had sent a box of clean civilian clothes to Read More …

At the Blair St Hostel in Silverton. The day dawned clear at my camp on the Animas River – right next to the railroad tracks like a real hobo – and I began the 5-mile, 2000 ft climb up to Molas Pass. Climbing is always easiest in the morning and I made good time, spurred Read More …

at 37.7339, -107.6606 I guess the morning does not always predict the day. Mornings usually have the best weather of the day in the mountains, so when a day starts off as ugly as today did, I feared the worst. The morning continued the night’s wind and rain, with low scudding clouds whipping through the Read More …

at 37.8480, -107.4456 Back to the trail, back to the rain. The forecast, as usual, is for two days of rain followed by a clearing trend. The first part of the forecast has been entirely reliable. Left the Ravens Rest Hostel early this morning, thanks to a lift from April/Bearclaw, hoping to make the CT Read More …

I lingered in my warm snug sleeping bag as the soft light of morning replaced the stars. Coyotes yowled and sang to one another as I drank my coffee and loaded my pack and set off up the trail. A short climb brought me to the high point of the day’s hike, a saddle with Read More …

at 37.9492, -107.0421 Up at 4:45 and on my way by 5:30. I knew there were a series of high ridges and saddles on my route, and I wanted to clear as many of them as possible before the day’s thunderstorms kicked in. A couple of miles in I came to Eddiesville, where the outfit Read More …

at 38.0419, -106.8248 Not my finest day. Missed a turn among the jumble of jeep roads in Saguache Park and didn’t notice my mistake for a good mile and a half. Then I passed up a couple of mediocre water sources but ran out and had to dip out muddy marsh water instead. In a Read More …