The Walk from Crested Butte, day 12

Gore Creek to Silverthorne and the Bustang home

After the exposure and bad weather of the last few camps, my sheltered and secluded campsite felt cozy and secure, a bit of a sanctuary in the woods. Tall Engelmann Spruce hovered over me, the rocks and river surrounded me, the soft duff underneath cradled me as I slept. No need to worry about whether the rain had found its way in, or whether the skies would clear in the morning and let me pass. Everything was taken care of, arranged just to my liking.

I lingered over breakfast, trying out an experimental meal: freeze-dried french toast. BackpackingLight magazine lent me a freeze-dryer on condition that I use it and write a bunch of articles. Pretty much everything I’ve tried has turned out just fine, but breads are problematic. You can rehydrate them but they tend to be soggy and turn to mush.

My strategy was to use a high egg content in the batter, and then to have the cooked toast soak up syrup. The theory here was that the fat and protein from the eggs, along with the sugar from the syrup, would crystallize and provide some structure upon rehydration, thus avoiding the heartache of soggy french toast.

A bit crunchy, but satisfying

I think I can claim a partial victory here. If anything, the toast remained a little too crunchy. It was like eating french toast cereal squares. The texture was not that of freshly cooked french toast, but it was not unpleasant by any means. Maybe a little less egg in the batter next time.

I had only 8 or 9 miles to go, and today’s climb was only 1500 feet so there was no need to hurry. But there was nothing keeping me around camp either–no sign of fish in the creek. And there would be beer, a shower, and general relaxation and goofing off at the other end of the trail. Plus, I just like to hike. So that is what I did.

The trail was good and a few flowers were still out. There were a couple of nice campsites further up the valley; could have walked a bit farther yesterday. The climb up to Red Buffalo Pass was steep of course, but not heinously so. I watched the peaks light up around me, unnamed 12ers and 13ers with the characteristic Gore Range raggedyness draped over them.

The pass was not windy and I lingered a while, enjoying the views down into the Blue River valley, with Ptarmigan and Grays and Torreys peaks forming a solid backdrop above the haze.

Last pass at last

The walk down the Willow Creek drainage was pleasant enough, but getting to the Lily Pad TH required a climb of several hundred feet up a rough and bouldery trail that I did not enjoy.

I think this is a young skinny marmot but it looks very weasely.

I reached the shuttle stop just as a volunteer ranger was coming the other way. We chatted for a bit and he offered a ride to my accommodations which I was glad to accept.

Done walking

At my hostel (The Pad) I did town things: shower, rinse out my shirt, get lunch and a beer, sit in the hot tub, get dinner and a beer. A couple of beers, actually. I took the shuttle to Frisco to enjoy perhaps my favorite brewery anywhere, Outer Range, conveniently located next to the transit center. It boasts a wide variety of double IPAs that are very flavorful without being heavy or overbearing.

The transit center in Frisco is where I caught the Bustang to Denver the next morning. As with the ride out to Crested Butte, it was on-time, pleasant and otherwise devoid of irritations or drama of any sort.

Although I didn’t make my original goal of getting to Nederland, I consider this hike a big success: a 150-mile ramble through the heart of the Colorado Rockies, traversing numerous high ranges and wilderness areas. There were flowers, abundant wildlife (bears especially), few people and all the mountain scenery one could hope for.

If I had more time, I could have extended the trip all the way up to Steamboat Springs, following the CDT from Silverthorne. That would be a fairly epic hike. Bussing to and from a long hike is absolutely doable in Colorado and I expect to come up with some more bus-hike adventures in the future.