We left Grand Lake in a cold fog. The Knights Ridge on the CDT still hasn't been cleared from a recent blowdown, so we walked around it on the road. Later that day we got to Devil's Thumb Pass, this is the start of a 17 mile exposed ridge walk. We went up to the pass but the winds were impossibly strong, howling (probably 30-35mph, sustained) so we went back down to tree line and took the first flat spot we came across to set up camp. The next morning was spectacular, the winds had subsided, and we enjoyed the ridge walk. Had a great lunch on James Peak at over 13k feet, we could see downtown Denver. We both had trouble keeping our energy from the grueling up & down day, this was by far the hardest day since N. Montana. So we hitched into Fraser (Winter Park) from the pass and spent the night at the hostel. The guy who gave us a hitch got pulled over by a CO State Trooper for speeding...downhill! He didn't get a ticket and I'm surprised the Officer didn't inquire about the two motley looking hobo's crammed into his tiny compact car. We've had some very cold mornings in this section, mid-upper 20's and we didn't see any big animals; all a result of our mostly above treeline in this section. The morning out of Fraser we got a ride from a nice fella from Texas, who was also staying at the hostel, back up to the pass. Nice walking but very windy and then the weather rolled in, of course. We were above tree line, it started to hail (that's never good). Then came the thunder & lightning. There was no way we could get up to Jones Pass in this, so we hustled off the divide and down into the first group of trees we could find. The storm continued and we couldn't get over the pass, we were freezing and our feet were soaked. We decided to walk back down the hill towards an old dirt road. We got a hitch into Silverthorn where we had Chipotle for dinner and got a room, Chipotle was the best part of the day. The next day we took the pedestrian path that connects Silverthorn with Copper Mountain where we could pick up the CDT again. It was a decision based on three factors: sick of being up high and exposed on the divide and its weather , simple walking on the pedestrian path and of course food and beer/brewery options along said pedestrian path. We stopped in Frisco, which is about halfway between Silverthorn and Copper Mountain, for lunch at the Backcountry Brewery. This was fantastic, we had great food and plenty of good beer. We ended up shooting pool at another fun bar in Frisco before we moved on to Copper Mountain. We spent the night right under the chair lift at Copper just above the pricey resort where the Colorado Trail meets with the CDT. Beautiful trail and weather for the hike into Leadville, CO. Before we reached Tennessee Pass we came across a bunch of SOBOs, Moosie, Swiss Miss, Barrel Roll, Grinder, Big Foot & Raffle...collectively known as the SOBO Hobos. Leadville is known for two things: its the highest elevation incorporated city at 10,200ft and it has an annual, epic, 100 mile ultramarathon. I got my replacement shoes in this drop too, over 1500 miles on my pair of Brooks Cascadias. Leadville is a fantastic town with lots of history. It has great energy and very friendly residents. One of my favorite trail towns! The next day we got back on at the pass and hiked to the trailhead of Mt. Elbert. The next day we did the side trip up Elbert, the tallest point in CO at 14,439. The weather started out ok but by the time we got above treeline it started snowing. We made it to the top anyway, it was cold, very windy and snowing. We scurried down the mountain and into Twin Lakes. Got our boxes and decided to hitch back into Leadville to stay out of the weather. We stayed the night with Cameron and her roommate, I had posted an add on Craigslist and she responded and offered their place for the night. The next morning it was snowing in Leadville and it was clear the mountains had received a lot of snow. By the time late morning came the storm was lifting and we made our move to get back on trail. Hitched back to Twin Lakes with a guy named Hawkeye, a double triple crowner and started up Hope Pass. It was interesting to see the snow depth increase as we did with elevation. 1-3", 4-6" then 8-10" at the pass. Some of the drifts were about 2' deep and we were postholing up to our knees. It took us 3 hours to go 4 miles, mostly the last 500 miles in elevation. The view on the South side of Hope Pass was spectacular...the golden fall colors of the Aspens against the freshly fallen snow was stunning! We made a mutual decision to get off trail and go into Buena Vista because the snow would have slowed us down too much and we needed to meet up with Safety Officers Fiance in Salida. But we made the most if it, we climbed up Mt. Yale the next day, another 14r and then hitched down to Salida. Spectacular day on top of Mt. Yale, unbelievably clear. So here we are in Salida, CO taking a triple zero. This is another fantastic trail town; the best town in terms of restaurant, bar and brewery options...so this has been an expensive 3 days, but so fun and worth it. How many times do you get to do something like thru hike anyway?! Today, our last day in Salida, the SOBO Hobos made it to town and we all had a great time hanging out. Went out to a fantastic dinner at Amica's Brewery and drank plenty of good beer. A fun all-SOBO night!
Be sure to check out the videos I posted for this section, 4 in all. I'll try and imbed future videos into the actual section post...now that I know how quirky mobile blogger is.
