Colorado Trail Days 24-26: Lake City to Silverton

Hi from Silverton! What a funny place. On my nearo here I have enjoyed a great hearty breakfast and yummy pizza, tried to make a dent in the largest bag of popcorn known to man, and explored the small mining town, including “Notorious Blair Street,” a restored Wild West town street. It has been an absolutely stunning 53 miles from Lake City, and I am happy to be back on the trail!

A quick message from the clouds

As I mentioned in my last post, we took three days off when we arrived in Lake City to wait out bad weather. So naturally, when we got back on trail on Wednesday morning I was hoping that our efforts had been successful and the weather would be nice, like the forecasts had suggested. Leaving the trailhead, the sky was clear and blue. We hadn’t even been hiking an hour, though, before dark clouds rolled in and thunder rolled in. The sky appeared split in half: on one side there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and the other looked ready for a storm. Of course, we got stormed on: first rain and then hail. The weather lasted only a few minutes, but it was comical. It felt to me like nature was trying to scold me a little bit for trying to cherry pick my weather and reminding me that she was ultimately the one in control. Point taken. I hiked with my pack cover on and my rain jacket at the ready for the rest of the day, but luckily the skies were clear and the weather was gorgeous.

• 

• 

Worth the wait

After the quick hail passed, we had beautiful sun for the remainder of the section. We climbed quickly above tree line and remained there, up in the alpine meadows among the San Juans’ jagged peaks, for almost all of our 53 miles between towns. It was all stunning. We had constant views of mountains, wildflowers, and flowing waterfalls. The section consisted largely of us traveling from pass to pass, climbing up between peaks and descending. It made for tough miles, to constantly have to climb and descend sharply, but I made it into a game, trying to guess what kind of view would await me when I crested the pass. Would it be an alpine lake? A ridge of jagged summits? A flower-filled meadow? Spoiler—at some point over the 2 days, I saw every option.

• 

• 

• 

• 

The gorgeous and unobstructed views made me think over and over again that I was glad that we had taken those three days off to wait out the rain. I can sometimes (in life as well as thru hiking) be goal oriented to a fault: in this case wanting to push through so I could finish my hike in the fewest possible number of days (which would prove that I was a fast hiker) at any expense. But taking a few days off was what allowed me to have the amazing experience I’ve had so far—it was well worth the delay and doesn’t make me any less impressive of a hiker!

It’s all downhill from here…right??

On Wednesday we reached the high point of the Colorado Trail, which stands at over 13,200 feet. It was a bit of an odd experience standing at the high point, because just a few days earlier we had summited San Luis Peak (14,022’), which is just off the trail. So it was kind of funny to celebrate hiking to the highest point, when we had already hiked higher while hiking the trail! Still, any sign marking a significant point is exciting, and I have decided to believe that I will be exclusively hiking downhill from now on. Any uphill that I’m doing between now and the end has just gotta be fake then.

Don’t pet the moose

When my sister Eliza went to performance art camp when she was in elementary school, she and her camp mates wrote a killer song with the lyrics “don’t pet the moose that’s on the loose / don’t pet the moose or give him juice.” I’m glad that Eliza provided me with such a PSA, because we knew what not to do on Wednesday night and Thursday morning!

Granted, I couldn’t have given these moose juice if I had wanted–I saw them from quite some distance. On Wednesday night we camped at a beautiful little alpine lake. Our campsite looked over the larger Cataract Lake, maybe a mile or so down a side trail. When we were making dinner we looked down over the bigger lake and saw three moose splashing and sipping the water. The next morning, as I crested the first pass I saw a large moose’s silhouette, antlers and all, outlined against a nearby ridge.

Honestly, I was glad that I saw these animals from a distance–that way I could appreciate the majesty without being nervous about their massive size and potential danger if they were to charge. And another animal tidbit–this morning I saw two baby deer, spots and all! How special!

Avalanche wreckage

In Colorado we are often warned of the dangers of avalanches–as a kid I heard horror stories of backcountry skiers lost the snow, so I know that an avalanche can cause serious harm. But, as someone not heavily involved with snow sports, they had never been too seriously on my radar. That changed during this section in an unusual way. To be clear, I did not find myself in the midst of an avalanche in the beginning of July–there is barely any snow on the trail at all! Instead, I came face to face with wreckage from last season’s avalanche in the form of large piles of downed trees piled on top of the trail for a couple of tenths of a mile at a time. Though these sections were short, they were a slog: I had to climb over, under, and around many logs before I had hopes of seeing the path emerge again. By the time they cleared up, they had made me once again appreciate the well groomed Colorado Trail.

Coming up next…

It’s my last section! I have 73 miles and three days of hiking remaining until I reach Durango! I can’t wait to soak in all of the remaining views and enjoy the last few cozy nights in the tent.