Week #2 on the Trail

Night #8--Camping in Segment 13 near Chalk Creek (hiked 12.3 miles)
Today's hike was the steepest of the whole trip. Up and over the ridge of Mount Yale! Super stud Peter carried some of my stuff today, because my right shoulder and left love handle were hurting. He says ideally we should be in the "same amount of pain," which I am going to remember just in case...

 How the Collegiate Peaks got their names: a bunch of college kids in the late 1800s visited and decided to name them after their schools, and the names stuck. 

Ended our day today with a nice big fire and a long chapter from Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon.


 Night #9--Camping in Segment 14 at the Chalk Creek Trailhead (hiked 14 miles)

Best trail magic yet--a beer and a gatorade!

X-STREAM!

Today was the only day on the whole trail where the trail follows a paved road. We descended from the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness into Mount Princeton Hot Springs and paid $18 a piece (ouch) for a soak in the springs and a shower (worth it). Then we kept hiking to our campsite, which was marked as a "fee campsite" in our guide book. When we arrived, it turned out to cost $1!

"No" trespassing... (for all you Diana Hacker aficionados out there)

Chalk Cliffs! Peter's favorite formation from the whole trip. Formed by minerals in the water or something else similarly interesting...you'll have to ask him.

Peter did me proud with his eavesdropping skills today at the hot springs, and this is the gem of a conversation that he heard:

Older couple: "Do we need to wear bathing suits in the pools?"
Young lady clerk: "Excuse me?"
Couple: "Do we need to wear bathing suits, like, clothing, in the pools?"
*awkward pause*
Clerk: "Are you lost??"

 Must be time to get this dog a nice bed in a hotel (only two days until Salida)!

Night #10--Camped in Segment 14 near Sand Creek (hiked 10 miles)

 Builder Bars!!

 Camped in an aspen grove! Set up the tent just in time to dive in with all our stuff and dodge our biggest thunderstorm yet. Showdown #2 with the veggie soup...it won again. Oh well, tomorrow is hotel and pizza and beer!

Nights #11 & #12 (Salida Inn & Monarch Suites)

 Hiked just 10 miles out to the highway today!

 A CT marker being taken over by this tree

 Our Rescue Crew!

We fell in love with Salida. Didn't take as many pictures as we should have, maybe, but great pizza, great beer, beautiful river and many, many smiling and lovely people. 

 Goodbye Monkus, seeya in Longmont!

Night #13--Camping in Segment 15 next to Fooses Creek (hiked in 5 miles)

The man who picked us up on the highway today to take us to the trail head was named Doug and he drove a big red truck. He's hiked the whole CT in segments (not all at once) and loves hikers. He had a few gems to share, having quit his job and become willfully homeless last year:

"It doesn't have to be fun to be fun." (my favorite)

"Imagine what they think of us! (referencing "people who spend their whole lives in front of the TV")

Also, he told us about his hike across Snow Mesa during a lightning storm, and how he ran for his life with a full pack on for three miles. We are headed for Snow Mesa next week some time... 

 

 Amanitas

 Night #14--Two weeks! Camping in Segment 16 next to Silver Creek (almost to Marshall Pass)
Hiked 14 miles

 Today was not an easy day. First ten miles felt great, but then we stopped for Dorito's (yum) and the last four were brutal. (not that I blame the Doritos). My pack is too heavy, but the good news is we eat food every day, and it gets lighter!

 Break in a sweet little shelter

These clouds later morphed into the worst thunderstorm of the whole trip. We were up pretty high when the rain and lightning started, and we raced down a steep hill to our campsite in an attempt to make it before we got soaked (didn't quite make it). The rain stopped, we were able to make a delightful dinner, and we were in the tent ready for sleep before the sun even went down, preparing for tomorrow's 19 mile day.