Four backpackers (Ed Tucker, John Gundry, Mark Schedler, and Carl Fisher) plan a 140 mile trip along the East and West loops of the Collegiate Loop of the Colorado Trail (with a couple of modifications) starting in late August. The planned 15 day trip ended after 8 days.
August 20 and 21, 2022 We drove in two cars from Green Bay, WI to Leadville, CO. Ed and Mark in one car and John and Carl in the other. We spent the night at the Quality Inn and Conference Center in Grand Island, NE. The drive was unremarkable but the morning sunrise was spectacular.
August 23, 2022 Miles: 9.7 Cumulative Miles: 9.7 We start this adventure by parking Carl’s car at the Interlaken Trailhead near Twin Lakes, CO at 7:30. Yesterday, we dropped off three resupply boxes and staged Ed’s car at the third resupply location. The first 1.6 miles were on the Continental Divide trail which passes along the Twin Lakes, an easy, level trail-great way to start the hike. The day was fairly easy with a couple of ups followed by downs and then a long down slog to get to Clear Creek, our camp for the night. We arrived around 1:00pm. It was sunny and clear all day until 7:00 pm when clouds rolled in and light rain started. By then we were all in our tents with temps in the 50’s. Some thunder and lightning. Tomorrow is shaping up to be our toughest day, starting out with an immediate 2500 foot climb.
August 24, 2022 Miles: 11.5 Cumulative Miles: 21.2 We started out from Clear Creek on a cool, crisp morning. The day of hiking consisted of two serious climbs. The first was 2700 vertical feet and fairly steep grade and the second climb came near the end of the day and was only 1450 feet but it kicked our butts. Ed and Carl rolled into camp around 4:45 and they were dragging. Fortunately, the final two miles were downhill. None of us were hungry but we all ate what we had planned, otherwise we had to continue carrying . I choked down a Mountain House Beef Stroganoff. We are camped at a large area near Frenchman Creek with a guide and her clients (a father and three kids). Initially thought we might have issues with them as the guide seems to not want us to camp near them. We did anyway since those were the best remaining sites. After dinner she came over and talked with us. She was very nice and we think her “warning” to us about the 3 kids was her trying to be sensitive to and NOT trying to get us to camp elsewhere.
August 25, 2022 Miles 8.9 Cumulative Miles: 30.1 We always start these trips with a plan. In this case the initial plan was made by John and then modified with the others input. Today we decided to change the plan from 13.4 miles to 8.9 miles. Made sense to all of us after the butt kicking we had yesterday. We found a really nice site with water about ⅔ the way up a big climb that is not indicated at the FarOut app. We got into camp at 12:30 with afternoon weather threatening. Fortunately it just amounted to a few sprinkles. Our plan for tomorrow is Maxwell Creek for an 11 miles day. That sets us up for an 8 mile hike into Mt Princeton where we have reservations at Deer Valley Ranch and our first resupply boxes. The climb was not nearly as hard today as yesterday even though it was 2200 feet. Maybe we are getting trail legs? It was 35 degrees when we got up this morning. The evening was cut short and we all headed for our tents at 7:00pm when a light drizzle / steady light rain started.
August 26, 2022 Miles 12 Cumulative: 42.0 Today, like most of the other mornings, we pack up our tents wet. I put mine in a plastic bag to keep from getting everything in my pack wet. The day started with an immediate 800 foot uphill followed by a bunch of down. At 10:30 we reached a road, near the bottom, where we took out our tents and hung them to dry. They were still very wet from the night’s rain (which lasted until 1:00am) and condensation. After packing them back into our packs we headed out on a somewhat flat trail around Rainbow Lake before we started the final 1000 foot climb for the day during intermittent light rain. We got to Maxwell Creek, our camp for the night, around 4:00pm and thankfully, no rain. Set up camp and just at supper time it started raining. Slacked off enough to get out of our tents, get our stoves going and supper prepared. A couple of ladies camped near us joined us for dinner. They are each hiking solo. One lady was 68 and today is her birthday and the other is 44 and trail hiking for speed. She’s doing 26 mile days! It is raining steadily by 8:00pm which means packing up a wet tent again tomorrow morning.
August 27, 2022 Miles: 6.4 Cumulative: 48.4 Since today is an easy day we “slept in” and didn’t hit the trail until 8:00am. The trail is an easy downhill hike into Mt Princeton. There we stopped and had lunch in the restaurant at the resort at 11:30. Afterwards we all went to the convenience store and each purchased supplies for supper and breakfast. A miscommunication resulted in Ed starting down the road about 10 minutes before everyone. We waited a bit before a phone call to Ed confirmed he was already hiking to Deer Valley Camp. Around 1:00pm John, Mark, and Carl started hiking the final 1.5 mile road walk to Deer Valley Camp and our cabin for the night. Carl put out his thumb and the first truck stopped and picked the three hikers up. We honked and waved at Ed as we passed him, almost at the destination. The cabin was a very nice 3 bedroom, 3 bath with a kitchen. The swimming pool and hot tub were disappointing. Carl spent the evening sewing a two foot hole in his sleeping silk and Mark figuring out how to use his damaged Iphone.
August 28,2022 Miles: 7.8 Cumulative: 57.4 We all pitched in to crate a great breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon and toast before leaving at 8:00am. There was a 1 mile road walk before getting on trail and heading uphill on a 1000 foot climb that was nicely graded, making for easy walking. We ran into numerous day hikers as it is Sunday. We arrived at Browns Creek, our camp for the night, at 1:15pm and barely got our tents up before a rain and hail storm that lasted an hour and a half. It is not cold but it will be another morning of packing up a wet tent.
August 29, 2022 Miles: 7.8 Cumulative: 65.2 “This getting up with a wet tent every morning is getting old.”, Carl thought to himself. Later in the day Carl tentatively brought up the idea of jumping off the trail at the next resupply which is tomorrow. Much to his surprise Ed had been having the same thoughts. Angel of Shavano Campground is the destination for the evening. It is a formal campground where we paid for two campsites with plenty of flat spots, well water, and picnic tables. At dinner that night the subject of Carl and Ed jumping off the trail was breached. Mark and John wanted to keep going and there was discussion about finding a way to jump ahead to our third resupply and finishing from there. No firm decisions were made.
August 30, 2022 Miles: 7.3 Cumulative: 72.5 There was very little moisture on the tent this morning, however the forecast for the next few days still contain rain. The day presented a mainly downhill tread to Monarch Mountain Lodge where we had reservations and our second resupply box. Carl and Ed firmed up their decision to jump off the trail and Mark and John, reluctantly, decided to get off the trail as well. When we got cell service we contacted Katy Kat’s Kash Kab to arrange a shuttle. She met us at noon to shuttle us to Ed’s car and then we drove to pick up Carl’s car before heading to Monarch Mountain Lodge for the night.
August 31, 2022 Ed was meeting his wife a week from today in Salt Lake City so he decided to go to Canyonlands National Park in UT to do some day hiking. Carl, John, and Mark pointed the car towards Wisconsin, stayed overnight in Omaha, NE and arrived home in Green Bay on September 1, 2022.