Day 11: Mile 119.3 to mile 131.8
8.1.21 -
12.5 miles +3,000 -1,700 ft
Segments: 8
I woke up in my nice warm bed at the Fireside Inn both ready to hit the trail again and also still anxious about the upcoming weather. I finished packing the last few things into my pack, winced at the weight of my food bag, and moved all of my belongings into the common area so I didn’t wake up my roomie Bianca. Mamba and Bugsy were also up and getting ready to hike out. I texted Butters that I was up and ready, and she drove over to take me back to Copper Mountain, which I am very thankful for as it gives me an extra hour of hiking, which I feel like I really need today. After chatting and saying our goodbyes, I walked over to the Starbucks for a nice warm breakfast sandwich to eat on the go, and then took off, southbound this time, on the trail. This part of the trail is in Segment 8.
The hike was pretty lonely and quiet, and the sky was filled with clouds and all of the trees and dirt was damp. It smelled nice, but I was really only focused on time. I knew there were other hikers that I was texting that were near me somewhere and I really wanted to link up with them to tackle this pass - misery loves company, right? There were actually parts of this trail that were really beautiful once the trail ventured away from the highway noises of I-70. Lots of trees and a beautiful meadow with the creek running through. It reminded me of the Lost Creek Area from segment 4.
The better ski resort to walk through on this hike.
Avalanche debris
After about 6 miles of hiking I reached the last possible protected campsites before the climb up above treeline. It was around 9:45 in the morning and I had been making good time up the climb so far, and knew I really just needed to get over the passes, even if the weather was crummy. So I continued climbing, hoping to run into more hikers soon. I asked the next pair of bikers that came down the trail if they had seen a group of 4 up ahead and they said yes! And that they weren’t too far ahead of me. Wonderful, I thought. It had to be Strawberry and her crew. So I put a little more pep in my step and soon enough, I came up to her and Bard on the trail, and we hiked together up Searle Pass where we met Mike and Nitro and new hikers - Anne and Deep Thoughts. We did introductions as I donned my wind pants and rain jacket for wind protection for the rest of the climb. We were literally inside of a fast-moving cloud up at the pass. As soon as I got better dressed, we took off for the ridge walk up to Elk Ridge, which was stunning. We were in the high alpine tundra, with lots of grasses, talus, and lingering wildflowers. Even some very old snowbanks were way up there. The trail was a joy - it was a rolling up and down, with some of the ups a little more intense than the others, but the terrain was so pretty that it didn’t matter. Unfortunately, we could tell that there were some big mountain views surrounding us, but the weather and low laying clouds made them impossible to see. I did see the large reservoir again though from my slackpack day - we were much closer to it today.
After we crested the high point on the ridge, we starting descending to Kokomo Pass (*cue The Beach Boys song*) and took a little photo op there. Once we felt a little drizzle though, we took off down the mountain. It was nice to hike in this little group since everyone is so chill and friendly! Strawberry talked to me about taking the train in Durango up to Silverton when my parents came - she used to work down there. And Deep Thoughts was our forager extraordinaire - finding portobello mushrooms to show us. I like this group a lot and I’m sad that they’re going into Leadville for a zero. But, that doesn’t mean I won’t see them down the trail again at some point.
Eventually we got down to the campsites that we all had originally been thinking of staying at and decided to eat lunch since it was around 1 pm, and so we could wait for the older dudes to catch up. I was super hungry and downed my spam + cheese + Mayo + chips burrito. Of course, right as lunch was finishing, the rain caught up to us. We gave it a few minutes to see if it was just a drizzle passing by or if it was going to linger, and we decided to pitch our tents even though it was so early. We knew decently large amounts of rain were coming, we were just happy to easily set up our tents and not get soaked in the process.
A Porcini mushroom! So cool.
As we were setting up, two other hikers came down - a nice young man named Bindu (whose parents I met during my first night at Fireside) and Backcountry Foodie aka Sling - who I knew from Instagram and obviously her business! I knew she was behind me all day, I was just hoping she would catch up before the rain came. They joined us in camp and we all hung out outside for a bit, even deciding to eat early dinners. Which was a good idea because right around 4:00, the real rain came and it was a bit of a pour. I had to finish my dinner inside the tent to stay dry, and put on a podcast to pass the time. Right when I thought the rain had passed I was going to get up to pee, but another round of rain came and I was stuck in the tent again. Feeling super tired, I took a little nap until 6 pm-ish when the rain subsided again and I got to go pee and hang my Ursack.
It’s already an early night, but I’ll probably be going to bed by at least 8 pm just because of how tired I am and laying down in a nice, warm quilt while it’s raining outside is pretty sleep-inducing and comforting. I’m just happy we made it down and set up before the rain came, even if it wasn’t a huge mileage day. Tomorrow will mostly be beneath treeline, so I won’t have to worry about storms as much and will maybe get some more miles in.
