“It is good to have an end to journey towards, but it is the journey that matters in the end.” Ernest Hemingway
Things are finally coming together on this journey though it has taken close to 1400 miles to start to feel a strong connection for me. Those undermining fears are fading! Yeah!
Since the beginning of July the conditions on the trail have improved dramatically with less snow, trail finding is straightforward, weather has generally been in our favour, and we are as altitude fit as we will ever be. More confidence, less risk.
The CDT joined with the Colorado Trail (CT) for some 300 miles. We found this section of the trail to be in good order but rather, as one hiker put it, “benign”. I would use the term “tame” and less inspiring. There were days of walking in trees, I mean dayssss. Hiking under canopy and surrounded by green makes me think of the close at hand things, my immediate environment and what is already in my head.
We find when traversing along high, steep slopes with views that extend to the full sky above and detailed valley below open up our minds and we get out of ourselves. Expanding.
The most amazing stretch of the trail so far was from Breckenridge to Grand Lake. This was a heavier carry of 6.5 days of food but what a route! Within the first day the CDT parted from the Colorado Trail and immediately we began to climb up to the alpine tundra. Strong winds and views on all sides cleansed us as we climbed to 13,000′ again and again, always undulating up and further up along these ridges.
We were amazed that the Divide Trail wasn’t the only route to this high altitude area as old mining roads ventured in these mountain ranges as well, often winding up and over incredibly narrow, rounded high points. Today Off Highway Vehicles journey to these top of the world viewpoints.
At times the trail fades away and we are left to scramble straight up!
The flowers shrink in height in elevation but encouraged me on the climbs. They are the healthiest and most charming rock gardens!
We camped with the mountain goats at 12000′ ready for the next day’s big event; hiking the Argentine Ridge then up and over Gray’s Peak (one of the state’s 14,000’+ mountains). It is a thing in Colorado to “peak bag” the “14ers”. There are 54 or so accessible peaks over 14,000′ in Colorado and it seemed to us that most of Denver heads to the hills to climb them all -especially around July 4th!
Despite the Argentine Ridge and Gray’s Peak not being an extended distance, it took us ALL day! The continuous altitude climbs, interactions with goats, and steep skinny rock paths slowed us down. We did have a clear view and great weather which was the key to success here. As you can guess, I just adored these wooly ones!
The Rocky Mountain Goats seemed accustomed to seeing humans yet were often curious about us. They approached within several feet to look us in the eyes before wandering off to munch on grass. We counted 19 shaggy wandering beasts that day. We have not seen goats anywhere else yet.
What 12,000′ mountains look like 2,000′ above from Gray’s Peak.
The next day after summitting 2 more high points we found ourselves on an easy breezy ridge walk that lasted hours. On and on we viewed both sides of this mountain. Although we witnessed storm clouds building in isolated areas, they didn’t affect our route until we mounted our final ascent of the day, Stanley Mountain. As we were climbing the wind was building up and rain spat down. After pausing for a few minutes to don weather protective clothing, we became aware that our surroundings had changed. The blackness in the sky had grown and was coming our way. We were now in a race across this high treeless exposed plateau to beat the oncoming storm. We hurried along as fast as we could trying not to trip on the stony path and praying for rain and lightning to hold off. We hurry- hurry-hurried. The descent seemed to take forever but we just made it down to the hwy rest stop in time and nestled our tent under some mighty spruce trees for the night. As the weather turns in these mountains, this storm never amounted to much instead a sunny evening blossomed.
The following day we climbed up and over Mt. Flora and hiked through a welcome comfortable treed trail before the climb to James Peak. The trail was defined and easy to follow in the alpine tundra after a few miles of scrappy, sweaty forest climbing. As we were descending we met up with the first CDT hiker that we had seen in days, Jamie. Together we noticed the sky turning black and angry again. We all decide to boogie along the trail which traversed the backside of where the storm was brewing. The lightning began about an hour later and we plunked ourselves down at the bottom of a grass slope and hoped for the best. It began to hail with the thunder and lightning! These chunks of ice were the size of thumb nails! They were bouncing all around us like popcorn in a hot pan. Jamie used her umbrella for protection while Jobie and I held our foamies over our heads and down our backsides. The hail hurt without these shields causing us all to curl up smaller. After 15 steady minutes the hail was a white dotted coat on the ground but the thunder was still sounding off.
We slopped our way on the slippery, melty hail to a height of land where we camped. Again after a storm, the sun appeared and dried us all out.
From this point it was 20 miles of downhill trail then 13 miles of edging a series of dammed lakes along the Colorado River. Large bodies of water reminded us that it was summertime and several leisurely dips and swims soothed us on the route.
After a rest day in Grand Lake, we quickly hiked into Steamboat Springs and reunited with our van.
In our minds the state of Colorado has come to an end and Wyoming is a new adventure. We will take a week off the trail to drive our van north to its next storage location in Montana. A mid hike family visit awaits us there which will be refreshing! Back on trail where we left off in Steamboat on July 26th. Moving into Wyoming with sound minds and bodies!!
Zip and Jobie Go Hiking 
Amazing photos! That hail is gigantic!!What an adventure!
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