Burning Calves, Ravens and The Red Desert

August 5, 2017 Catwater PCT 2016

Rawlins Reunion: around the table left to right, Burning Calves, Dassie, AJ (Mudslide), Whisper, Bling, Papa Raven, Mama Raven, Catwater

In Rawlins, the Days Inn accepts hiker resupply boxes and offers a very low room rate that includes breakfast. I prefer not sending resupply to post offices because you have less flexibility about the time of day and day of the week to get your box. To thank a motel for this service, I usually try and stay there a night. Plus other hikers tend to stay at the cheapest places and so I get to see them. Burning Calves and I wound up in the breakfast room at the Days Inn, not knowing we were both there.. I was going to move hotels because when they couldn’t fix the TV in my room, they moved me to a room with a good TV but broken AC. The hotel staff were all so nice that I felt bad for moving. I asked BC if she wanted to share a room, and it wound up being really fun getting to know her better. She had to return to Germany in a few days to her job as a teacher. I want to visit her there!

I got word from the Ravens that they had to take an extra day on the trail out of Steamboat–8 days total, think of the food weight–but were in Rawlins. Reunion! BC, Dassie, AJ, the 4 Ravens and I all had a great dinner together. The Ravens said they needed a zero, so I immediately decided to stay another night in Rawlins so as to hike out with them for a stretch, and convinced Burning Calves to do the same. I’ve been so lonely on the trail, I’ve only camped with other hikers once in over a month of hiking.

7/30 Hiked out with the Ravens and BC after breakfast. It was mostly roads and paved highway, treeless, dry and quite beautiful. We made about 24 trail miles and camped in the scrub. A difficulty with hiking with other people is that there is no possibility of a private pee. You can walk out a ways after telling people to look elsewhere, or sometimes you can find a little dip or rise to hide in. I’m not particularly modest, plus I hike in a skirt which helps, but I still need to be aware so as not to offend or embarrass my companions. This “bathroom” situation is of course a frequent topic for hiker discussion, and at the dinner table the night before hiking out, the 8 of us shared a lot of stories about hikers habits. It’s hilarious.

7/31 After about 20 miles, BC had to leave us on a road that would take her to Baroil and on to the highway where she’d hitch back to Rawlins to catch a bus to Denver airport. I will have to visit her in Frankfurt! The Ravens and I continued on, finding tentsites in a bit of sand not too covered with sagebrush and sticker bushes of various kinds. It is so good to have company.

Bling in the lead as usual, the kid is fast!

8/1 A long day. Since there are no trees, there is no shade and it gets really hot, especially trudging uphill with 3 liters of water. I struggled but survived, trying so very hard not to slow down the Ravens or make them feel they had to camp before the planned 25 miles. For the second time this stretch, and contrary to my usual routine, we stopped and cooked dinner and then continued on. It works like magic, fueling the last couple hours of hiking till dark. I’ve always just waited to eat till I camp because it seems like wasting time to unpack the stove and food and repack. But it works. I can hike till dark with good physical and mental energy and the cooler evening is very pleasant. So we made it up the last steep climb and pitched tents in the wind on the flattest and barest place we could find, the dirt road that is the CDT. It was a dreadful, windy, tent flapping night. I used earplugs to try and sleep and had to get up a couple of times to reset the tent stakes. No trees, no rocks, no way to block the wind out here. But I do love Wyoming so far, the bones of the land are visible, the ridges and rock outcrops, the folds and bluffs, you can see for miles. Cows and antelope pop up and either stare or sproing, and I just feel like I’m able to breathe and see. I guess it’s this sense of space and stretch through the vastness of the open country. I like it.

8/2 Another windy day, another 25 miles. Wild horses again, we are all ecstatic when we see them. They are so graceful and free. Antelope, cows and horses: because the country is so open, we see animals constantly. We camped in another windy, unprotected spot, there’s really no other choice. Tonight though I could hear the cheerful voices of Bling and Whisper in their tent, just being kids. I love the sound. I’ve missed it.

8/3 Woohoo, not only did we make it to Atlantic City, a mile off trail, but we were treated like guests, not customers, at Wild Bill’s Guns where we rented cabins for the night. Bill and Carmela’s cabins are clean and new, electricity and water are in the separate bathroom. They invited us onto their porch for lemonade and cookies and recommended the Grubstake for dinner. Another very hiker friendly place. Back at Bill’s, we got got chocolate cake and ice cream. Yes, I’m obsessed with food on the trail.

8/4 Bill cooked breakfast–Mama Raven claimed they were the best pancakes ever and my coffee cup was never empty.

My firstborn turns 34 today. Happy Birthday Glen!

After breakfast we hiked the road a few miles to the ghost town of South Pass City and picked up our resupply boxes from the visitor center before exploring the park. I saw legendary, speed-record holding, Anish’s signature 2 names ahead of my own in the CDT Hiker register, cool, she must be hiking SOBO. The town is restored and the interiors are arranged to look as though the inhabitants have just stepped away from the table in the middle of a meal. It’s really well done and unlike any historical site I’ve visited. We walked on towards Highway 28, taking a short cut that turned into a long cut when we came to a fence that promised trespassers would be shot and survivors would be shot twice. Seen this sign before, still not funny. Go, Wyoming.

We walked up the pavement and crossed at the proper spot. I had been torn all day, actually for weeks, trying to figure out how to best be in the solar eclipse zone, hiking, where to try to finish this year’s hike, and the complicated logistics of transport, including from the trail to an airport to get home to Alaska. Plus, it was hot and 120 miles in 5 days had sapped my wasted legs of energy. I still am annoyed by my general indecisiveness on this hike. So I’d been yakking to Mama about the fact that I’d be resupplying in a town they needed to bypass (Pinedale) and they’d be ahead of me from then on, and that I was thinking about trying to hitch into Lander for no reason other than I didn’t feel like walking today. Hopefully it wasn’t a big surprise to the Ravens when I didn’t catch up to them. I simply stopped, turned around and walked back to the highway. I might be notorious in my other life for fading from a party without saying goodbye, a little idiosyncrasy of mine, a kind of no-fuss decisiveness. I gave myself half an hour of trying, if no ride, I’d continue up the trail. I stuck out my thumb at the 70 MPH traffic and a pickup stopped within a minute. The old guy asked if I’d mind riding in the back of the truck. “Is it legal in Wyoming?” I asked. “I think so,” he said and we grinned. Then I hopped in and had the time of my life for the 25 mile ride. No second guessing my decision. What a great way to see the scenery! The last time I rode in the back of a pickup, I was 25, living on the Big Island and a bunch of us rode in the back of Billy Hopkins’ truck down to Waipio Valley for the day.

Ha! To be continued…

Steamboat, CO to Rawlins, WY

Can it only be a week since I got a ride out of Steamboat Springs back to the trail? Feel like I’ve lived a lifetime and walked across a continent.

7/20 I caught the free bus to the post office to mail a box, then paid a taxi to take me back to the trail. I hate hitching. The trail was kind of boring, green tunnel, but mostly level and easy. I met 3 members of the Mighty, Mighty Trail Crew. The work was going well since they get to use chainsaws on the blowdown, not handsaws. Thanks Mighty, Mighty Trail Crew! I camped a bit past my target stream just as the latest thunderstorm hit with rain and hail.

7/21 As I write this in my tent, I am miserable, worried, cold and wet. Again I had to choose, camp at 2:30 or go up into the alpine and over and down back into treeline. Although the sky had been rumbling in the distance, it looked OK. Then on the last pitch, painful hail, huge, furious pellets and nowhere for me to shelter. I pulled on my rain pants over already cold, wet legs. The jacket I already had on against the wind. I remembered Puff Puff and I getting frozen from the hail storm out of Chester, CA last year. We vowed to put our layers on the next time, just as soon as it started, no waiting. I continued up the flattish, exposed ridge, it wasn’t far, then ran as carefully as I could across the ridge and down the other side, I could see it was a long way to trees. The intense lightning and hail scared me, I ran, crouched as if it would help, breathing fast, not panicked, but chilled and afraid I’d slip on the accumulating hail, be crippled by injury and die of hypothermia. The storm has been on top of me for 3 hours now with ceaseless rain and no pause between the lightning flash and the boom of thunder. I shouldn’t still be cold in my down bag but all is damp. I’ve eaten a stale Snickers and had a hot whey drink. That helps. The Ravens said they are leaving Steamboat at noon today so they are maybe 30 miles behind, low and safe I hope. This storm hit at 3:00, too early.

At 6:30 I was warm enough to sit up in my sleeping bag although the storm continued till 8:30. I was so alone that I was reminded of the goodbye notes stranded mountaineers write to their loved ones. I think I get it. You just want to make sure the people you love know that you love them. It’s irrational I guess but that’s another unique gift we get for being human beings.

7/22. What a different day. I woke to sunrise glowing on my tent walls and the air perfectly clear. I unclipped the storm flaps and tossed my jacket, rain pants, socks, and ditty bags outside to dry while I made my usual coffee and granola. I headed down the trail with a smile on my face even though my shoes were still soaking wet and reeking from the day before and I wore a jacket. As I entered a big meadow, 2 mama elk and their babies looked up and trotted off. Then a huge bull elk and another 15-20 animals followed them. Glorious! I laughed out loud. After hours of walking downhill, I met 2 guys in camo and daypacks. I teased them, “It’s not hunting season yet, is it?” They were, in fact, training for hunting season, by walking up this incredibly steep trail. Nice! Of course I had to mention where I was from and the hunters in my family. They asked if I’d seen any elk. “Yup, 2 1/2 hours ago.” “Yup, with a huge bull.”

I came to a trailhead joining a dirt road walk. A car stopped (it rarely happens) and the young couple asked if I wanted a ride. Its kind of a delicate situation, you don’t want to discourage kindness to the next hiker, who may want a ride. “Where to?” I grinned. Maybe they’re going to Jackson Hole or someplace else way more interesting than this dirt road. “Oh, a mile or two down the road.” “Sweet, thanks for the offer, I’m doing OK though.”

The route turned me into a short stretch of blowdown bedecked trail, 200 trees in about a mile. The things you count to have something to think about. To a road. To a campground with a dumpster (the joy of offloading garbage is insane) and an outhouse (even more joy ridding myself of “pack-it-out” TP). To a trail. To a road. To an ATV road.

7/23 Stinking coyotes woke me way too early, before 5 am. They always sound so cheerful, I fell back asleep and woke late but I still managed over 22 miles. That’s good, for me. I listened most of the day to Timothy Egan’s fascinating book about Irish history and Irish immigrants from before the Civil War, The Immortal Irishman. The trail sucks. ATV PUDs and water was an issue. But there was a nicely graded short cut dirt road for awhile. Then back to crappy trail. I made it to a beautiful water source, Dale Creek, and a lovely little established tent site was a surprise bonus. It was just far enough away from the burbling creek sounds that I wouldn’t hear voices in the harmonics.

The Wall (of blowdown) between Colorado and Wyoming

Colorado behind, Wyoming ahead. Life is good.

7/24 Stupid, annoying, soggy trail, where there is a trail. It was only about 11 miles to the highway and my next resupply down the hill in Encampment/Riverside. 2 women, looked older than me, gave me a ride. They had “run away from home” they giggled, and were camping for a few days. My kind of women! I got to Lazy Acres where there is a choice of camping, RVing, or a motel. No matter what you choose, you can do laundry and take a shower. My wet shoes, socks and feet are horrendous. I really, really hate being stinky, what am I doing hiking for days in the same clothes then? Woohoo, Dassie, AJ and Burning Calves! They were heading out, but we got lunch and beer together. It was BC’s birthday! After, they hitched out and I got a perfectly comfy, clean, quiet, cheap motel room. I studied the maps and info and Yogi’s pages and realized I could shave at least a day and 20 miles by taking a road walk alternate. Totally cheered me up, I only needed 3 days of food max. Riverside has a couple of tiny stores, so my food purchases consisted of cheddar cheese, tortillas, candy bars, and individually wrapped danish. But it’s now just about 60 miles to Rawlins and more than half will be on beautiful, blessed, quick walking roads! Happy hiker! Even though the weather forecast was for 2 days of rain, I was OK because there would be no big exposed climbs in the next stretch.

7/25 I was extremely lucky to get an early ride to the trail from a nice local who decided that he could put off pouring concrete in the rain to give a hiker a ride back up to Battle Pass. I barely stuck out my thumb, he was the first truck. He had been in the Seabees at Adak, AK in 1979. Wow, I told him about my friend Cody Carpenter who has recently gone way out there to hunt caribou and stay in the old officers quarters.

It rained and drizzled all day, not cold, not windy. Actually it was quite pleasant hiking temperatures. Mostly roads today including another alternate, slightly longer than the official route, but I know now that better tread makes for faster progress. Lessons learned in New Mexico. And when I rejoined the trail, it was in terrible shape as usual. Makes me wonder if I could have found more alternatives. I had to go over, under, around and through more messy, boggy, nearly impenetrable blowdown. I carried extra water weight since the maps and notes warned about undrinkable, alkaline water on the road alternate to Rawlins. I found a dry, open campsite with crazy squirrels and some new bird calls. Cranes maybe? It rained some more but I was at such low elevation that cold was not an issue. It was a happy place.

7/26 Picked up plenty more water but my pack is light because I don’t need to carry much food. Not a bad walk in the cool cloud cover. Saw several cyclists. The road rolls a bit, goes from dirt to paved and has very little traffic. I saw tons of pronghorn antelope in the sagebrush. New animal to me, beautiful, smart and skittish. They bound away in dun colored herds with what looks like gigantic, fluffy white bunnies clinging to their bums. Since Battle Pass, Wyoming has been what I hoped for, namely not Colorado. Finally the skunk bush stink is gone, replaced with the divine (truly, ask the First People of this area) scent of sagebrush. The trail and alternate join up and cross I-80 and railroad tracks, then go through Rawlins. I got my resupply box with new shoes and then holed up in a motel. Tomorrow I will tour the old Wyoming prison and buy groceries.

Grand Lake to Highway 40

July 19, 2017 Catwater CDT 2017 Catwater, CDT, CDT 2017, Continental Divide Trail

7/13 It’s a lovely place, the Shadowcliff, and not expensive, but the hostel was full so I took a room in the main lodge and the noise was challenging, so I moved to the very quiet Bighorn for a second night. Did all the chores: laundry, fuel, groceries. And ate an early dinner for the second night at the Stagecoach happy hour. Cheap, delicious and a welcoming place. I got a text from Dassie. The next morning we met for breakfast (“We thought the Fat Cat Cafe would be appropriate,” joked Dassie) and the big surprise wasn’t AJ (Mudslide) but Burning Calves back on the CDT from the AT! It was great to see friends, the CDT has been lonesome. I told them to give me a head start and I’d see them on the trail. They slackpacked the RMNP loop today.

7/14 I took the RMNP shortcut to save miles and because you need a permit and a bear canister to camp in “Rocky” as the cheerful trail crew called it. It was an uneventful but beautiful day filled with day hikers. Best question of the day was “Have you seen anything?” I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain… “Anything?” “Animals!” I camped below Bowen Pass near water. Today I finally finished listening to the 10th anniversary edition of American Gods. There was an Epilogue, then a Post Script, then an Appendix.

7/15 I walked up the valley to Bowen Pass and saw a bull moose curled under a tree like a cow, then just past him, 3 more moose, the mythical herd. Our moose don’t herd up like this. Then a minute later, a hare came bounding up to me. That’s a new one. Somebody been feeding this guy? I thought I’d have to settle for the usual fleeing butt.

The pass wasn’t so bad, and the down went quite a ways, full of blowdown to a “road,” a skinny, slippery canyon full of 4-wheelers, Mr and Mrs plus the kids. The road transitioned to trail, ominously marked with tire treads. A few minutes later the dirt bikes were barreling downhill at me on the single track as I continued a 3-hour uphill trudge. They were polite and legal, and there was no blowdown in this section, just noise, fumes and dust. I turned off onto a no-motorized trail that crossed a paved highway and continued up. I found a sheltered tent site and called it a day before the cloud burst. I had been packing 3 liters of water since there were 9 more dry miles in the morning.

7/16 This morning was hard but gorgeous. A goat! Mama grouse and her two chicks, all equally stupid. I could be dining on fresh grouse daily if I would just take advantage and whack one with my hiking stick. There were a couple long waterless stretches. People in cars on the dirt roads are a little weird. I walked onto an isolated dirt road junction and a lone old guy in a car drove slowly into and out of view with just a little wave, didn’t even roll down his window to check if I was OK.

7/17 Up and over this morning to a series of good dirt roads. Fat Albert overtook me, super friendly and helpful.

As I walked down the road, I chatted with a 4-wheeler couple who later in the day on their return trip told me my friends behind were trying to catch up. Yay! Then a retired couple invited me into their RV and a cold drink. Nice! I made over 25 miles today, although I am now stealth camped behind some bushes on Highway 14. I feel like a freaking hobo.

7/18 I hiked the blacktop 8.5 miles to Hwy 40 to hitch to Steamboat. I hate hitching, it also makes me feel like a bum. I waited an hour until a really nice woman, 24, picked me up on her way to see a friend about a job with a SUP company in Steamboat. Thank you! I had happy hour beer and tapas with Dassie, AJ and Burning Calves who rolled into town an hour or two after me.

Winter Park to Grand Lake

July 13, 2017July 13, 2017 Catwater CDT 2017 Catwater, CDT 2017, Continental Divide Trail

James Peak, I asked a day hiker to take the photo because one of my kids says I suck at selfies. True that.

I had to come up with a plan to save my mind. I want to hike through passes, not 3000′ up to the tippy top of a peak and down, steep down, to the bottom of the crotch between peaks. Passes not peaks! Kinda out of luck on that issue. My slow pace both up and down meant for low mileage days, self doubt and it-is-what-it-is anger.

So I took a hard look at the elevation profile for the next stretch and made a plan. Less planned miles on some days, more on others. It worked!

7/9 I hiked up whatever peak it is north of Berthoud Pass parking lot and down the equally steep other side loaded with snow patches, talus and bugs, then up a traverse that wound around a hillside, then down a nicely engineered and constructed set of steep switchbacks (47 of them?) to a dirt road teaming with ATVs, trucks driven by unsmiling men, and boys cautiously riding dirt bikes. There was a campground of sorts, which a hiker somewhere ahead of me had noted in the comments for Guthook’s app for this area. The first site, near the road, was a little creepy.

Ghost stories, anyone? Seats blown out, camp chairs next to an overflowing fire ring.

Nobody was camped anywhere but I walked back through the trees until I was out of sight from the road. A perfect quiet spot in the rain. Tomorrow James Peak first thing.

7/10 I was hiking early in longies and jacket. Took about 4 hours to make it to the top. I was passed by 2 thrus, 3 day hikers,then another pair of day hikers. At the top there is of course a giant switchback going down. I slipped and fell twice on the loose gravel and rock, taking a little chunk out of my hand and dripping blood on my hiking stick. The trail continued with a traverse through scree on the side of a ridge then came to a trail junction, with a perfectly good trail leading away to a road. I knew I should have taken it. Next time I will check my other maps and not go blindly where the Guthook/Bear Creek tells me. The “untrail” official CDT went along a ridge, cairn to cairn, on tussocks and talus. Who decides on the “official” route? A committee? An agency? The CDTC? Why would you send hikers on unspoiled tundra when an existing trammeled trail is nearby? After awhile I did check my other maps and bushwhacked down to a road below, CR 80. I yelled to my wildlife buddies as I went, telling the sheep, moose, elk, bear and all the other animals I could think of how much I appreciated them not popping out of the brush and surprising me. The road walk uphill was great and apparently normal because the jeeps didn’t stop to ask if I was lost or OK. I rejoined the CDT at 3:30 with 3 short climbs and traverses in the alpine wind and cold and bits of rain until finally a steep down to trees and water. I was less worried today being exposed at 12,000′ 3:30-6:00 pm–the grumbling of thunder and the cloud mass was mostly behind me.

Some days your mind just goes into a loop trying to resolve unresolvable issues. When you create an official route on ground that doesn’t have any kind of previous impact–not a game trail, not a social trail–not only are you encouraging environmental impacts, you are putting hikers at greater risk for injury which would potentially require Search and Rescue (SAR) response. Who makes these decisions? Another issue that bugs me: Wilderness economics. There is so little money for wilderness restoration, trail construction and trail maintenance. But when trail conditions are crummy, the odds of hiker injury and rescue goes up. SAR is a different pot of money, also underfunded, than wilderness management. Yes, we are in the wilderness at our own risk, but where there is trail, there is responsibility, both for trail maintenance, environmental protection and human safety. And it all goes together but it’s all separated by jurisdictions and funding. I do my best to leave no trace and to diminish personal risk, but still, bad stuff happens to good people all the time. And we need more people doing stuff outside and in the wilderness partly because healthy and happy people are cheaper. Oh shut up Catwater, just hike.

7/11 It was a lovely campsite. It rained hard 6:30-9:30, then off and on all night. When I crawled out of my tent in the morning, I was greeted by a moose grazing in the lush grass across a meadow. Today was gray but I was happy to be going downhill or level most of the day, caught in the green tunnel and listening to the interminable American Gods. I saw a second moose and about 4 miles in, thanks to a heads up by a day hiker, a herd of 10-20 elk.

Then I startled a beautiful deer, palomino colored tail showing off her darker self and huge mule ears. She sproinged off through the trees and meadow. No intense climbs today and as I’ve learned to appreciate road walks, so too do I appreciate plodding through the murky trees, not the windy alpine. I made my 20 miles, the first in a long time, although finding a tent site was a miracle. The trail along the lakes has very few flat spots, what few there are have wads of deadfall and rocks. But I made do. I’m camped on a rock I’ve padded with my jacket and the rain is pouring down. Just a few hours to Grand Lake. What crazy slow stuff will the trail throw at me tomorrow?

7/12 Rain. Rained all night. Rained lightly all morning. But I’m at such low elevation that I wasn’t cold. The trail is overgrown so I wore my rain pants till I hit civilization hours into the day. The trail wasn’t so bad today, wet but NO wind, NO cold, NO elevation, AND I was going to be indoors for the night. I stopped by the post office and picked up my box. New shoes! New insoles! Laundromat, groceries, fuel tomorrow. I really should just drive town to town and forget about this hiking thing.

Not poodle dog bush, not weed, but this plant also smells like skunk. Some of them have a slight skunk who drinks coffee stink.

Silverthorne Alternate: Copper to CDT via Jones Pass

July 9, 2017 Catwater CDT 2017 Catwater, CDT, CDT 2017, Continental Divide Trail

I hit the trail, the paved road actually, at 8 am, July 4th, out of Copper. I remember strategically avoiding the holiday in 2015 on the PCT and how pleased I was to miss the loud, drunken festivities in Sierra City. The trail was fine to the top of a pass, then blowdown, muck, and dim scrubby forest. The next pass had a nearby trailhead and better trail. Going over, there were a few snowfields left and I ran into a couple of guys with daypacks and fishing rods, who looked at me with incomprehension as I walked down towards them, it was weird. Weed is legal in Colorado, weird is legal everywhere. Plus there weren’t any fish in the half frozen lake, or in any of the lakes or streams I’d walked by. Although I had thought about slack packing the 22 or so miles to Silverthorne, the unknown conditions of the passes made me worry about being caught on a dayhike without shelter, so I camped just a few miles from Silverthorne.

7/5 A short walk into Silverthorne, the trail went from blowdown to clear trail with a few runners to a trailhead and paved subdivision roads down to very busy streets, a highway and a freeway. I met and talked with a USFS volunteer who just moved to Summit County in the Fall after retiring in Chicago. I learned all kinds of interesting stuff about the area, thanks Bob! I marched my way past the outlet stores and booked a room. Then since it was the morning, and they needed to clean the rooms, I got second breakfast, bought some replacement tent stakes and freeze dried dinners at the brand new REI, and finished the rest of my food shopping at the next door City Market. Turns out fireworks started a fire near Breckinridge which means almost everybody will have to take the shorter but less scenic Alternate.

7/6 A slow, miserable day to a campsite where the trail teed into another crappy trail. The trail was fine to the pass, there were gobs of day trippers, where the maps showed a junction. If there was a junction, I couldn’t tell. So I navigated cross country on a tussocked side hill, and through bogs and wind, finding a cairn here and there, and towards late afternoon a switchbacked downhill with rocks and side slope, dwindling to nothing here and there. Slow, treacherous.

7/7 An even slower day. There is not much trail or tread to follow, so I pick my route through eroded side slopes and snow patches. Eventually I dropped into a super lush valley, where an occasional hint of a trail followed the stream. I saw moose tracks, then 2 people, Laura and Winter drying their gear in a clearing. “How do you like the CDT?” Laura, section hiking, asked. “I hate it, it’s so slow, I can’t make any miles. But, it’s so great to see people out here,” I added lamely. Just after I passed them I saw a handsome young bull moose, his little antlers all fuzzy. Next to him a cow, sister? These moose are not Alaska-Yukon moose Alces alces gigas (“gigantic moose”) but reintroduced moose from Utah and Wyoming Alces alces shirasi (“mini moose”), I talked to them, they stared back and finally trotted away, good moose. I continued down the valley, and saw a third moose across the creek. These guys take their reintroduction to Colorado seriously and as I saw, they are thriving. I finally crossed the stream and continued up steeply on a beautiful, smooth, blessed dirt road. After all the roads in New Mexico, I have developed a true appreciation for the ease of walking and the faster pace I can summon up on decent tread. Thunder rumbled, lightning flashed and I was going to soon be above treeline for many miles. It started raining, then pouring. I debated with myself what to do. So few miles, so early in the day, such a wimp. I pitched my tent on a lovely flat spot at the notch of the last switchback that was still in the tree line. I crawled in as the rain pounded and the wind howled. Winter and Laura called out as they trudged uphill past me during a lull in the rain. The rain let up for a few minutes and I thought I would continue but the skies clouded and more rain started. Another hiker went by, Acorn. I decided to stay put. Inbar, the Israeli I last saw at Pie Town, stopped and talked. He’s doing great although his new backpack blew out after 3 days so he’s got to get to Grand Lake to remedy that. It got dark, the rain let up, the wind died, and it was the flattest, warmest, most comfortable night I’d had on the trail in a long time.

7/8 I congratulated myself on an excellent decision. I would have been grabby and anxious if I’d hiked up Jones Pass, and along a cirque yesterday and would have missed the beauty and views and joy of the mountains today. At the top of the dirt road, the Alternate rejoined the much better kept official CDT. When you start seeing day hikers, you know you’re near a trailhead and because there’s easy access, I envision all the volunteers who come out and work hard to give hikers of all stripes, good trails. Thank you! On an impulse, when I reached Berthoud Pass, facing another climb into thunderclouds, I hitched to Winter Park, rather than camp a mile from the highway. Within 12 seconds, Bambi and John picked me up. I felt way less chicken when they told me they were coming from a talk about thunderstorms, over 300 people per year get struck by lightning in Colorado. 10% are fatal, but the remaining 90% experience permanent affects, mostly invisible mental processing problems, just what I don’t need more of. Also you can apparently be struck from a storm more than 6 miles away.

So this is how it’s going to be, eh? A motel at every opportunity, slow, slow hiking in between. This trail ain’t your mama’s PCT.

Twin Lakes to Copper Mountain

July 3, 2017 Catwater CDT 2017 Catwater, CDT 2017

10th Mountain Division huts, bunkers, ordinance, etc are everywhere, I need to read more about their remarkable history.

6/28 I was reluctant to go, but finally hiked out at 9:45, with an ankle wrap on the right foot and duct tape on the left heel blister earned by wearing micro spikes on light-weight trail runners. The spikes smooshed the shoe structure too, so until I get new shoes, there’s a crumpled ridge of shoe rubbing my heel.

I was really pleased to find great trail, no snow, no blowdown, chock full of day hikers, Colorado Trail (CT) hikers SOBO from Denver to Durango, mountain bikers and a cheery guy, Dr Bob, finishing the CDT and the Triple Crown. Even though I won’t see any of these hikers again since they’re going the opposite direction, I am gladdened by the human contact.

6/29. What a day! 21 people, 4 tail wagers with dog food panniers, and 3 large youth-ish groups. At the end of the day I was overtaken by JPEG, the guy I met briefly on the PCT 2015–he took my photo at the 1/2 way monument outside Chester, and I found out months later–he’s somehow related to USASA former-President John Schaal from Michigan. JPEG and Gutpunch were on about their 30th mile for the day, trying to reach the highway a few miles further for a hitch to Leadville. I didn’t hold them up long, and found a perfect campsite near a creek. It’s a bit buggy out here and during the night I got a few splatters of rain.

I do not usually talk about gear, but I got a replacement tent in Salida after much thought. I’ve been using the Zpacks Solplex that I used for a 1000 miles through Oregon and Washington in 2015. A great tent, single wall with bug netting, very light. I had to manage condensation in the snow and rain of Washington and eventually the zipper needed fixing which Zpacks did for free. But gear wears out, and gradually there were more screen patches than I liked, the zipper was going again, and honestly I was sick of not being able to sit up without touching the walls, the condensation issue. So I upgraded to the Zpacks Altaplex, a taller version of the Solplex for not much more weight, 2 ozs. I got the camo color, it’s a little less see-through, and I think camo signals to other people that I’m packing a gun or hunting gear, just adding to the all-around badassery image I project. Uh huh, I’m joking! I’m not carrying a gun! I love this tent, it sets up with a single hiking stick and I have to fiddle around to get all the lines right but it stands up to wind and weird pitches surprisingly well.

There was a lot of uphill today, the first stretch was steep and I dreaded the second, but it wasn’t so bad. I think a lot of trail here is like in my mountains, the Chugach, trail is created, not engineered, when people or vehicles take the shortest way up or down, as straight a line as possible. Not great, but designing and constructing graded trail is expensive and labor intensive so meanwhile we walk on what’s already there, whether ancient wagon roads, social footpaths, jeep ruts or old mining routes.

I hit snow at about 3 and was out of it by 4:30. Melting snow means bugs so I broke out the Deet, just 30% strength, this isn’t Interior Alaska. The flowers today have been incredible, I tried to get photos of all the colors–yellow, pink, butter, white, purple, lavender–but nothing can capture the fragrance, and I am a truly bad iPhone photographer.

6/30 CDT miles 1214.4-1234.4. Way more miles than I wanted to do. I couldn’t find a flat spot for my tent, so I’m in the worst pitch ever, or to put a positive spin on it, I’ll call it a creative pitch. I saw jillions of people today on the CT and the trail tripped through varied terrain as it went, paralleling and crossing the highway to Leadville, then through more abandoned 10th Mountain Division territory and up into the alpine and finally down through Searle Pass. An absolutely clear day but I was still nervous about the high elevation exposure past 3pm in the Rockies. Silly rabbit, no thunderclouds were developing but still I galloped as fast as I could for miles of alpine traverse until finally I saw the route heading down to tree line and I set up my crappy pitch.

7/1 The terrible tent site turned out not to be too bad. I piled my pack, clothes bag, etc at the foot of the tent with my slippery sleeping bag on my slippery sleeping pad on the slippery tent floor and slipped throughout the night, waking up periodically to scootch back up to the head of the tent. I woke at 4:45, then again at 6:45, whoo! It felt great to start a short downhill day to Copper Mountain at a late 7:30! Lots of hikers coming at me, lots. Then I saw chair lifts and soon I was descending on the road I used to board down from the USASA Boardercross course in April. Another warp in the space-time continuum. I continued across where the bottom of the half pipe is supposed to be. Just below was a huge pile of snow for Woodward Camp with rails and boarders and skiers and in the grass all kinds of summer toys and kids and families. This place is fun! Paddle boats, zip line, big bouncy balls, mountain bikes, crazy positive energy. Rooms are cheaper here than Frisco or Dillon so I’m going to rest my ankle, eat and enjoy the hustle and bustle.

Saw this nest in the alpine, no trees nearby. I know there are ground-dwelling Ptarmigan?

View from my room towards the ephemeral Boardercross and Half Pipe

Monarch Pass to Twin Lakes

June 28, 2017 Catwater PCT 2016

Walking on the railroad bed built pre-1890

6/20 Flew Seattle to Denver, arriving 12:45 am. Got the shuttle to the hotel nearby in the cluster of airport hotels and restaurants on the plain near DIA. The next morning I got the shuttle back to the airport, took the train to Union Station, wandered around until I found the free tourist bus and got to the Greyhound station. Denver rather than Albuquerque because the ticket was $500-700 cheaper and I would get as far south as public transportation could take me. I’ll have to hike the chunk I’m skipping later in the season, but there will be no snow.

I haven’t ridden a Greyhound since the 70’s and my boyfriend and I, just down in the Lower 48 from seasonal jobs in Alaska, drove my Mom’s friend’s car from Davis to San Antonio and then took the bus to Burlington, 3 days and it stopped everywhere but was a special $99 to anywhere in the US. Pure misery. But not as miserable as the 3 day bus ride the previous winter from Guatemala City to Calexico, where periodically the Federales would pull everybody off the bus and line us up with machine guns at the ready, and we, the only 2 gringos, were strikingly conspicuous.

This trip was civilized, 3 1/4 hours to Salida, CO, a 1 1/2 mile walk across town to my inn, and I saw Dassie, AJ and Party Saver there. With IPA! I caught up on their stories of the trail, including more details on Nuthatch who after hiking continuously for nearly a year–PCT SOBO, Te Aroroa, CDT–jumped across a little creek wrong and broke her leg in 3 places. I spent the next day walking around town getting a package from the post office, grocery shopping, going back to the post office to mail a bounce box ahead, etc. A lovely town with friendly, helpful people.

6/22 I walked back across the town and two hitches later made it to Monarch Pass, which was inundated with cyclists in an assortment of eye shocking neon spandex. I started up the trail at 11:30 which was fine, I wanted a short day to test how I did with altitude after a long break. As I hiked, I was feeling unhappy, disoriented, uphill slowed and wind blown until I finally reached the high point and crossed over the Divide and suddenly, despite the snowfields, wind and uphill, it was beautiful and I was glad to be hiking.

6/23 I had a great campsite at the north end of Boss Lake, tough to sleep though because of the altitude. The first part of the day was down through trees and then up through a pass. I am very, very slow so I have to adjust my expectations and embrace my limitations. Solo helps! Nobody to keep up with, nobody waiting on me. There are really spectacularly beautiful cirques, the snowfields aren’t too bad, the snow itself is consolidated and shallow and there hasn’t been anything too scary or treacherous. So of course I tripped on some brush on a flat stretch, rolled my ankle, yelled obscenities at the top of my voice, and laid on the ground till the pain subsided and I could do a self assessment. Just the usual–it will swell and stiffen but I can limp along. I hobbled slowly over the next 2 passes, and camped in a slightly sheltered spot behind trees and views that make my heart sing. If the ankle isn’t useable tomorrow, I can retreat 7-8 miles back to a trailhead that had a bunch of cars and day hikers.

6/24 Party Saver passed my tent last evening and I talked with him briefly this morning. We were all going to take the Mirror Lake alternate since it was supposed to have less snow and run a little lower than the “official” CDT. What a day. 2.5 miles of blowdown and snow patches, then a long trudge up Tincup Pass Road to where it was blocked by snow, then a short, sketchy snow field, very steep, where I used my micro spikes to step very carefully in the footprints ahead of me. I went over the top and down the road, looking more like a river of rocks and water than a road, to Mirror Lake. The maps all showed the road going around the lake. Not so. The road was mostly underwater, so I waded on the flat roadbed below thigh deep lake for maybe a 1/4 mile, while people on the other side watched from their beach chairs. It was a lot easier than trying to keep my feet dry by scrambling through willows on the steep hillside. Then up an ATV trail, straight up, around a cornice at the “high point” noted on the map, and down beautiful double track, until it wasn’t. Up again and down to Cow Creek where AJ and Dassie pitched their tent nearby. Yay, company! It was a great day really, gorgeous, exhausting. My ankle looks like shit, but it works.

6/25 Not feeling it today. I camped early, 5:30 at the last flat spot before the 2 mile climb up Lake Ann Pass. AJ, Dassie and Party Saver are long gone, far ahead by now. But my campsite is quiet and warm and I’ve been listening to “American Gods” all day.

6/26 Trudging up to the pass this morning, I was passed by 6 guys, including Tennessee and Bones. I am so ridiculously pleased knowing there are other hikers around. When I got to the top of the pass, all I could see was a massive snow bowl I had to descend after getting over a cornice. As I stood there looking, a voice came up, “To your right! Follow the postholes!” Thank you, Bones! It was steep, sketchy and scary. I used my micro spikes again, I could tell by the footprints that the guys just went down in their trail runners. At the bottom, after a long, long way, my legs were shaking as I continued following footprints as best I could through snow, blowdown and overflowing creeks. Suddenly a pair of day hikers! Then 2 more with a dog, Cathy, Chip and Bear. After hearing me snivel about my ankle, they offered me a ride to Twin Lakes at the end of the day and their out-and-back hike. Too good to pass up as I have a box at Twin Lakes anyway.

See the trail coming down looker’s left? Lake Ann Pass

6/27-28 Twin Lakes is a lovely historic little town. My quads were destroyed by the last stretch so I took a zero at the Twin Lakes Roadhouse Lodge. Constance is awesome and I am much recovered. Onward.

Alaska Really Is My Home

June 19, 2017June 27, 2017 Catwater CDT 2017 Catwater, CDT 2017, Continental Divide Trail

5/30-6/19 0 CDT Miles

Dan and I flew from Albuquerque home to Anchorage. The next 10 days we got to play tour guide for Ashlee’s first trip to Alaska. She and Chris packed a lot of vacation into a short period of time. Because it never gets dark this time of year, they played frisbee golf until 2 am more than once, and Ashlee saw her first Alaska moose, a little guy on bended front knees nibbling grass on the course. We hiked Flat Top, went to Girdwood’s Fiddlehead Festival, visited numerous Alaska microbreweries, and hung out in Seward for a few days. A friend took them to Talkeetna. They biked the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail. Ashlee was amazed by the mountain ranges surrounding our city on Cook Inlet, fortunately there were a few clear days in Anchorage so she could see them. We all had fun, including their dog Grimm who made friends with our older son Glen’s dog Tindy. The three cats were less stoked, Shred taunted Grimm from his perch on the moose rack.

The day they left, I ran the Alaska Run For Women, a 5-miler celebrating its 25th year. I don’t know how many times I’ve run it, but it’s a great event raising funds for breast cancer totally by donation. I pinned a card to my back, “I’m running in honor of Noreen” and joined the parade of pink. I don’t own anything pink but they let me run anyway. I got a pretty good time too! And I did Zumba, in public, with the post-race class. Later that evening, friend Tarcey and I went to an outdoor solstice show with The Shins at Moose’s Tooth Brewery.

Having seen both my boys, I wanted to see my daughter Sarah in Seattle on my way back to the CDT and somehow found myself running in a half marathon with her from UW to the Seahawks stadium downtown.

Meanwhile I’ve been watching CDT NOBO progress on social media and trying to figure out the logistics of getting back to the trail. I am going to fly to Denver and take a Greyhound south. I will skip (temporarily) a chunk of trail rather than try to get all the expensive way back to New Mexico. There’s still a bunch of snow, but reportedly most of the south faces have melted so hopefully my microspikes, Whippet (combo hiking stick and light duty ice axe) and neoprene socks will be good enough. We’ll see. I’ve got a bounce box to mail up the trail with other clothing and gear I may want to switch out with.

Seward Sealife Center, AK: me, my sis Annie, Ashlee, son Chris, Dan

My sister Dogwater, son Chris, and his partner Ashlee top of the tram, Alyeska Ski Resort, AK

Chris, friend Trevor, Ashlee at the Girdwood Brewery

Grimm, Ashlee, Chris, me, Dogwater on the trail to Fort McGilvray

Grimm and Chris in the water taxi, Resurrection Bay

Cuba to Ghost Ranch 54 miles

June 8, 2017June 8, 2017 Catwater CDT 2017 CDT, CDT 2017

5/26 The Subway says it opens at 7 for breakfast so we dropped our keys in the motel box and walked, arriving just past 7. Wefound that the doors were open but the woman was still setting up. It took till 7:30 for her to be ready and she said coffee wouldn’t finish brewing until noon. Deal breaker. We got take-out sandwiches for the trail and I grumpily made the Ravens backtrack to McD’s for breakfast and coffee. We didn’t start hiking the highway out of Cuba and the 15 miles of uphill until 8:30.

The trail got into trees. There was plenty of snow in the shade under their protection. Nothing steep so the open areas were full of melt, all marshy and muddy. Out of the barren mesas into the lovely forests, spruce and pine, facing east and northeast, a little intro into what’s ahead. It wasn’t a hard day, but wet, cold feet can take their toll. Mama feels bad that I “had to put up with” her family. Really? After my meltdown this morning over no coffee at Subway? But I think it’s because Mama thinks she lost her patience when Joon had a mini hissy fit when it became apparent that she couldn’t keep feet dry in the umpteenth marsh we had to navigate. Mom guilt! It’s a trap! Anyway we camped at the top of all the climbing on dry ground and no wind. And I heard the usual wonderful sound of the kids laughing in their tent as the light faded from the sky. I love this family. The day is done, tomorrow we go downhill to start with.

5/27 Since we did the big up yesterday, today was quite easy and enjoyable. I’m getting used to how the Ravens take their breaks and they’re not adverse to speeding them up a bit.

This should be my last night on the trail for awhile. I’m really excited to fly home to Anchorage and be tour guide for son Chris, his Ashlee and their ginormous dog Grimm.

I caught up to Robinath from Amsterdam on the switchbacks down to the creek, he hiked out from Cuba the afternoon before us.

5/28 13 miles to Ghost Ranch. Great setting, I see why Georgia O’Keefe lived here. There’s a fossil quarry nearby from which dinosaurs were dug, and this area has had culture upon culture through the millennia, each with their own tool making, pottery, basketry, and creation stories.

Arriving at the conference center, we were greeted on the deck by Treeman, Burning Calves, Dassie, Nuthatch, Party Saver, AJ and Quicksilver. Treeman had taken time off to trail angel but when he got back on trail, he slipped and split open his knee which is now stitched. From Berlin, and a PCT 2015 hiker, he said the last time he had that knee stitched due to another trail incident, he was told, “You have skin like an elephant!” Apparently, thick, tough skin develops in athletes like hikers. Treeman is friends with the Ravens from the PCT and they’d all been hoping to do some hiking together this year. He’d reserved a bunk room that slept all 6 of us and included the all-you-can-eat breakfast. We all had dinner in the cafeteria with more hikers. The 100 or so regular people here for retreats and classes looked like they were enjoying this place too, although the hiker table was the only one that had a constant parade of people going back for seconds or thirds. Hilarious! Dan will arrive tomorrow to bring me and Burning Calves, to Albuquerque airport. She’s going to Atlanta to hike the AT with a friend but may come back to the CDT a bit later in the season. Meanwhile I am drafting an “Application to Marry My Daughter” for Treeman. It’s a perfect match.

Bling, Treeman, Robinath in the dining hall

Joon and Bling get to go on a trail ride!

5/29 I love small museums. Ghost Ranch has both a museum of Anthropology and Palaentology that I visited while waiting for Dan. He arrived and met all the hikers and ate lunch with us. As we said our goodbyes before heading out, Treeman said “Bye Mom, bye Dad.” He’s racking up points.

Grants to Cuba: 106 miles

May 25, 2017May 25, 2017 Catwater PCT 2016

5/20 We walked out of the Comfort Inn on the road and continued another 7-8 miles uphill on pavement. A car going our direction stopped to offer us a ride to the actual trailhead. We said “no” and laughed when 2 hikers, Moses (the beard!) and Operator (the ride!) waved at us. I felt sleepy all day and it was uphill all day, not a great combination. We picked up water at an off trail spring, for me 3 liters–dinner, breakfast and a liter to get to the next source tomorrow. And then we continued up. I was starving and sleepy and grumpy and it was past 6. So we camped just a bit further, at only 19 miles instead of the 22 we were shooting for. The Ravens could have kept going, but they didn’t–how nice is that? We’ll make up the miles I’m sure.

5/21 I slept great in my little tent. Maybe 2 nights in town just doesn’t suit me. Trail and road were gentle today with beautiful weather.

5/22 We hiked 24 miles but it was a rather dramatic day. Last year when I asked Mickey DeCourten what she’d like to see more of in the blog, she said she’d like to read more about the challenges. This was one of those challenging days. It started out with an easy 10 mile road walk that we finished at 11:30 with a food break till 12:00. At 1:00:

5 little monkeys hiking on the tread
1 fell off and bumped her head
4 little monkeys hiking on the tread
“Catwater, Catwater, are you dead?”

I was cruising along a short traverse with lava rocks poking up into the narrow little path, when I tripped, came down on my right shin, then left knee, left arm, chest and finally whacked my head. My right shin is already thoroughly scarred from ankle to knee from a lifetime of klutziness so what’s another gash? I barely hit my head, no concussion or even blood. I told the Ravens I was fine. Good thing they didn’t have to run the concussion protocol.

“What day is it?”
“I don’t know, I’m a thru hiker.”
“Who’s the President?”
“He Who Shall Not Be Named.”

What really hurt was my upper left chest. I could breathe, nothing crinkled, collar bone fine, just painful to the touch and tightening up maddeningly. We kept going, quickly, and I dropped some Advil and watched the bumps on my shin and knee puff up. We reached the top of a climb and knew there was a steep 3 mile drop to another dirt road and spring. Bling was waiting for his family to catch up at the top, and I told him I’d keep going. After the fall, I was going to descend very slowly and carefully. When I reached the bottom at about 6 pm, I stopped to wait for the others at the junction to the water. On a connecting dirt road, a vehicle appeared with flashing red lights.
“Uh oh,” I thought. “Has something happened to Mama because of her sore feet?” The Sheriff’s SUV stopped by me.
“Mrs Sterley?” Nobody calls me that, yuck.
“Yes.”
“Are you OK?”
“Um, yes. I took a hard fall, but I’m OK.”
“Your device has been sending an SOS, I’ve been trying to find you for hours.”
After apologizing to, thanking, reassuring and shaking hands with (never shake hands with a hiker, we’re filthy) the Deputy, I pulled the inReach from my shoulder strap, figured out how to cancel the SOS, and saw my daughter and husband had both been notified of the SOS and used the satellite text function to try to contact me to find out what happened. Five hours without hearing a word from me or the Search and Rescue folks. Of course they were probably following my tracker and seeing I was still moving quite a distance at hiking pace. As the Ravens joined me and we walked the side road to get water, a light bulb went off in my head. The reason my chest was so bruised was because I jammed the device into myself in the fall, somehow also setting off the SOS. The irony! The sorest place on my body caused by my safety device.

5/23 Amazingly, my bumps and bruises didn’t stiffen up overnight. It was a clear, calm morning walking through canyons and cliffs, mesas and sandstone rock formations striated red, purple, gray, yellow and fierce white. But after awhile it all looks the same and the steep ups are annoying. The Trujillo Family water cache after 11 miles was a highlight of the day. We all got enough water to dry camp tonight and through tomorrow morning. The day got hot and the usual ferocious wind came up as the dirt road-trail-dirt road continued up relentlessly. We found a protected sandy area and camped after about 23 miles, leaving just 19 to Cuba.

5/24 Bling is so fast! He hikes for 45″ or an hour and then waits for his family, patiently. Even with Mama’s sore feet, she’s still fast but sends me ahead of her. I find myself playing tag with Bling. I’ll catch up to him, tag, and keep going, knowing that as soon as the rest of the Ravens get to him, he’ll take off and pass me again. In the lead, I stopped at 11:30 for something to eat and we all got back on trail an hour later. Quicksilver caught us, he’s taken just 3 nights to our 4 for the 100+ mile stretch. I chalk it up to the 12 years he spent in the Marines, he’s tough! At the paved highway, with 4.5 miles to town, I watched him dwindle in the distance. There sure is a lot of road walking in New Mexico. I made it before the post office closed and got my box. New shoes! New Superfeet! Bacon jerky! I met the Trujillo family in the motel parking lot. The kids ran up and handed each hiker a bottle of water and a packet of strawberry flavoring. Sweet!

5/25 Zero in Cuba. Another funny little place with a highway running through it. Silly me, I bought a carving from a guy on the street, better than just panhandling, isn’t it? We have similar people at home, waving baleen at traffic from street corners. I had a nice conversation with BG, got god-blessed, and felt good about that $5.00. Another hiker later called him “that drunk” but he wasn’t. Although his front teeth had rotted out, he was less raggedy than me, and despite what must be a tough life, BG’s smile and warm handshake made my day brighter.