Month: August 2021

Stats:
Distance: 11 legs, 28 segments, 56 days, 486 miles
Best food: meaty mac, jumbalaya, and can’t beat curried chicken salad!
Wildlife sightings: chipmunks, deer, little snakey (no bears or big horn sheep — oh well)

Day 52:

We were originally planning to have an entire week to do these last 80ish miles. But with all the rain, our last resupply spot got washed out and is inaccessible by vehicle. Hey, what’s a big project without a final challenge, right? So 5 days to home it is!

We started by hiking out of Molas Pass, a beautiful trail in and out of trees and over streams and rocks and views of familiar peaks.

On the first handful of miles, we kept getting reports that “your uncle and aunt say hello.” We must be close to home! (And hello, Ronald and Cecilia! But we can’t stop; we have to do 15 miles today, and for the next 4 too!)

We felt like we were wandering around backstage, seeing trails and roads from the opposite side than we always have seen them before. But we were firmly ushered over a pass to the “right” side again by a wind so strong that Pie’s ears couldn’t stay upright.

Over to Cascade Falls (somewhere most Durangotans have been but we never had), we were not the first to arrive at the party. There were tents already pitched in all the “good” spots. Not to be deterred (but not to walk any farther either), Bill led us bushwhacking to an island where there was just enough (mostly flat) room for our tent. Luckily none of us sleepwalk, because there are cliffs of cascading water all around us. Coolest campsite yet!

Day 53:

We started out kind of grumpy, actually. The air was thick with smoke from West Coast fires, so we had no views and it was harder breathing and the sun couldn’t get through to warm things up. Plus, there was an ultra marathon going the opposite direction so we were constantly stepping off the trail for people who were too tired and focused to say thanks.

And we’re ready to be home!

Of course, not everything was the worst. We talked to some hikers with whom we’ve become nicely acquainted. We did eventually get some warm sun. There was plenty of water. And just as we were about to go over Blackhawk Pass, a Search and Rescue helicopter started circling ama passing and returning.

We put on speed to try to get up to the top where it landed, and we almost made it. We were close enough to see the pilot get out, scramble down to the pass, talk to some hikers, get back in, and take off again. No one was left at the top to give us the scoop, but we’re pretty sure someone pressed their SOS button on their GPS and he was trying to find them. Never been so close to SAR before (knock on wood)!

Our target for the night was the last water source for the next 14 miles. We got there, and all the campsites were taken. I walked another quarter mile down trail, but it was a slopy slopy slope, and we didn’t want to get too far away from the stream, knowing we’d need a lot for the next day’s hike.

We did our best to look pathetic, and someone let us pitch right next to their tent on a “flat” area, only half in the fire pit. We spent the night slipping to the bottom of the tent, then waking up to scooch to the top, over and over again. Ufta.

Day 54:

Today was less smokey at least. We could see some of the hills rolling away from us as we did basically a huge ridge walk. It was pretty much a repetition of the same mile for 13 in a row. (We might be getting a bit jaded.)

But! When we stopped for lunch where the trail crossed a dirt road, who should drive past but a legion of ATVs. We are no longer shy about asking for favors, so we flagged down the lead rig to ask them to take our trash for us. They were very impressed with us (yeah, we know it’s the kids), and started showering us with all sorts of goodies. Rice crispy treats! Candy! Ice cool sparkling water! Jerky sticks! Trail magic can happen anywhere.

We did make it the 14 miles to water, and some of our favorite hikers had their tents set up. We found an actually flat spot for ourselves, and enjoyed a dinner with nice company and conversation.

Day 55:

We are not spring chickens anymore, folks. Today was a super exciting day, but pretty tough!

There were some significant climbs, and it took us longer than it would have, if we hadn’t just done 6 half marathons 6 days in a row. And on our less-than-fresh legs, a significant downhill also felt like we were barely controlling gravity.

But! We made it to the Highline Trail and Kennebec Pass. These are places that can be (and have been) day tripped from Durango.

We also started the last segment — no. 28 — of the whole trail. We remember when we entered segment 1!

Aaaaaaand … We got a glimpse of actual Durango! It was shiny way over there in the distance, just past the peaks we hike from our back yard trails. We are so so close!

16 miles later, the group with whom we’ve been kind of traveling lately welcomed us to our intended campsite. They saved us a nice big flat spot and let Tessa crash their dinner while we set everything up.

Last night on the trail, y’all! Yes!

Day 56:

We woke up early and excited! Today is the day! We’re going home!

We climbed all our hills early. And we hiked so fast that we got to Gudy’s Rest (a popular day hiking destination for us) for lunch. 10.5 miles before lunch — our new best time!

Those last familiar 4 miles seemed to stretch on quite a ways. We were all tired and excited and expected to see the parking lot around every corner, even though we knew exactly where it would be.

And when we got there … Baca Sue! Baba! Nana! Neighbors! Trail friends!

We! Did! It!

89,354 feet of climbing! (That’s climbing Mt Everest more than 3 times from sea level!) 87,892 feet of descent! Countless steps. Countless songs. Surprises and challenges and blessings and friends and support and victory!

Thank you all for all of your kind words and well-wishes and support. We are happy, tired, and proud!

(If you have specific questions or topics you’re curious about, you can leave them in the comments and I’ll do another post. We’re not tired of thinking about all we’ve accomplished!)

Stats:
Distance: 10 legs, 24 segments, 51 days, 412 miles
Best food: broccoli bacon soup, peaches
Wildlife sightings: marmots and picas, of course; sheep; a horse

Day 47:

We expect rain and lots of it, for the next 5 days, and possibly forevermore.

This first day out, we didn’t get soaked like we were afraid we would. There were some sprinkles, but rain jackets and pants kept us dry and our packs stayed dry on the inside too.

We walked on top of a mesa with amazing views, even with the clouds. When we reached the end of the flat top, we came into a flock of sheep with a horsebacked shepherd. They were a good distance away (so we didn’t threaten the guard dogs — whew); we just got to admire the pastoral view over lunch.

Into a patch of forest to camp, we got the tent up and flied and dinner made and eaten before any real rain began.

Day 48:

The forecast said 100% rain today, with thunderstorms after noon. We got up and were out of camp by 7:30. And were greeted by the sun!

We started the long climb up to 13,259 ft, the highest point on the Trail. We watched clouds drift all around us, but were miraculously dry almost all morning!
Just at the final ascent to the high point, we walked into a cloud and the sky had a little temper tantrum on us. (No lightning though.)

Apropos the rest of our trip, we took our photo at the top in the rain with very little visibility. But we started coming down in elevation right away, and the rain cleared, and the air got warmer.

We started up valley toward our next 13,000 ft saddle, expecting to pitch our tent somewhere in the willows while the afternoon thunderstorms raged. Instead, blue sky peeked through and we just kept walking!

We can’t believe we made it all the way to Cataract Lake, our pie in the sky campsite for today. Dry, fed, and warm, we lounged in the tent during the brief rainfall until we fell asleep.

Day 49:

We woke up chilly (at 12,300 ft), but quickly warmed up as we climbed out the gulch.

The sun never really broke through the clouds, and we oscillated between warm when climbing and cool when descending. And our rain jackets were always at the ready, with clouds moving all around us, but it was too hot to wear them on the ups and changed too often to want to take them on and off all the time.

But we never got rained on! Miracle of miracles! Climbing out of Maggie Gulch, we heard our first thunder clap, but the wind must have pushed it to our east, like all the other storm clouds we witnessed.

Our lunch spot was over the last of the really beefy passes, at the headwaters of the Rio Grande. How cool is that?!

Beyond Stony Pass, we set our sights on the lowest elevation point and got ourselves into a notch where our tent was protected from the wind. And nary a drop of rain fell.

Day 50:

Day 50! Whoa! Must be about time to wrap this sucker up.

We woke up excited this morning, knowing that we would be covering the same ground as we did on our backpack last summer. It was super fun and gratifying to reach a spot and say, “That’s the spot where we …!”

We finished our walk on the top of the world, saluted the alpine tundra, then plunged down down down down down next to Elk Creek.

Over the course of the 4,000-ft descent, we rediscovered the dramatic river of blood (actually iron), found a secret waterfall, strolled through the newly cleared avalanche fields, and reached our last big mark before the finish.

Cheers ensued when we came out onto the railroad tracks and saw the Animas — our river! It feels finally like we’re actually going to finish, like we’re walking in our home turf toward our home ground.

We pitched the tent between the river and the tracks and fell asleep, excited to climb up the last 3 miles to Molas Pass tomorrow.

Day 51:

We woke up excited to climb up to friendly faces! We had reservations at a camp ground right on the trail, and arrangements to meet Baca Sue and our besties.

We barely got a mile off the bottom when we turned a corner and there was Kenny and Zoey! He was carrying treats and just hearing another voice on the trail made the last couple miles fly by!

At the campground, we were gifted showers, fire wood, drinks, quesadillas, clean clothes, conversation … everything we could dream of!

Pad Thai and s’mores and games and just basking in love later, we are looking forward to home in just a few days!