Continental Divide Trail: Days 83-95
- Madelyn Dukart
- Aug 2
- 21 min read
Day 83
Forward progress: 10.4 miles
Total distance on trail: 1,032.1 miles
Waking up inside is always a weird mix of comfortable and jarring. Comfortable because... duh. Jarring because my tent comes to feel like home, and it's always strange to wake up not in your home.
Sarah agreed to drive me and Shadow back to the trail in the early afternoon, so we just had a bunch of time to kill. Vibes was going to come too, but his abdominal muscles have been spasming for the last day and a half, so he decided to stay in town one more day today. Shadow and I began hiking around 3:30 and got to camp around 6:45. We got a little rain, and the miles were fairly boring.
I'm honestly relieved to almost be done with the Colorado Trail. At first, it was so fun to be on a familiar trail that I knew, reminiscing on where I met people who are now friends and on stretches of trail that I remember fondly, but now, I'm tired of knowing what's coming. I'm ready to be somewhere I've never been.
Day 84
Forward progress: 23.8 miles
Total distance on trail: 1,055.9 miles
I could have slept another two hours this morning. Slept like an absolute rock. My sleep score on my watch was 92.
The first few miles were a continuation of the extended uphill that ended the day yesterday. I'm hiking with Shadow, and our first break was at Kokomo Pass. I told him it was tradition to have a dance party to the classic Beach Boys song, so we did. I wish I'd gotten a video of it, because it was hilarious, but I guess we were just enjoying the moment.
At 11:30, we had done over half of today's miles, thanks to a long downhill into Copper Mountain ski resort. We took advantage of the real food there and had lunch. We may have relaxed too much, because we both were almost catatonic by the end of the meal and had to force ourselves to leave.
The afternoon miles were a slog of an uphill over Peak 8 of Breckenridge ski resort. On the Colorado Trail, going from Breckenridge to Copper was a full-day plan (to be fair, I finished by mid-afternoon); today, it was only part of the day's agenda. We're still a few miles from the road, but downhill miles don't concern us, and we don't want to camp where we can hear highway traffic.
These next few days look... rough. Lots of elevation gain and loss. We've been in the 5,000-6,000 ft range of daily elevation gain, but the day after tomorrow is scaring me.
Day 85
Forward progress: 25.1 miles
Total distance on trail: 1,081.0 miles
I don't know what it was about today, but man was I dragging. I don't know why the fatigue was so intense today, but I even felt lightheaded after standing up after a quick break. Not ideal. I ate and drank more than usual as a result, but still felt sluggish all day.
This morning, I saw a mama and baby moose! I turned a corner and saw Shadow just standing there, and when I turned to see what he was looking at, I audibly yelped in surprise. They were probably only 30 feet or so away, and we watched each other for several minutes before Shadow and I decided the cow was not showing visible signs of aggression and kept moving around the corner. They watched us cautiously, but didn't make any movement toward us. Aside from grizzly bears, female moose with babies are probably the most dangerous animals we could encounter out here. The interaction left me wondering how many moose I've passed at close distance just because I wasn't paying attention. If not for Shadow, I'm not positive I would have noticed them.
Saw a ton of Colorado Trail hikers heading the other way. Even though I'm continuing to struggle mentally, I'm trying to put on a good show. One hiker thanked me for my positive energy and encouragement, so that's promising. I remember seeing CDT hikers when I did the CT and thinking they all looked miserable, and I don't want that to be the lasting impression they have of our batch this year.
I spent a lot of the day kind of freaking out about the next few days. Tomorrow was going to be a monster day -- 24 miles with 8,500 ft of elevation gain -- but after a call with Double Dip, who happened to be trail magicking Fresh Prince and Clover, they all told me that the alternate I was planning to do (the Argentine Spine, which is a ridge walk near a few 14ers) was a lot of work for minimal payoff, so I switched my plans to the regular red line, which also includes a ridge walk, but is a lot less elevation gain and loss. The downside is the red line will bring me down really far in elevation, so when I go over Grays Peak the next day, which is the highest altitudinal point on trail, I have to start all the way at the base, so the next day is going to be pretty hard.
Anyway, got to camp just as a thunderstorm was rolling by. Shadow and I found a relatively sheltered patch in the treeline, set up our tents almost on top of each other because the patch was so small, and went inside our respective tents immediately to dry off and warm up. Hoping tomorrow's not as bad as I anticipate it might be.
Day 86
Forward progress: 16.0 miles
Total distance on trail: 1,097.0 miles
What started off as an immensely shitty day turned into one of my favorites. Sadly, it has nothing to do with the trail itself.
It had rained through the night, and the wind never really died down, so our tents were wet, and neither of us slept well. When we emerged from our tents, we found ourselves immersed in the clouds. Not only does this mean no sun, but the cold was wet and clingy.
For the first time in hundreds of miles, I kept my sweatshirt and puffy on to hike, even though we were climbing from the start. Unfortunately, I only had shorts on the bottom; I sent my hiking pants home back in Lake City because the snow was no longer a concern, and my rain pants are tattered to shreds so I sent them home a week or so ago. We didn't get an ounce of sun up on the ridge, and the wind was ferocious. Shadow, who has good quality rain pants, commented that he would have frozen to death if he only wore shorts. I replied that I wasn't exactly having a good time.
Where we camped last night was just feet away from where the Continental Divide and Colorado Trails diverge. I'm officially on new ground. Immediately, the trail was harder to find. No shade to the Continental Divide Trail Coalition, but man does the Colorado Trail Foundation do trail maintenance right! Shadow and I found ourselves trying to locate the trail while barely being able to see 30 feet ahead of us due to the surrounding clouds. I had to put my trekking poles away to keep my hands in my pockets since my gloves got wet from condensation and my hands couldn't take the cold.
About 7 miles in, while we were blessedly on a network of ATV roads (can't lose the trail if it's a road!), Shadow and I noticed that the upcoming section of trail was a ridge walk, and we were still socked in. Both of us were freezing and wet, and we weren't having fun. I know very little of this sounds fun, but I keep reminding myself I'm on vacation, and I owe it to myself to have a good time. Double Dip told me once that there is no award for "hardest and worst trail experience," and I've taken that to heart. Shadow and I located a road that would take us down the mountain and into the tiny town of Montezuma before reconnecting with the trail near the Argentine Pass Trailhead. I'm so so glad we did that, especially when we saw and heard two thunderstorms roll by while we were inside.
Our plan was to get to Montezuma and hitch to Keystone for some hot food, since Montezuma is purely residential and doesn't have any amenities, and the road we took shaved off several miles, and there was no need to get to our planned campsite in the early afternoon. Plus, with the weather being what it was (we were getting rained on and could hear thunder nearby), we knew we'd have to do Grays Peak tomorrow. Being at high elevation with no patches of trees around for protection is incredibly dangerous during a thunderstorm, and with the weather being as unpredictable as it was today, we just weren't willing to risk it.
When we got to Montezuma, we immediately were approached by a woman named Carly who asked us what we needed while we were in town. She pointed us toward a house and said to go inside out of the rain, make ourselves at home, and she'd be there soon. We were hanging out with her 9 year old for a bit, who seemed very used to having random strangers in his home, before she came back from her errand. She then made us the best bagel sandwiches I've ever had.
We spent the afternoon watching thunderstorms roll over the mountains from the comfort of inside, proving to us that we'd made the correct and smart call, and enjoying fulfilling and enjoyable conversations with Carly and her kids. Carly is a special education teacher, so we shared the plights and rewards of the field. Her teenager is in high school, and it was interesting the ways in which we agreed that schools are failing students. For example, both of the kids are named after classic literary characters, and even the 4th grader was able to talk about the book for which he's named, but many of the high schoolers that I teach haven't read a full book literally ever, and even in English classes, we're discouraged from teaching full books anymore, and all parties involved are frustrated by that.
We finally dragged ourselves away from the lovely break. We didn't have very many miles left to do, only about 5 easy dirt road miles, but we figured we should let the family get to their evening plans (which, of course, they enthusiastically invited us to). Our plan was to camp around the trailhead parking area, and we'd been informed by several reliable sources about a cabin that is technically private property. The owner doesn't seem to be aware that it's on their land and not national forest land, and it's common for locals to climb through a window and sleep there. Since we never dried out our tents today, staying inside sounded fantastic. The cabin was amazing. Bare bones but super clean, no evidence of rodent activity, and a dry place to sleep. We each claimed a bunk and ate a small dinner. It's barely past 7:00, and we are both getting ready to sleep. We have an early wake up for a big day tomorrow.
Day 87
Forward progress: 24.8 miles
Total distance on trail: 1,121.8 miles
Jeeeez louise was today a big one. Honestly can't believe we did it as quickly as we did. 13 hours for 25 miles and 8k ft of elevation gain? Not to brag, but that's pretty solid.
The first thing we noticed when packing up from inside the cabin was we could see stars out the windows. Good news. No cloud coverage, so unlikely to have storms in the next few hours. When we started hiking around 5:00, we already didn't need headlamps to see, and the sky looked clear. A relief.
The first 6 miles involved ascending to the highest point on the whole CDT: Grays Peak (14,278 ft). It took us 4 hours, which was honestly about what I'd expected. We had 4k ft of elevation gain in those 6 miles, and lots of the ridge involved scrambling (requiring the use of hands as support to progress forward). The ridge section was SO fun; I was worried the combination of scrambling and exposure would freak me out, but I had a blast, and I already want to do it again!
We didn't stay too long at the top of Grays, but we sure did celebrate being there. We were also notably the only hikers coming from the Argentine Pass side and not the standard Grays Trailhead side, and the many hikers at the top seemed confused by our route. On our way up, we could see several of them pointing at us (we were on the scrambly ridge walk, which probably didn't look too secure from an onlooker's perspective), and I think they were concerned for our wellbeing. But we had fun!
Descending the trail was stunning. And easy. Just kept stopping to admire the wildflowers, which are going crazy right now. At the parking lot, I approached a stranger to ask for water. Why filter when I can get some without effort?
The trail followed the road out of the trailhead and to I-70, so I had enough service to call my friend who just had a baby. Especially being so close to Denver, it was a very bittersweet call for me. I could be home in an hour if I wanted to. And sometimes I want to.
Shadow and I stopped for lunch at the Herman Gulch trailhead, a popular day hike close to Denver. Again, I got some water from a parking lot stranger. I was hoping for a soda, too, but oh well. Beggars can't be choosers. I'm pretty thrilled to have never filtered water today.
I wish the trail went all the way to Herman Gulch, but it splits off about a half mile before the lake. Since I've done that hike and was already exhausted from today's strain, I didn't do the side quest. The hike up already felt harder than I wanted it to. The ridge hiking up to Jones Pass was really beautiful, though.
We set up our tents and had the fastest dinner ever. I'm so ready to sleep. The sunset is really gorgeous, but I'm too tired to care. Bedtime is upon me right now.
Day 88
Forward progress: 12.0 miles
Total distance on trail: 1,138.8 miles
Today was not meant to be a nero, but it was, and I'm not mad about it.
The miles today were GORGEOUS. Some of my favorite views this whole trail. The Vasquez Peak Wilderness is definitely an area I'll have to return to sometime! There was one "big" climb, and the rest was just cruisy. I was having an absolute blast.
When an episode of the podcast I'm listening to finished, I put on a Beach Boys greatest hits album and just vibed my way down the mountain. I was literally dancing and singing. A lot of day hikers were coming up the other way, and it was a big downhill for me so a big uphill for them, and I'm sure my general upbeat energy was annoying for them, but I don't care. I was having the time of my life!
The trail intersected the road at Berthoud Pass, a popular trailhead for hiking in the summer and backcountry skiing in the winter. Some of my Denver friends, Sydney and Caleb, came out, since it was a weekend and close to the city. They must have been in contact with Mitch, because they pulled out a case of orange soda, the thing I've been craving most. Mitch also came, armed with food and milkshakes from a nearby establishment called Dairy King, which we always stop at after skiing at Winter Park.
Shadow intended to stay the night in Winter Park. The mountains moving forward have a high route traverse that some people opt to do instead of the normal trail, which drops into a valley between Mt. Flora and James Peak. I don't really want to do the high route -- I intend to come back and do it sometime, but not as part of a long backpacking trip -- but I don't want to camp alone, either. My friend Vibes is a day behind, so I decided to stay the night in Winter Park as well to let him catch up so we can hike out together tomorrow.
It ended up being such a relaxing day, and I loved every minute of it. Always sad to say goodbye to Mitch when he heads back home, but this time, I wasn't so tempted to get in the car with him. That's progress!
Day 89
Forward progress: 9.5 miles
Total distance on trail: 1,143.3 miles
I woke up in a bed, not on an oft-deflating sleeping pad. With two pillows, not a stuff sack with a sweatshirt in it. With an overhead fan I could turn off, not howling wind I can't control. And yet, I still couldn't wait to get back to trail.
I had to wait for Vibes to get to Berthoud Pass and hitch to town to resupply and charge some electronics. I sat in a coffee shop, editing photos and working on some blog posts, answering questions from strangers who were confused and amused by my backpack. Some bought me lattes, which was very sweet.
Vibes and I got a hitch back to Berthoud Pass, randomly, by someone I met on trail last year. His knees were bothering him and he took about a week off trail, and he needed a ride back to his apartment in Denver at the same time that Mitch was driving me off trail for good. Dozer said he had planned to do trail magic in the general area early this week, but I wasn't expecting to actually see him, and not as the first car we tried to flag down for a ride! Very fun coincidence.
The hike up and over Mt. Flora was beautiful and easy. It accounts for about 20% of the elevation gain between Winter Park and Grand Lake. Tomorrow's climb up James Peak will be a good bit more of the rest. The whole 55 miles only has 10,000 ft of elevation gain; as a reminder, I did 8,000 ft two days ago. We left Berthoud Pass around 3:30 and got to camp 4 hours later at the base of James Peak. That climb is for tomorrow morning. Tonight, we're at a large campsite that is noticeably warmer and less windy than most recent sites. Pitching our tents was easy, and I didn't even get my fleece liner or down hood out of my pack. It's the little things!
Each day we get closer to Wyoming, the more excited I become. Colorado has been so challenging, both physically and mentally. Beautiful beyond any hiking I've done, but difficult. Coming down the other side of Mt. Flora, I could literally see Denver. It's hard being close to home and people I love and miss. I won't have that conflict as much in Wyoming. Out of sight, out of mind. I'm even excited for the Great Basin -- a hot, dry, exposed desert section in Wyoming that everyone kind of hates, but at least it's flat. When I'm complaining about it in a few weeks, point me back to this passage.
Day 90
Forward progress: 30.8 miles
Total distance on trail: 1,174.1 miles
Holy shit, what an annoying day.
Started with a 4.5-mile climb that accounted for half of our day's elevation gain. It was hard, but overall beautiful, but I didn't find the summit to be like... gorgeous beyond compare. Maybe I've been spoiled.
Because James Peak was the hard climb of the day, I expected the remaining miles to just flow. They did eventually, but the first half of the day was hard. Steep and long ups (at least steeper and longer than I was expecting, which didn't help), lots of loose rocks on the downs so I couldn't get into a good rhythm.
The second half of the miles were substantially easier and more flowy than the first half. I also threw on a new audiobook, and it was interesting enough to let me turn my brain off and just get the miles done.
I was so annoyed to get to the spot we'd planned to camp and discovered that the campsites mentioned in the guide app comments were covered by fallen trees. The next campsite big enough for the 3 of us (me, Vibes, and Shadow) was a mile and a half away. Not terrible, but annoying at the end of a long day.
And the mosquitoes!!! Oh my god. Like you know how all of us only tolerate spiders because they eat annoying bugs? Petition to eliminate mosquitoes and make spiders the lowest bug in the food chain. Just saying. We all set up our tents as quickly as we could and retired to them immediately just to avoid being bit more than we had to.
Day 91
Forward progress: 15.2 miles
Total distance on trail: 1,189.3 miles
Started the day out near a trailhead privy, which is always a blessing. Basic chores like digging cat holes and filtering water and cleaning a cook pot can be so draining; any way to reduce the annoyance is huge.
I feel like my mindset for getting into town has been that the mileage needs to be single digits or start with a 1. Even if the miles are easy, I need to remember that 15 miles takes time and energy, and I'm not just magically transporting to my end destination. Fortunately, my audiobook has been really interesting, so the miles and hours flew by pretty quickly.
That's not to say that the miles weren't beautiful. Especially with views of the lake for which the town is named and the surrounding reservoirs.
I saw three moose today. The bull moose was kind of an accident; I wasn't paying attention to the surroundings of the trail at all, and something compelled me to look left at just the right time. First I saw it's tail, then it's torso. It took me several seconds to register its head behind the trees. It was clearly not interested in me at all, and when we made eye contact, his ears twitched in playful curiosity and not cautious aggression. This sighting makes me wonder, for the millionth time, how many moose and other wildlife I simply haven't seen. Their camouflage is outstanding, I will give them that.
Grand Lake is a really fun town, and I'm glad we arrived early today. Since we're leaving tomorrow, we wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to enjoy the restaurants and amenities. One snack bar on the lake even had a deal for CDT hikers: any burger, fries, and soft serve ice cream for $9.50. That was obviously our first stop. The main town center is actually a part of the trail -- you can see CDT signs carved into the boardwalk -- and it was nice to count restaurant hopping as trail miles.
One of Mitch's bosses at work owns a property in this town. When I met him at the company Christmas party, he did not offer to let me stay; he requested, almost demanded it. Woe is me, having this incredibly luxurious place to stay that is a very short walk to town and just barely off the trail itself. I was able to shower, charge up all of my electronics, wash my water bottles, and launder every article of clothing instead of selecting one top layer and one bottom layer to remain dirty at the laundromat. And I could shut a door and be alone, which is absolutely its own luxury.
Day 92
Forward progress: 15.2 miles
Total distance on trail: 1,204.5 miles
I stayed up too late last night watching reruns of RuPaul's Drag Race and eating a pint of Ben & Jerry's ice cream. It's hard to ignore normal luxuries like television and frozen desserts when the opportunities present themselves out here. So I woke up a little less rested than I meant to, despite the plushy king-sized bed I slept in that contained more pillows than we probably have in our whole house.
I met the guys for breakfast. They stayed in the bunk house of a guy who lives near town, which I found for them by accident because the owner gave me a hitch between the rec center and the snack bar yesterday. There are no affordable lodging options in town (I mean... you could camp at the rec center for $25, but paying $25 to do what we always do for free feels bad), so it was good that we found Steve. None of us were ready to leave town after breakfast -- we all prefer our exits from town in the early afternoon -- so we loitered around a few coffee shops before deciding we were ready to go.
We started the hike out of Grand Lake going through the western side of Rocky Mountain National Park. In 2020, the East Troublesome fire ravaged this part of the state, and those miles consisted of a massive burn zone. After 5 years, blackened and disfigured trees continue to cover the land, but lots of grasses and flowers have returned. It's amazing to see the resilience of burned forests in action.
I got to pick and eat some wild strawberries! Finally! Have seen the plants for weeks but haven't gotten berries until today!
We also saw 3 adolescent bull moose today. I was in the front and totally didn't see them until I was less than 30 feet away from them. Fortunately, they couldn't have cared less about our presence, but dang I need to be better about keeping my eyes peeled! But they just hung out and ate grass and lied down and didn't give us much passing notice.
The post-RMNP miles were a pretty sustained but easy uphill. We wanted to get 15 miles today to set us up for two 25-mile days and a 10-mile day to get into Steamboat, and we got to camp before 7:00. Lots of daylight, and LOTS of mosquitoes. We all got in our tents as soon as they were pitched, but we kept the vestibules open to socialize while we hid from the bugs.
Day 93
Forward progress: 26.4 miles
Total distance on trail: 1,230.9 miles
Today was a grind, start to finish. I don't even think it was the trail as much as I'm just so tired. It took me ages to drag myself out of bed this morning. Of the 3 of us, I was the last one out of camp. I'm often the first.
The hiking today was like... fine. We're still in the mountains and hiking on ridge lines, but I miss the more grandiose beauty from earlier sections. And it was harder hiking than I had mentally prepared myself for.
Somehow, the last 2 miles of hiking were my favorite. It was mostly uphill, and the blowdowns were frequent, but it was like a puzzle. How do we get to the other side of the downed trees? Over is always my favorite, and under always sucks with a pack on, and around is annoying because it adds distance, but at least it broke up today's monotony.
My hiker hunger may finally be kicking in. I ate twice my allotted snacks for the day, which may come back and bite me in the ass later, but I did overpack on snacks anyway. I think that's why I'm so tired, just the hunger and inability to satiate it for long periods of time. Is it bad that I'm already dreaming of town food? I need to get out of the habit of expecting town. From Salida to Steamboat, I think the most number of days away from a town has been 2. Wyoming will not be that way, and I need to get back in the trail mindset.
Day 94
Forward progress: 27.0 miles
Total distance on trail: 1,257.9 miles
Oh no, I can already feel the trail getting boring. Not in a tired way, but in a monotonous way. It's not that the terrain is challenging -- it's decidedly easy -- but realistically, there's only so many times one can put one foot in front of the other before it gets old. The mountain layers have disappeared, and the flatness in the horizon heels endless.
We are back to dirt road walks and unreliable water sources. We joked that it felt more like New Mexico than Colorado, and I suppose we have to get used to that again. We have a few days coming up of mountainous terrain in Medicine Bow National Forest, but after that, we have a looong stretch of the Great Basin.
Near where we planned on camping this evening, we encountered a man named Jim, who spends his summers floating around this part of the trail and providing water for hikers. He told us that the upcoming highway walk was rather unsafe. We planned on doing those miles tomorrow, but hiking on paved highways, especially dangerous ones, is none too fun, the beginning of the highway was only 5 miles from where we were hanging out with Jim, so we decided to get to the road and hitch into Steamboat Springs tonight instead of tomorrow morning.
When I texted Mitch about this change in plans, he responded that he could be in town in three hours. I recognize every day how lucky I am to have a partner who lives close by and is so eager to support this endeavor.
When we got to Colorado Highway 14, we noticed a pretty distinct lack of traffic going by the trailhead we were standing at. We were lucky that the third car that passed us ended up turning around at the bottom of the hill to come back to pick us up. We had actually joked when the car passed us the first time that it was way too nice of a vehicle to pick up hitchhikers, so we were pretty surprised when they pulled up. Jill and Dennis are both ecologist who live part-time in Steamboat Springs, and they were on their way home from a camping trip with their dog Lola. It took some rearranging, but we were able to fit all their camping gear, all three of our packs, three smelly hikers, and their dog in the car.
The logistical complications of getting to town a day early were not apparent to us until we realized that it was a Saturday in a touristy town. We were looking for any affordable lodging, and everywhere was full. Dennis and Jill very kindly offered to let us camp in their yard. Mitch didn't bring his sleeping pad (can't believe he didn't predict a night of camping while in town), so we are sleeping in the car.
Day 95
Forward progress: 0.0 miles
Total distance on trail: 1,257.9 miles
I kind of wish I had known we would be taking today off, but it's also kind of my fault that we are taking an unplanned zero, and zeros are good, and we need rest, so I guess I can't complain.
The long and short of it is that my best friend is going wedding dress shopping in Cincinnati next weekend, and even though I told her from the get-go that I wouldn't be able to join, I felt an immense wave of guilt about it today, so I tried to figure out a way to get from middle of nowhere, Wyoming, to Cincinnati and back for a 24-hour period without disrupting my trail experience too much, but the logistical complications were really high, but the next stretch may not have much service, so FaceTiming may be challenging, and I would hate to fully miss out on this experience for her. By the time I came up with a solid plan, it was well past lunch, and I was feeling very stressed. Vibes and Shadow said that they would be happy to take the remainder of the day off and hike out tomorrow, and I'm really grateful that they were willing to be flexible with me.
I know I'm not the only reason that they wanted to take the day off -- it's been almost 300 miles since Vibes's last zero and almost 400 for me and Shadow -- but it took a while for my guilt to be assuaged.
Since it's a Sunday, the three of us were able to find a motel room to split. We ate perhaps too much food and spent perhaps too much money, but it does feel nice to relax and enjoy the last town that will be in before Colorado is over.
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