After Baskets and I humped 3000 feet over Hope Pass and down, down, down, nearly the full way to Twin Lakes, we did a commando camp (quickly find whatever flat spot works and go to sleep). In the morning, we woke and walked two miles along the road and river – electing NOT to do the crossing which was swollen with spring runoff and quite dangerous looking. We reached the Twin Lakes Inn and sitting in front of the old building was Nope. Nope and Baskets hiked the Appalachian Trail in 2016, and Nope was now infamous for starting the CDT in March, reaching Colorado by April and then working his way through the snow – going incommunicado for two weeks and then his family started posing “have you seen Nope?” on Facebook. He was fine. Just out of cell service. And here he was in the flesh and I was meeting him for the first time. Baskets had called the Inn the night before when we were atop Hope Pass and although we weren’t staying there, the manager was cool enough to let us join the continental breakfast for paying guests and only charged us $8 apiece. You can bet your bottom dollar we got our money’s worth 😉 I resupplied at the general store which had JUST enough to get me to Silverthorn in three days, with a good supply of snacks, Knorr sides, ramen, and had some Mountain House freeze dried food selections, albeit absurdly expensive.
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After doing what we do: eat, buy more food, charge electronics… we did what we do again as thru hikers: eat more. This time at a small BBQ trailer nearby. Other than what I’m describing, Twin Lakes offers nothing. Nothing other than easy access to Mt Elbert – the highest peak in Colorado – and to the Mount Massive Wilderness area, another Colorado 14’ers paradise.
Padding my belly with more food and after a phone call to check on my dad’s recovery progress, I walked two miles up road and rejoined the CDT. Very nice, maintained trail led the way through about 13 miles past several launching points for climbing 14,000 foot Mt Elbert and I passed several large groups and tents along the way. I caught up to a female solo hiker and chatted and hiked along with her for several miles before parting. Eventually I found a flat shelf above a small creek and pitched my tent. Within an hour of nightfall a rogue wind and short rainstorm hit, lasting maybe 30 minutes. After that I slept like a baby.
On day two I rose, did my coffee and granola routine and made my way down more superb trail. I had a text message from Twisted who mentioned how nice the trail conditions were here, and he was right. All this good 14’er access meant lots of trail use but fortunately, lots of great trail maintenance. I came to a creek after three miles and saw Baskets and Nope packing up their camp. Baskets shouted out to me to wait for them and in jest, I flipped them the bird and kept walking by them. Within a few miles and some morning duties… we converged and continued to hike along as a threesome.
The day would push us past one and to the edge of two more passes that would lead us close to Copper Mountain and the western “edge”’of Summit County: Copper, Frisco, Dillion, Silverthorn, Breckinridge. By 3pm and after about 20 miles we reached Tennessee Pass which some hikers used to hitch hike to Leadville, CO for resupply. We had cell service and got a few text messages here from other hikers about their plans around an incoming storm and this pushed a button for Baskets. He heard this news and immediately proclaimed that we needed to hike over all the passes to Copper, TODAY. And, that’s what we did. I was a bit annoyed at his pace as we hiked away from Tennessee Pass, but eventually softened and realized that Baskets had wanted to hike 40 mile day. He’d never done one. I’d done one last year on the AZT, and nearly killed myself, and I could tell Baskets had it in his sights that this might be his first. We descended to a valley and I saw a red head that I hadn’t seen since we left the Mexican border in April: Larry Boy. I startled the hell out of him when I shouted out his name and he jumped at the sound of my voice and he spilled water down the front of his shirt!
The four of us hiked together for a while, passing an old military explosives bunker and testing site as well as a training facility for the 10th Mountain Division of WWI.
We took a dinner break at 6pm, then flew up another 3000 feet past North Sheep Mountain to Kokymo Pass. I turned around, having left everyone behind on the climb but Baskets was approaching and I waited until he joined me. We gained Elk Ridge at 12300 feet as the sun was setting. Rounding a large alpine tundra, we dropped a bit and slogged through wet trail, snow and mud as it got dark and we got closer to Searle Pass. Hiking now by headlamp, and close to the pass Baskets turned and thought he saw another headlamp behind us in the distance and thought it might be Nope a mile or so behind us. We kept slogging and made it to the pass where we encountered numerous snowfields. Luckily, they were low angle and we slowly picked our way over the other side and eventually to more clear trail. At this point we’d done over 35 miles and the next two hours were a haze to me. Baskets and I kept each other awake with chat and after an hour of descending towards the Copper Mountain resort we both were checking for that 40 mile mark with the plan being to immediately find a flat spot to camp. We knew it would be very close to the actual ski area and passed by a few tents near a stream just a mile before the resort. Finally, we hit 40 miles, over 42 for me since I’d started the day slightly behind these two. Unfortunately, the terrain was still steep – it’s a ski area after all – but we found a flatish spot within view of the resort lights. It was good enough for us and we each sloppily pitched our shelters, climbed in and fell immediately to sleep a bit after midnight.
In the morning I texted Twisted and Nimbles who we found out we’d passed (that was the plan 😉 the night before, and decided to need at Toast and Co., a breakfast joint on the mountain. Baskets and I broke camp and heard Twisted and Nimbles pass us and we made our way down the last mile, cut through the summer construction of the ski area and walked into Toast where we joined the others for a spirited conversation and an enormous breakfast.
Afterwards, we walked towards Frisco and the I-70 bike path and walked the six miles where we found a barbecue and beer festival taking place in the town center. Not one to pass up good food, we all separated a bit here, Nimbles and I heading for meal #2 with brisket and a local beer. I’m not sure how it fit in my stomach after the big breakfast but I managed to lug myself through the crowd and devour the foods.
After relaxing a bit we walked through the crowd where we saw an ice cream shop and, you guessed it, ate some more! Once again we hit the I-70 bike path where a weekend bike race was taking place and we walked another six miles or so around a massive reservoir and to Silverthorn where Twisted, Nimbles, McGyver and I got a room at the Super 8. Baskets and Nope showed up later.
I still had an errand to do: go to Brekenridge to pick up a new backpack that I’d sent to Bivvy, an awesome hostel located in a beautiful new lodge type building. I took two busses and a trolley – Summit County having an excellent, free bus system funded by the ski areas that can get you between Breck, Copper, Frisco, Dillon, and Silverthorn. Returning to Silverthorn around 8 pm, I walked over to a little brewpub and hid dinner the back to the motel room to get some sleep which, unfortunately, was on the damn floor. The room Twisted rented only had two twin beds, and he and McGyver had staked claim on each with Nimbles and I doing the floor. In the morning, after horrible sleep in a cramped room with no ventilation I decided that’s the last time I’m sleeping on a motel floor during this CDT trip. The backstrain I had at the beginning of the trail that faded during our New Mexico hiking, was back in full force and I was in considerable pain and discomfort all night long.
Day 1: mile 1162-1175
Day 2: 1175-1217
Day 3: 1217 to 1229, Walking I-70/US 6 to Silverthorn