Saturday, 27 July 2013
After recovering from the tough section previously, Virgo and I set off from copper mountain to walk two half days to the town of Frisco. We had found out about an annual beer festival in Breckenridge so f t
M l there for another half day off. We had a great time at the festival and got to meet up with a lot of old friends as well. Josh, who I worked with in Australia; Kurt and Tonic who I met on the PCT last year; and Wampus Cat and Zen - Virgos friends from the PCT. It was great to have another half a day off and perfect timing to meet up with so many friends.
We walked a bike trail to Silverthorne to get back on the official CDT and started walking back into the mountains. Virgo and I were stopped by a thunderstorm half way up the ridge and had to set a tarp for an hour until the lightening passed over the ridge we intended to walk over. We thought this would be a pattern for the next 2 days of trail on the ridge but we were lucky to avoid thunderstorms for the most part. The views on this section of trail are the best I have had on the trail, and we were lucky enough to catch a herd of elk grazing in the tundra and playing in the snow 1/4 mile ahead of us directly on the trail.
There is about 25 miles or so that directly follows the continental divide as a ridge walk and contains some of the steepest climbs and descents of the whole CDT. It is definitely the hardest section of trail I have ever walked, but the views superseded my fatigue and we were in good spirits all day. The view was commanding - to the north and south was the ridge we had just walked, and all around us were thunderheads and rain clouds. We eventually descended back under tree line after a day and a half and walked the trail downhill to monarch lake. The section if trail from lake granby to grand lake (the next town) is plagued by blow downs and is no longer maintained, so we took an alternate route along the lake shore. It was slow going rock hopping along tbe lake edge but it reminded me alot of hopping along the coast if Kaikoura, so what others would find infuriating I enjoyed.
Grand Lake is friendly small town and we arrived directly at the time of the Buffalo festival, which meant a public outdoor all you can eat pancake breakfast, live music, and a parade down Main Street. It was the perfect stop for what was the hardest but most rewarding section of trail yet.
