Missing Mae

Today was absolutely awful. I woke up about ten minutes before check out, tossing my gear, half a pizza and about ten Tasty Cakes into my bag. I couldn't leave town without a caffeinated beverage so Marlowe and I headed over to the nearest cafe. Sipping my coffee outside I decided to make a few phone calls. I called my Mom and she answered the phone crying. Instantly I knew something terrible had happened. At first I thought it had to do my grandmother, which thankfully wasn't the case. Then the pieces of her story came together and I realized that our precious cat Mae had fallen victim to a coyote this morning. I quickly got off the phone and Marlowe and I walked down the the river behind the shops and cried. As if Marlowe wasn't feel bad enough between sickness and a pulled groin muscle, this just took everything that we still had left.

Our Mae

We spent a few hours lingering at the coffee shop, debating our ability to continue hiking. Somehow we picked ourselves up and headed across town to the trail head where we could pick the CDT up again. As we climbed the road toward the trail we noticed some dark clouds moving toward us. Just as we reached the trail we had a change of heart and headed back down the road toward the beckoning motels below. I could tell that Marlowe wasn't doing well physically. He wasn't able to eat much and in turn had no energy for hiking. We decided some nourishing food and a solid night's sleep would improve his condition.

After checking into the Days Inn, we went in search of a health store. We both drank delicious kombuchas, hoping the enzymes would aid our ailing bodies. Marlowe also bought some probiotic capsules for digestive health. Then we ate dinner at a nearby Thai restaurant. It may have been the best meal that we've had on trail. We talked about Mae some, but I don't know how either of us is ever going to feel better about the situation. After dinner we lounged in the hotel room watching B movies until passing out.

Hiking the Bike Path

This morning we knew that Copper Mountain Ski Resort was just down the hill, with all the charm of a Disney-like tourist trap. On our way there we ran into an older couple heading southbound. They are section hiking the CDT in large chunks over the course of three years and called themselves T & T. They warned us about the impending monotony and discomfort of the Great Basin in Wyoming. People can say what they will of it, but I'm still looking forward to the impending warmth and flatness. (Check back later to hear me complain about it.)

Once we arrived at Copper Mountain we picked one of the many restaurants to fuel ourselves. Marlowe is unfortunately still having G.I. issues, but the meal was as good as could be expected given the circumstance, and the terrible nineties music. Also Marlowe has been having extreme discomfort due to his shoes. (Montrail Hardrocks, don't buy 'em. They're not what they used to be.) He ordered a new pair of Salomons online in Leadville and we rushed via the free bus service to Silverthorne so that he could pick them up at the Fed Ex store before they closed for the weekend.

Since we were already in Silverthorne we decided it would be in our best interest to get a motel room and then slack pack ourselves from Copper Mountain back into town using the convenient free public transportation. This of course implies that we we took the low alternate route via the bike bath, as opposed to the Greys-Torres route or the official CDTA route. Although I'm sure the Greys-Torres route is stunning, I for one thoroughly enjoyed the bike path. While walking gradually downhill, hundreds of bikes passed us going the opposite direction. They must have been in the middle of a century bike ride. I enjoyed the positive and brief human interactions, a smile here, a nod there. Then the rain began. Ah, how nice the rain can be when you know that you are spending the night in a motel room. We walked through the town of Frisco, picking up a different bike path on the north end of town. This path skirted the reservoir and was absolutely gorgeous. In a sad state already Marlowe pulled his groin muscle during the final few miles into Silverthorne and completed the final miles walking a mere 1mph. Just as we got into town I noticed a coyote on the edge of some condos, I stood watching his sleek mannerisms for a few minutes until Marlowe caught up.

Arriving back at the First Interstate Inn, Marlowe launched into bed, not to be roused the remainder of the evening. Not knowing what I could do for him, I gave him his space. Later I ordering myself a Domino's pizza and Jester brought over some Tasty Cakes and chocolate butter cookies that his mom had sent him in a care package. Watching a bad movie I spent my night double fisting pizza and cookies until ill and sleepy.

Thru-hikers Inspect Sinkhole, One states "Looks pretty big to me."

It was a sad morning knowing that we were leaving the Leadville Hostel. Before we left we loaded up on coffee and waffles, one last parting gift. After packing our backpacks, Wild Bill gave us a ride up to Tennessee Pass. Hitching would have proven nearly impossible as the road over the pass is still closed due to a sink hole. We said goodbye to him and decided to head down the road instead of the trail knowing there wouldn't be any traffic to be concerned with.

Less than a mile down the road we came upon the sink hole, those trying to fix it and a couple reporters from the Denver Post doing a story on it. The engineers let us take a closer look at the hole. It had collapsed into an old railroad tunnel, that had been paved over and long forgotten about. The reporters grew interested in our hike and began asking us a bunch of questions and snapped a few photos. So it is quite possible that we could wind up in the Denver Post in a couple of days. Look for the headline: Thru-hikers Inspect Sinkhole, One states "Looks pretty big to me."



Update: We were in the Denver Post! Here's the link:
http://photos.denverpost.com/2012/07/13/photos-large-sinkhole-between-leadville-and-red-cliff/

From there we continued down the road a bit until it crossed the trail. Back on trail we let Jester go ahead because he needs to make it to Silverthorne by tomorrow at noon so that he can get his box from the PO. Marlowe and I carried on slowly. I finally caught up on my favorite running podcast, The House of Run, getting the entire scoop on the Olympic Trials. How 'bout that dead heat of the women's 100m? Or worse yet the lack of a run off to break the tie? Somehow, I missed all of that out here in the wilderness. Goes to show how cut off we are.

Anywho, basically we just walked the rest of the day. Marlowe was feeling weak from being sick, but he's OK. We did come upon Camp Hail, where the Tenth Mountain Division trained during WWII. It wasn't all that exciting. Then again some tourists driving around in a jeep gave us some cold gatorades, and that was exciting.

We then climbed up high over Searle Pass. The weather cooperated nicely. Now we're camped in the trees. Tomorrow we're hiking through Copper Mountain Ski Resort. I'll be thinking about my friend Dan's 2005 EMT adventures there. One of my favorite stories was the first time he climbed a fourteener. Dan is from San Diego and when he arrived at the top he saw his first marmot. Having never heard of the animal before he mistook it for a misplaced beaver. Classic.

The Notorious Leadville Hostel

This morning was wonderful. I slept until I couldn't possibly sleep anymore, missing breakfast entirely. I must have slept a good twelve hours, getting much needed recovery after trying to keep up with Jester's impressive 4mph pace. Eventually we all headed into town for Chinese food at a restaurant named Szechuan Taste II. 

I sauntered back up to the hostel to make a few phone calls, including one to Amazon's kindle services. You'll be glad to know, dear readers, that my kindle is no longer frozen. Though I got quite a bit behind in my journal while it was. In an effort to catch up I spent a few hours journaling from the comfort of our yellow comforter.

For dinner we ordered ridiculously large submarine sandwiches for delivery. Then spent the rest of the night in a bloated stupor watching The Runaway Jury on the big screen in the basement.

Marlowe's G.I. Distress

I slept, or shall I say didn't sleep, with a poorly placed tree root jabbing into my back all night. Also waking up with a bug net on your face can be rather claustrophobic and alarming. Although the five or so miles we had left into Tennessee Pass were relatively flat I spent the morning hiking slowly and without any sense of urgency.

Eventually we made it out to the pass after grabbing a root beer from the Leadville Hostel's soda cache. Jester was beckoning us from the bed of a truck on the road. Apparently the road over the pass was closed. Since this poor guy driving the truck had to go all the way back down into town he agreed to take us.

Once in Leadville we entered the first diner we could find, The Golden Burro. Finally we had made it into town early enough to order breakfast. Hungrier than ever, I ordered myself a chicken fried steak smothered in gravy, with eggs, toast and corned beef hash. Boom.

Next we headed to the notorious Leadville Hostel. Every person we told that we were going into Leadville asked if we were going to stay at the hostel. Now I understand why. Upon arrival Wild Bill the owner gave us a tour of the facilities. They have a huge kitchen and dining room, two living room spaces with big screen tvs, a decent selection of books and movies, eleven bathrooms, bikes to get around town, a laundry room with loaner clothes to wear while washing, free internet... you name it, they had it. Also Bill gave us a huge room with a private bath at the couples room rate.

Once clean and settled into our room I took a long and luxurious nap. Upon waking I learned that Marlowe wasn't feeling well. He had a fever and other symptoms best left unsaid. So I went into town to track down some soup. First though, I enjoyed myself a few beers and some pizza with Jester. I brought Marlowe back some wonton soup from the Chinese restaurant in town. Then I joined him while he finished watching the movie The Way on his phone.

Soda Cache #3

Today wasn't very exciting, but it was enjoyable. After the last couple of rainy days, each containing encounters above treeline with thunder storms, today was pleasant and free of worry. One thing that is nice, as I've now mentioned a few times, is hiking on the Colorado Trail. It has gentle slopes, is less rocky, and of course the abundance of signs directing us in the right direction has proven helpful. We rarely have to look at our maps, which is a major change from the CDT.

This morning we plodded along on the wide, gentle trail set amongst the trees. In the late morning we met a guy named Chester who works for the U.S. Geological Society. He was dating rocks in the Mt. Massive area, and had an impressive program on his iPad that was helping him.

Climbing along in the sun I couldn't help but feel good this afternoon. What made me feel even better was coming across another soda cache on trail. Cha-ching! This one had been put out by a current year CT hiker, balancing hiking and trail angeling. Hiking until dusk, we stopping a bit early and cowboy camped. We are looking forward to going into the town of Leadville tomorrow morning. Aside from today this has definitely been the hardest section of trail, with all of the weather we had to endure.

Glorious Sunlight

Today marks two months on trail, and what a day it was. We woke to a bright glaring sun, nary a cloud in the sky. It was glorious. Jason left early to go bag a fourteener. Once he was gone we took over his entire campsite, arranging our clothes and gear all over the ground, with some hanging in the trees and still some draped on the hood of his car. By 11 a.m. all of our stuff was dry, we were warm and even wearing sunscreen.

Less than half a mile down the road were the remains of an old mining town. A couple miles further down the trail we reached Sheep Gulch Trail head and began the intensely steep climb up to Hope Pass. I brought out the big guns, tUnE-yArDs and Animal Collective, and yet I was still only moving less than two miles an hour. The clouds had by this time begun to form overhead, but we crested the pass unscathed.

From the top of the pass we could see out over Twin Lakes, knowing that somewhere down yonder we would find ourselves a convenience store. Oh joy. The decent was steep and lush. Just as we arrived at the marshy flat lands on the edge of the lake a quick and intense rainstorm hit us. We forded the wide mouth of the inlet, then traipsed through the swamp without direction until finally stumbling upon the road.

I don't want to admit to all the disgusting food that we ingested at the Twin Lakes Store, or the quantities, but I might as well. Donuts, hot pockets, microwavable burritos, ice cream, soda and beer, just to name a few of the items.

From the store we continued up the stunning and beautifully maintained alternate back up toward the CDT, enjoying the spectacular view of the lakes. We stopped on a nice flat spot next to the trail and cooked ourselves up some ramen before crawling int our extra lofty, dry sleeping bags.