Miles Hiked 119.1
Elevation 9,800 feet
Miles Hiked Today 15.0
Yesterday was a zero day (no hiking). It gave me a chance to do laundry and mail home some things from my pack.
Today, I’m off with an eight mile, nearly 3,000 foot climb. A good part of the hike will be above the tree line. Weather for mid-day doesn’t look good, but I believe I can beat it.
A bus right at the hostel takes me to a bus station where I catch another bus. Breckenridge is great. All their busses are free. The bus drops me right at the trail and I’m off hiking at 7:30.
As expected, after a brief flat trail walk, the trail starts heading up. So far the weather is holding up and it’s a beautiful, clear day. Several hours later, as I approach the treeline, clouds start forming. Then right at the treeline I hear infrequent thunder in the distance. At this point I’m telling myself that the smart thing to do is find a campsite, pitch a tent and wait out the weather. And I do find a level campsite. But naw, I’m not that smart.
I continue hiking and I’m committed to reaching the summit. Now above the treeline, the thunder is accompanied by lightening. Not good! I’m the highest thing on that ridge, which makes me a target. I walk faster. There are several snow fields I have to cross, and I’m wishing I had my waterproof boots instead of low cut hiking shoes.
Snow on the mountain top. I had to cross several snow fields.
Just as I reach the summit at 12,490 feet the wind starts blowing really hard to the point that it is blowing me off the trail. And it starts hailing! The hail stones are a little bigger than pea size, but they still sting. The treeline on the downhill climb now is nowhere in sight. I’m cold, wet and keep getting blown off the trail.
Nice view before the storm.
Hypothermia quickly set in and I’m thinking that this is what I get for a grossly, stupid move. I knew better. So now I’m shaking, my leg muscles are doing weird things and I’m trying to hike as fast as I can.
After about 45 minutes of this the treeline comes into view. It still takes about 20 minutes to reach it, but once there, I feel safer. The decent is very steep, which doesn’t help my legs and I’m still shaking. Of all the things to go through my mind, I think that I’m glad I’m going down and not up.
The hail stops, but the trail is slippery with all the hail on it. The hypothermia is not as bad as my pants dry out and the sun comes out briefly. As I get close to the bottom, I decide there is no way I’m putting up a tent tonight.
At a road crossing, I pull out my phone and start looking for a hotel. Nothing. There are a bunch of buildings in the distance, but nothing comes up on either Google or Trip Advisor. I go back to the trail as it starts to rain.
It turns out the buildings in the distance is the Copper Mountain Resort. I’m now walking through the resort grounds. I walk down to the lodge from the trail and get a room.
Lesson learned today – I hope.
