Slippin’ & Slidin’ on the Trail

Miles Hiked 266.8 
Elevation 10,869 feet
Miles Hiked Today 13.9

The young woman who works at Salida Hostel offered to take me to the Colorado Trail trailhead.  That was a big worry off my shoulders.  I wasn’t sure how I was going to get back there.  We left the hostel at 9:30 and I was on the trail just a little bit before 10 AM.

As I began a road walk to get to the actual trail, a car pulled up on the forest service road. They were hikers and knew me, so they offered a ride to the trail, which I gladly accepted. Nice people. The wife was hiking alone while the husband ran support. She and I saw each other again on the trail when she passed me three hours later.

The hike started out with over a 3,000 foot elevation gain. The last part of that climb was about a 45° angle with loose rocks and stones. I kept slipping and had visions of my falling backwards and tumbling down the trail. At one point I had to go down on my knees to stop from sliding backwards. So far the Colorado Trail has been easy in comparison to the Appalachian Trail, but this climb sure rivaled it. Of course the right thing to do was to take a picture, but I was so glad to have made it that I didn’t even think about a photo.

At the top of the aforementioned climb were a group of mountain bikers who were waiting for me to summit so they could go down. They applauded when I got to the top, but I bet they were laughing when I was going up. Another missed photo opportunity. I should have videotaped them going down. It could not have ended well.

At the top was the junction of the Colorado Trail and Collegiate West Trail. A lot of hikers were on the latter, so I should start seeing more hikers now.

A few more shorter climbs were encountered and then it was down to my current campsite at Larspur Ditch. The young woman who gave me the ride to the trail is here along with one other woman. It’s cold out, so the old sleeping bag will get a workout tonight.