Section 14: First 14'er on the CDT, Animals, Rain, and Sunsets (25 photos, 3 videos)

Section 14 is 99.8 miles long and runs from Highway 149 to Monarch Pass / Highway 50 with access to Salida, CO. September 13th - 17th.

Day 82, 0-Day in Lake City

I had a lazy morning at the Raven Roost hostel, made a huge omelette and edited photos in my bunk. The owner then asked all guests to vacate from 10-12 so he can clean the place so I checked the hiker box and found a new Frogg Toggs jacket that had the hood cut off. This was perfect since my jacket body was pretty torn up but the hood was OK so I Frankenstein’ed them together to have one solid rain jacket again. I then nabbed the most well-maintained loaner bicycle which was a hot pink womens bike and I rode to the other end of town to do laundry and shop at the slightly less-of-a-rip-off grocery store. When I got back, most of the CT’ers were checking out and I decided it would be a perfect time to chat with Sea Lion since the hostel was empty. We talked for about two hours and I got a video tour of the new apartment she got us in Austin, TX. A new group of CT’ers arrived and I hung out with them for the night. We utilized the fire pit in the courtyard and hopped on the loaner bikes to go get some snacks at the gas station. It was a great town day.

Day 83, 11.6 miles to NOBO marker 990.5 (1,583.5 overall)

I slept in until about 8am and then went to the little cafe next door to devour a breakfast sandwich and a homemade cinnamon bun. One of the CT’ers, Candy, was making pancakes when I got back to the hostel and having a second breakfast is always nice. I started hitching at 11 and was having bad luck for almost two hours. One group of section hikers said they’d gladly give me a ride when they left town in a few hours and I hoped I wouldn’t have to take them up on that offer. I was hoping to get at least 15 miles down the trail to a cluster of trees that, at least on the topo maps, looked inviting to hammock. Finally Jen gave me a ride and said she saw me earlier but felt bad how nobody had helped me out yet. Some more fun conversations on the way up and I was back to hiking before 2pm. I got some water, took a fast food break, and then after resuming the walk I passed Airplane Mode. We sat down in the middle of the expanse on top of Snow Mesa and to share stories and catch up. She flipped up North at the town of Creede which was only about 20 miles away, but she decided to instead finish the CDT at Pagosa Springs. This way she would see the San Juans to close it out instead of a long road walk. As time went on I realized that my planned campsite would require some night hiking and the trees may have been killed by that invasive mountain beetle. So I stopped short of my goal and set up camp on some nice, solid, living trees. A nearby elk was bugling and it lulled me to sleep right around 9pm.

Day 84, 27.9 miles to Ant Creek (1,611.4 overall)

I was up at 730am and blasted up a 1,000 foot climb which rewarded me with a view of San Luis Peak, the first 14,000 foot mountain that I would be tackling on this hike. There were some cool jagged columns up on a hill to the East and then I passed a hunter who told me that rain was on the way this afternoon. I passed Newt as I rounded the final bowl before the climb to the summit and we chatted for a bit. He was also nearing the end of his hike. I flew past some other hikers on my way up to the 14,014ft summit of San Luis Peak and lucked out that some section hikers brought a sign that they let me borrow to pose with. I chatted with the others for a bit, ate a lunch, and then decided to high tail it out of there before the ominous clouds started to dump rain and thunder. Before dropping down below tree line, another hunter told me an aggressive bull moose was down there and chased him away. I paid extra attention the whole way down Stewart Creek but never saw the moose.

I walked past a few groups of hikers at the trailhead and hoped to chat them up for some food or drinks but none seemed that chatty. I was now in a commonly hiked Colorado section where nobody thinks you are a hungry thru-hiker. The trail then connects to a bunch of farm roads full of cow pies and signs riddled with bullet holes. Some distant clouds hung around Cochetopa Dome which looked pretty cool and then the trees began to thin out. After blasting ten miles without a break I stopped at Cochetopa Creek, which required a shallow ford, and then had a snack and water break. After a few more miles I again decided to stop a little short of my goal to take advantage of a cold water source at Ant Creek which also had a fire pit and a cozy canopy of trees. I started up a fire to enjoy as I cooked and ate dinner, read my book for a little, and got to bed nice and early.

Day 85, 30.6 miles to NOBO marker 1049 (1,642.0 overall)

Back on the farm roads I soon crossed Monchego Creek which had a dead cow in it. It was pretty gruesome, click here if you want to see and know more about it. The skies remained cloudy as I kept on cruising down the dirt roads and they snaked through the flat and open countryside. After a few miles it began to go up some elevation and dip back into tree coverage which is where I ran into Papa Otes again. We caught up for awhile and traded beta for the upcoming terrain. I took a lunch and water break at Lujan Creek which is also where the clouds broke and the sunshine made it warm enough to hike in my Space Jammer shorts. Along another dirt road that was heavily populated with fancy hunting camps, a duo in a pickup truck tossed me a Coors! I believe this was the third trail magic I received after nearly 1,700 miles on the CDT. Soon the trail returned to an actual trail instead of dirt road and I kept on crushing some miles. I stopped for dinner at a small trickle of water and then watched a stunning sunset unfold from a meadow on top of Long Branch Baldy. I didn’t want to night hike but I had that beer from the hunters and set a timelapse of this sunset and it was worth it. I barely made it to camp without a headlamp but it was dark and I made my goal of at least 30 miles!

Day 86, 28.1 miles to NOBO marker 1077.1 (1,670.1 overall)

I was up and on trail at 745 and was entertained by some good views, yellow aspens, and a cluster of pines that all had a bend in their trunk. It looked like they were doing a synchronized dance. There was a long and steady drop down to Tank Seven Creek where I stopped to water up, have second breakfast, and chat with a group of bikepackers. The trail got steep going away from the creek and I made a mistake of listening to a foodie podcast about pizza. It made me hungry and crave pizza but that obviously was not an option. I had to dodge some more bikepackers and some dirtbikers on the climb. The sun was in full blast as I reached Windy Peak and then it started hailing. On the way down I passed Legs (from Glacier NP) and then Gnome (from Glacier AND from the infamous 16-hour Trail Magic Party on the Appalachian Trail.

Colorado has more ruins of cabins than you can shake a stick at.

At the bottom, a flagman had a group of dirtbikers stopped from turning off the trail going down the road that was being repaved. He told me to stop as well but I laughed and kept going down the trail. I bushwhacked around looking for a snowmobile warming hut but never did find it. The trail snaked around some beautiful ridgelines as I caught another beautiful sunset. It was pretty windy on the exposed trail so I kept moving to stay warm instead of stopping to enjoy the sunset again. Back in tree coverage, as I was searching for hammock sites, I saw a group of deer mulling around. I got some photos of them and soon found two good, living, trees to hang my hammock. Being right next to Monarch Pass I also had cell service so I caught up on emails and talked with my fiancée, Sea Lion.