We woke up early for last minute preparations, email checks, breakfast, and all sorts of other sundry business thru-hikers do before a big hike. The Colorado Trail starts just a short drive from my parent's house. We had debated simply hiking out the front door, but thought why bother. We had also earlier elected to abandon the widely panned opening section, Waterton Canyon. All the thru-hikers dislike it intensely. We decided instead to go South and begin our hike at Roxborough State Park.
So we all piled into my parent's two cars and began the drive. Greeted by deer, sunshine, and brightly lit red rocks at the entrance, the day looked like a fortuitous start to our journey. Only 480 miles to go! We piled out, took the requisite, "this is the start of your big hike" pictures, and then we started up the trail. My parents and Ipping hiked up with us for the first 20 minutes or so. Then we put down our packs and took EVEN MORE group shots! Seriously though, we were all having fun.
The trouble didn't start till much later. The trail from Roxborough State Park to the Colorado Trail was certainly much prettier than Waterton Canyon, but proved to be a poor choice. Instead of climbing one hill for the day, we had to climb two. And the hill at Roxborough put us high up on a ridge right in the path of the Eastern Sun. So we got fried all morning AND all afternoon! We only managed to get 8 miles into the trail before we stopped for the evening. This trail was looking to be A LOT harder than we thought.
We did have some highlights though. The weather was nice enough that we could sleep under the stars. Which was probably a good thing because I don't think any of us had the energy to set it up. Dave also managed to kill a fly with his fart. I didn't believe it either until he showed me the corpse.
You can read my father's account of the day here.
So we all piled into my parent's two cars and began the drive. Greeted by deer, sunshine, and brightly lit red rocks at the entrance, the day looked like a fortuitous start to our journey. Only 480 miles to go! We piled out, took the requisite, "this is the start of your big hike" pictures, and then we started up the trail. My parents and Ipping hiked up with us for the first 20 minutes or so. Then we put down our packs and took EVEN MORE group shots! Seriously though, we were all having fun.
The trouble didn't start till much later. The trail from Roxborough State Park to the Colorado Trail was certainly much prettier than Waterton Canyon, but proved to be a poor choice. Instead of climbing one hill for the day, we had to climb two. And the hill at Roxborough put us high up on a ridge right in the path of the Eastern Sun. So we got fried all morning AND all afternoon! We only managed to get 8 miles into the trail before we stopped for the evening. This trail was looking to be A LOT harder than we thought.
We did have some highlights though. The weather was nice enough that we could sleep under the stars. Which was probably a good thing because I don't think any of us had the energy to set it up. Dave also managed to kill a fly with his fart. I didn't believe it either until he showed me the corpse.
You can read my father's account of the day here.
CT DAY 2: A Gameplan for the Heat
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