About 8 years ago, I somehow formed the delusion that I could through-hike the Colorado Trail. The CT runs from Denver to Durango for 485 miles, including about 89,000 feet uphill. The Colorado Trail Foundation publishes a trail guide, which is updated every year. When I first had the idea to do it, I had never even backpacked. I put a fair amount of study into it, looking into what equipment I’d need, how to save weight, what sorts of food to carry, how to arrange resupply.
Then I took my first backpacking trip, just one night. I had a borrowed tent, a borrowed backpack that was a bit too small, and poorly adjusted as well. It was my first just-add-boiling-water backpacker meal. The first time sleeping on the ground in half a lifetime.
That pretty much ended any thought of embarking on a 485-mile hike. Still, I occasionally thumb through the guidebook.
How to eat an elephant
Okay. So I’m not fit enough physically (or mentally, for that matter) to take a five or six-week hike. Why can’t I do it segment by segment? How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. It may take me a while, many years perhaps, to do all 28 segments. So what am I waiting for? I can’t finish what I don’t start.
Segment 1: Waterton Canyon Trailhead to South Platte River Trailhead
Sunday, June 22
I had Genae drop me off at Waterton Canyon in the morning, and asked Michael to collect me at the other end at 4 pm. I was a bit unsure about the schedule. I didn’t want him to have to wait for me, but I didn’t want to find myself with a couple of hours to kill at the end. As it turned out, I made it to the Platte an hour before pickup, so I had time to relax with my feet in the river.
The guidebook says it’s 16.8 miles from start to finish, but Caltopo maps shows it as 15.7. That’s quite a difference. I don’t hike with a GPS and my phone thinks I only walked 5.7 miles, so I can’t confirm the distance.
It was nice and cool in the morning. My typical hike starts at a higher elevation than I’ll reach on this hike, so I didn’t expect to get much relief from the expected 90+ degrees forecast for Denver.
The first six and a half miles or so is along a road that belongs to Denver Water. It leads to the Strontia Springs Dam. The road surface is very nice, not that it matters. Although there’s no vehicular traffic, there is a steady stream of folks walking, running, hiking, fishing, and riding bikes. There are rest areas all through the canyon, and many signs telling folks how to treat the wildlife, particularly the bighorn sheep.
The trail, then, really doesn’t start until after the dam where the road ends. The next mile and a quarter or so is what the guidebook calls the first “challenging climb.” The gain is about 650′, so about 500′ per mile. I’ve never hiked where mountain bikes are allowed before now. This section of trail looks ideal for biking. The trail surface is free of rocks and roots. At the top of this first climb is Lenny’s Rest. I suspect many of the bikers turn around here. I encountered more bikers on that mile and a quarter of trail than I did the rest of the hike.
From here the trail descends to Bear Creek, which is roughly the midpoint of the hike. I was there by 10:30, which was a bit early for lunch. But I figured it would be the best place for my picnic, as I expected to find no views and this is the only stream we would cross. Also on the plus side, my beer was still cold. So lunchtime it was. Bear Creek here is not much more than a trickle. While I was there, I met two pairs of hikers on the first day of their adventures.
I talked to several people. I found it irresistible to ask the obvious question: Are you through-hiking?
One guy, retired, living in Waco, was doing segments. His method makes for the simplest logistical situation possible: he picks a trailhead and does an out-and-back hike. No heavy backpack, no arranging rides, no day after day after day of eating gruel out of a bag. On the other hand, he hikes it twice: once in each direction. He has already done all of segments 3 and 4, did half of 1 today, and will do 2 tomorrow.
Another guy, this one from St. Louis, was making his second attempt. His first try, two years ago, ended when he suffered a stress fracture of a leg near Copper Mountain. He planned on completing the hike in four weeks.
One of the couples I met at Bear Creek started planning for this trip six months ago. It was the first time for both of them, but she had done the Appalachian Trail a while back. She’s a teacher. She had to quit her job to do the AT – it took her four months – but they’ll finish the CT in five weeks, and no such drastic measures are necessary.
Approaching the other end, I ran into a guy from Englewood. He hikes this trail regularly, but he only does the five miles from the South Platte River trailhead. It’s a pleasant forest hike, but there are few views and no water. It’s easy access from the southern suburbs, I guess, but an unexceptional piece of trail.
The cool of morning was but a memory. The last two hours were a bit on the toasty side. The forest is somewhat sparse, not providing much shade. The trail primarily traversed steepish slopes, so there weren’t many places to take a pause without standing on the trail. And once we got to the top we were greeted by not so much a cool breeze as a warm wind. Not exactly refreshing.
As I said earlier, I made it to the Platte an hour before Michael was scheduled to arrive. It was quite pleasant by the river. Several people were there with inner tubes. I should just say “flotation devices,” but that’s a bit vague.
For through-hikers, this is the only water source for another ten miles or so. I drank the last of my two liters while my feet were in the river. By now, my last 200ml of water was pretty warm. I held it in the river for a few minutes, hoping to cool it off, but I wasn’t that patient. I filled one of my bottles here and had a few sips, but this is not my usual sort of refill spot. There were quite a few people in the water. Just downstream of me, on the opposite bank, was a family with a girl in diapers. Michael had water in the car, so I didn’t need to drink the (perfectly safe) Platte water.
My original plan was to take a side trip to a place to overlook Strontia Springs Reservoir. The spur trail is not far after the end of the nice road. I didn’t expect the spur trail to have a sign, but I did expect to see it. I was either oblivious or the trail is somewhat hidden. That would have added an extra mile to the hike, but I’d still have made my rendezvous in time.
This is not the sort of trail I’d normally hike, and only did it because it’s part of the CT. It’s a pleasant forest hike that I’d have enjoyed more had the weather been a few degrees cooler. I probably should have done it a month ago. It is convenient for folks who don’t want to drive far from Denver and if I was a bike rider, I’d enjoy the road portion through Waterton Canyon.
