CT Cronica: The Sawatch Exit

27 Wednesday Jul 2011

Tags

Chalk Creek, Collegiates, Poncha Springs, Sangre de Cristo, Sawatch Range, Yogi Bear

You have your best sleep to date on the CT. You’ve been slow to acclimate to the hard earth but seem to be adapting to it. A 3 day hike is good for that. You wake up to the sound of Tumbleweed packing up his tent and note how refreshed you feel. You credit your soak in the hot springs after yesterday’s hike. Recovery was a key concern for you and you’re pleased to be able to check that off as a success. And you’re excited to begin the day as it marks the completion of half the CT segments, roughly half the mileage, and you’ll be leaving the huge Sawatch mountain range and entering into the San Juans range.

Typical of launching from a creek bed, the trail begins with a steep incline, affording you a nice view to your left of the chalk cliffs. The Chalk Creek TH is somewhat low in elevation for the Sawatch range at 8400 feet. This segment of the CT remains fairly low only reaching a height of 10,200 feet, but rides up and down like a roller coaster. This is hard on your legs but you take advantage of the flat segments to run much more than you expected.

Some of the running segments take you through picturesque old growth aspen groves. Many of these trees tower over 50 feet tall. You feel as if you’re running through a Hallmark card and you think forward to what the scenery will be in September. The experience doesn’t end with the trees either. Much of it comes from the ground. Trails layered with soft, moist dirt and pine needles present you with a dream-like running opportunity. You feel special and you take advantage of it. In fact, while you expected today to be slow due to fatigue, it’s your fastest pace of the weekend with a 19 minute mile average. That includes rest time; moving time averages 15 minutes per mile. You run the 18th mile in 11 minutes. Damn!

Today’s hike has been beyond belief, until you reach the end and you discover you mixed the CT trail head with the CDT trail head; the result being your car is parked 4 miles uphill on Monarch Pass. Dammit! So you pull what thru-hikers refer to as a “yogi” and hitch a ride. Fortunately 3 mountain bikers are shuffling a car across the road from you with the plan to drive up to Monarch Pass to start their ride. Tumbleweed and you owe a big special thanks to Brett, Shelly and Dan for squeezing you into their van for the ride to your car.

This works out well for you and next on the agenda is lunch. You ramble down the mountain pass toward Hwy 285 and stop at the intersection with Hwy 50 which is a little town called Poncha Springs. Here you gas up and try out a small hamburger joint. The burger is ok and the chocolate malt is pretty tasty. Not a bad lunch. Tumbleweed then shuffles you to your car for the end of another epic weekend adventure. You plan the logistics to meet up again next weekend in Poncha Springs and expect to have a third hiker – up from Texas – join you for segment 15. Let the good times roll.

CT Cronica: Yale to Princeton

26 Tuesday Jul 2011

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Colorado Trail

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Asian Palate, Bunny Lane, Chalk Creek, Mt. Princeton Hot Springs, puerco pibil, Saketini, Young Life

No out to eat for breakfast this morning. And no late wake up call. Tumbleweed is back on pace so you pack up your tent in the dark while he brews coffee. It was nice being able to sleep in the same spot two nights in a row, but after today’s hike you’ll setup camp at the Chalk Creek Trail Head near Nathrop. You could name this blog Silver Creek to Chalk Creek after the trail heads, but you instead title it after the peaks on either end that everyone you meet on the trail are hiking to.

Today’s hike will be 4 miles longer than yesterday, although over similar terrain. It has about the same elevation gain of around 4500 feet, but loses 1000 feet more at 5500. It has a long downhill finish but you’re not looking forward to it as the final 10K is on a road. You start off slow, which is fair since the first 3.5 miles takes you straight up to nearly 12,000 feet – the high point for the day. The following downhill is just as steep, so you don’t even consider running today. It’s a recovery hike.

The trail is very much like yesterday’s hike in terms of scenery. Mountain meadow flowers. Old growth aspen groves. Clear skies so you’re grateful for the shade under treeline. Without running, your pace is 2 minutes per mile slower overall than yesterday. With the added distance this makes for a 8.5 hour day. You exit the trail at a Young Life youth ranch and begin the long hot walk down the road to Chalk Creek.

Fortunately you pass by the Mt. Princeton General Store and take advantage to resupply your provisions. This carries you the remainder of the road to your trail head and new camp site. The last mile of road is about the cutest street ever, named Bunny Lane. Looking more like Disney World than Colorado, it’s lined with ideal cabins with flowers in every window – many available for daily and weekly rental. One cabin has woodpiles with a sign, “Organic Firewood.” As you consider what sort of premium such rarefied kindling sells for, you design a plan in your head to bring Karen up here for a weekend getaway.

After dipping your feet in the cold creek waters, you repeat yesterday’s recovery regimen and soak another hour in the Princeton Hot Springs. This is brilliant. They should put these hot springs near every trail head. Seriously, it’s a bit pricey, but the opportunity is too rare to pass up. And it definitely makes a difference. You woke up feeling pretty good this morning.

Refreshed, and clean, you head to the Asian Palate for dinner. Sushi isn’t your first choice in the backwoods of Colorado, but this place comes highly recommended from some local retirees you met on the trail. You’re a big fan of sushi and are incredibly surprised at how good this place is. And not just the food; this is a swanky hangout for a Saturday night. But don’t ask Tumbleweed. After 3 Saketinis, he probably doesn’t recall having been there. Based on Tumbleweed’s experience, you award this place a puerco pibil, and you didn’t even drink one. You both fall fast asleep after the hot springs and satisfying dinner. The next day will be your third hike in a row. Something you’ve never done before. You hope your body is up to the task. But instead of worrying over that, you drift off with thoughts of Bunny Lane in your head.