Day 83: Town Food For The Win

September 5th, 2024

Mile Marker: 1788.5

Miles Hiked: 25

We woke up this morning a little after 6:30 AM and started getting ready. We figured we would shoot for over 23 miles today and hopefully get a little past Copper Mountain to get that much closer to Leadville.

We ate at the hotel breakfast and chatted with a lady sitting close to us for a bit. She asked us about hiking and was shocked to hear about the CDT. She was driving through from California to Nebraska. She then mentioned the sites in Utah and Colorado and how we have so much beauty in our own backyard.

I found myself agreeing with her. With all three thru hikes I have been on thus far, I have seen so much beauty right here in the United States. There is so much to see and explore here!

We headed out around 9 AM in high 30 degree temps. We were all so happy with our decision to stay in a hotel last night. It had stormed rough during the night and all the high mountains had a light dusting of snow. We were thankful that we didn’t have to pack up a wet tent.

The trail today took us through Silverthorne then out into neighborhoods in the mountains until eventually we turned onto a trail.

The trail was wet and muddy as we brushed the overgrown grass and felt clumps of mud caked to our shoes.

All I kept thinking was… at least it wasn’t raining.

As we were going up our first big climb, we came up and passed a couple hiking. They asked us questions about how far we were going and so on. The man then kept telling us “You guys are so awesome” and I felt myself smile. We thanked them as we hiked onward with uplifted spirits.

After we passed the treeline we had full views of the trail and the pass we were heading to. We would be going up close to 12,000 feet and then back down to 10,000 and back up to 12,000 today.

The trail was beautiful as we powered up the climb. Once up top we got full views of the mountains ahead. Rugged, green, and beautiful.

We decided to head down about .7 from the top and stopped at a water source for lunch. We all had leftover pizza from dinner last night and it was a perfect meal. I have forgotten how good pizza is on trail. So worth the extra weight.

We took our time eating and hanging out. We saw another SOBO who walked by and chatted for a while. He goes by the name of Cast Iron and I’m sure we will continue to see him around.

We then continued down the mountain for a couple thousand feet to the next water source and took a moment before we started the next big climb.

While here, two older gentlemen came through and were collecting mushrooms to eat. We chatted with them about the good eats and the trail. The guy said he was shocked we didn’t have video cameras out recording like the other hikers. We let him know that most of us don’t actually do vlogs since it is very time consuming. Eventually Journey told the man that this is my triple crown and the man replied “That’s quite an accomplishment.” In my head I thought, I’m not done yet, but I thanked him and genuinely feel more positive about the future.

We headed out and hiked up the last climb and kept a constant pace the whole way. Slow and steady.

Once above treeline again, we were hit with amazing views and plump marmots.

Once we reached the top, I felt really good. Probably the best I have in a while. We hiked down and had a snack before continuing down the mountain.

I was listening to a book recommended to me by a friend and classmate, Jenna, called Humankind. She has actually been telling me to read this book for a long time (Years) so I’m glad to finally make it happen. 😅

This book was all about people being innately good but how the media changes stories and plays us against one another. So far, a very interesting book.

I then eventually turned to music and played my little brother’s throwback playlist and found myself singing along to all the old classic songs from high school. I need to listen to this playlist more!

We then made it to Copper Mountain and as we turned on the pavement, had to decide if we wanted to go into a restaurant for dinner or continue on to camp.

I was wanting to eat my ramen that I was already cold soaking but the rest were leaning towards the restaurant so we went in.

However, I was happy we did. I immediately noticed they were playing a chiefs football game and I was happy to be representing my KC hat.

We all ordered burgers and fries and Journey was right, it was definitely better than ramen. It was a delight to have a full meal after a day of hiking.

Around 8:30 we started putting on our headlamps and packing our bags to head out to trail. We could see eyes watching us in the restaurant and if they didn’t know about the CDT, I’m sure were very curious.

We hiked out .5 miles until we found a nice spot on a hill. We can still hear the highway below us which is a bit weird but we are all sleepy and ready for some Z’s.

Tomorrow we will push to get into Leadville in the evening then zero Saturday. A lot of town meals today but it gives us such good energy!

Night Night.

Iz and Oz