Day 84: The Merge Of The Colorado Trail and CDT

September 6th, 2024

Mile Marker: 1811.3

Miles Hiked: 25

We woke up this morning to temperatures around 38 degrees. Needless to say, it was cold. This is probably going to be our new normal for Colorado and Northern New Mexico.

We started out a bit earlier around 7 AM with hopes to get into Leadville early evening. We set out at a fast pace to help warm us up.

Almost instantly we noticed new CDT markers paired with the Colorado Trail (CT) markers. We are now official on the trail that both thru hikes merge for the next few hundred miles.

We were excited for this as it means a better developed trail and markers!

Today we had just one gradual big climb, then a long descent to Tennessee Pass. This felt totally doable.

We kept moving for the first seven miles to get the hard part of the day over with. It was beautiful and led to some outstanding views of the mountains before us and there was a smooth trail and cairns the whole way there, just magical.

We reached KoKomo pass and started our long descent downward.

We ran into two women coming up with two dogs that we chatted with for a while. One of the dogs was adorable as it sprinted to find a stick and dropped it in front of Journey, wagging its tail in anticipation with excited big brown eyes. Journey played along and they played fetch while we talked with the women. Telling them what we were doing and answering their questions about trail.

After about 15 minutes we wished each other the best and continued on our way. It was a lovely downhill stroll back into the lush forest.

Eventually we were hiking in the aspens and listening to their little claps in the wind. I love being in the trees.

And I also loved going down a gentle downhill slope. Finally, my knees didn’t hurt from the steep slope or rocks that we usually hiked on. This felt like the PCT and my body was happy.

At the bottom of the descent we came across Camp Hale, which is the 10th mountain division training camp for World War Two. We went through a few of the rooms and tried to imagine what it was like training here as Journey described the scene.

We then had about 5 miles to reach our end point for the day, which was a gradual uphill. It felt easy compared to the climbs we had been doing. We all cruised easily.

Once we made it to Tennessee pass we noticed a converted van coming out of the trailhead and stuck our thumbs out. Just our luck, the lady pulled over and had all 4 of us jump in her van with her two kids.

They asked us multiple questions about our hike and what we were doing, I loved how she got her kids involved with asking questions and keeping them informed. I always wonder if kids meet us and then later do the trail themselves, if we plant seeds in their heads.

We then made it to the beautiful town of Leadville and our air bnb. We were all super excited as we walked through the house, it was awesome and just what we wanted. Especially the kitchen! Journey and I have missed cooking our own meals and having a copious amount of vegetables.

Since it was already 5 PM by the time we arrived, we decided to do a quick load of laundry and went to eat at Quincy’s steakhouse. I wasn’t fancying a steak but ordered vegetable lasagna, salad, potato, and bread.

It was so yummy. 😋

We all walked back with full bellies and sleepy eyes.

I also received an email from a fellow friend of mine who helped me organize getting Sara to a Deaf school in Ambo, Ethiopia. I know a few of you have asked about her and I was thrilled to get an update.

Sara was struggling with learning as she had a detached retina and was not able to see well. It was funded for her to get surgery in Addis Abeba and with glasses, she is able to see a lot better. She missed school because of these visits to Addis and because she has an issue with her heart so it was decided that she will repeat grade 2 this year and start fresh.

I finished the email with tears in my eyes. I felt like I left things hanging with her because I got so preoccupied with grad school. I still, even four years later, feel like I have unfinished business to do in Ethiopia. I hope after this trail I can look at new opportunities to get involved and eventually visit again.

I’m excited to zero tomorrow and mellow out even though we just took a zero, I appreciate these off days to reset especially as the next few sections are going to be hard!

Sleep well.

Iz and Oz