Kokomo – The Walk

Quick update everyone! I passed a quad zero in Silverthorne. It’s 4 full days with no miles of trails, something I’ve never done before. The longest I’ve ever been stuck in a city vortex was 3 days ago, when I took shelter in Hot Springs, North Carolina, because Hurricane Ian was coming over the mountains. This time I was trying to acclimatize to the altitude.

Escape the vortex

I finally left town on the morning of day 4. I skipped a small stretch of the trail because it seemed daunting on my not-quite-ready legs. See, although I had hiked the first 35 miles on that scary section towards Silverthorne, it was also a slow and painful section for me as my legs didn’t have enough miles on them for this season’s hike. I loved taking care of my new granddaughter and wouldn’t trade it for all the miles in the world. But it did affect my preparation this year. So while I was in the city, I walked as much as I could while overcoming altitude sickness.

Saturday morning I returned to the trail and immediately started up the hill. Fortunately, that section of the trail was heavily used by mountain bikers. Now, I’ve encountered plenty of mountain bikers on the trails in state parks back home. But they have nothing to do with Colorado mountain bikers. These beasts ride uphill for over 7 miles and gain over 2000 feet! Then they run down, run to the other side! How fast!

I say fortunately, because that meant there were no really scary stretches for us hikers. It was necessary to graduate the gradient so that cyclists could handle it. There were some steep sections, but never more than 100 metres. There were some rocky sections, but again, not for long. And the trail was always wider than a foot wide (sometimes on other stretches of this trail, the steep slopes we traversed have very narrow trails).

Altitude problems

Looking down the valley from Searle Pass.

Again? Well, yes and no. My hike through this section took longer than most hikers. But again, I’m not completely up to speed with the altitude and I’m still building sections of trail. I camped about 500 feet lower than I had originally planned the first night because of the saying «climb high, sleep low» in high altitude sports. I discovered that as the altitude increased my legs became more tired, even though the slope was similar. As I descended, the hike became easier, not only because I was descending, but because the altitude was reducing and I was getting more oxygen to my lungs and therefore my muscles.

Trail closure

The sky along the horizon is gray and gloomy with smoke from wildfires.

I’m not sure you’ve heard, but Colorado is on fire this summer. They had a year with very little snow, which means everything is dry. Part of the CDT is closed due to the Willow Fire. As I was coming down the mountain, some hikers told me that Leadville was evacuated because the fire had doubled in size in a week. When I finished this section, I was lucky enough to be taken by a retired woman. We drove straight through Leadville, but it seemed like there were still a lot of people around and the stores were open. She dropped me off at the next town.

On our way, several roads leading up into the mountains were blocked by emergency vehicles and rangers. I was worried about getting a room because those hikers also told me that they had evacuated people to this town. When we got into town, the front desk at my very expensive hotel (the most I’ve ever paid for a Super 8) told me that only some parts of Leadville had been evacuated.

Smoke spiraling from the Willow Fire.

I’m now south of where I need to get back on track. I’m hoping to find a trail angel in town who can take me to the south end of the closed trail. I’m going to walk through the Collegiate Churches! I’ll end up back in town halfway through the section, because I’m still building those sections of the trail and the section is too long to complete in one go. I would have a hard time carrying enough supplies!

I’ll try to check back next time I’m in town. Keep your fingers crossed he can give me a ride in the morning!

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