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Adventures of the Spirit Eagle - Colorado CDT

  by Jim & Ginny Owen

August 2 - campsite on Cochetopa Creek - 13.4 miles, total 22.8 miles

Ginny: Lunch break near a stock pond along Van Tassell Gulch - tired but happy. Jim’s feet are badly blistered. We’re not hungry but need to get rid of the excess food I overpacked. The two campers last night were two women out doing the whole Colorado Trail. They are taking their time and have met a lot of other CT hikers, including several former AT hikers. They have had a lot of rain this past week and were happy to be doing a short day to meet friends today.

The hike has been beautiful along the edge of Cochetopa Park - miles and miles of open meadows covered with grass, rabbit bush, wildflowers and cows. Cochetopa Dome to the north and Sawtooth to the west dominate, although there were occasional glimpses of snowy peaks farther south and north. To the south are rolling hills covered with aspen, firs and spruce. We had a close encounter with an unhappy herd of cows at Manchego Creek. We must have scared them - they bawled for ten minutes. We saw one deer and one chipmunk, no other wildlife except occasional birds and lots of flies and mosquitos. The clouds moved in by 11:00, but no rain so far (12:15). We’ll get water here and keep on climbing. Today has been mostly little ups and downs (200' up and 200' down), but still we puff and pant. So far today has all been on old roads - occasionally used evidently. We ran into two jeeps on the trail today. One was driven by an older couple who were sectioning the Colorado Trail. They rapidly lost interest in us when they found out we were hikiing the CDT rather than the Colorado Trail.

Later: campsite on a bench above Cochetopa Creek. Very dark clouds and occasional sprinkles. We moved our gear into the tent, but not ourselves yet. The hike along Cochetopa Creek was lovely. There were lots of beaver dams and lodges. We saw a couple of fishermen too. We stopped for a long overdue water break and saw a moose in the willows below us. We stared at each other for quite a while before Jim and I moved on and let him get back to feeding. We stopped a little earlier than we had planned, but Jim and I were both tired and ready for a cold bath. It was wonderful. So far the trail has been good and easy to follow. There are few trail markers — about one per mile — but the guidebook description is good enough to follow. The occasional markers are mostly reassurance, especially when the map and the trail don’t agree. We ran into one section yesterday where the maps lied outright. It was obvious where the trail went (we were following a dirt road at the time.) Jim Wolf’s description called for a bushwhack and he merely mentioned that we should ignore the new logging roads through the section. The new guidebook told us to follow the road, so we did as it was easier than trying to bushwhack through new growth, and fortunately it worked.

Jim: Alarm at 0500 again, but we didn’t get up until 0645. Just can’t seem to get in sync with my electronic rooster so I may have to reset it. Breakfast, pump water, pack and out at 0815. Finally met the neighbors - Nancy and Twigg (?). They’re thruhiking the Colorado Trail - slowly - about 7 mile per day average - they’re in no hurry. We crossed Cochetopa Park - more up and down than yesterday and lots of road walking (all dirt roads). Lunch at Van Tassel Gulch (and contrary to the latest, up-to-date guidebook - it’s NOT dry). We had a long climb over the ridge then down into Cochetopa Creek where we saw lots of beaver dams and a moose. I expected elk, but the moose came as a surprise. Camped at 10100 ft on a bench above the creek. Total 13.3 miles for the day. It started raining right after we finished dinner so we were in the tent early again. Hung the food again - we’re still below treeline. This was my day for problems - no energy, hard to breathe, headache, slow. I may have to start on the Diamox tomorrow but I hope not. But we climb tomorrow - 12000+ ft tomorrow.

Blazing is different here - only at turns or junctions or across long stretches of meadow. And that’s the Colorado Trail markings. We’ve only seen a couple CDT markers. There are miles long stretches with no indication whatever as to which trail we’re on. Map and compass skills are an absolute necessity.

Water - because something’s labelled a creek, draw, gulch, whatever doesn’t mean there’s water there. There are long stretches without water so we pump as much as we can every chance we get. We’re each carrying 2 quarts of water. Because of the altitude, we are trying to drink every chance we get. Every time we stop for breath, which is often, we get out the water bottles.

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© Copyright 1997 Jim & Ginny Owen