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Adventures of the Spirit Eagle - Colorado CDT

  by Jim & Ginny Owen

August 8 - Campsite near Beartown Road - @ 18.0 miles - total 99.3

Ginny: We are having lunch by the ruins of an old cabin and mine at Stony Pass - another jeep road across the mountains. The sun is shining but the wind blows cold. We have beautiful views of rocky Canby Mountain and a slew of snowy mountains to the southeast. The morning was interesting. We woke to a thick coating of frost on everything. We dallied, waiting for the sun to warm and dry things up, but the bench we were on was protected too well. We should have been out on the meadow, after all. We left about 8:45, and wound our way on good pack trail up the west fork of Pole Creek. At the head was a huge herd of elk (about 60). We saw them before they saw us, but when they did, they panicked, running back and forth across a snowfield. Finally the herd split, with half going uphill and half downhill. At the pass, we had a choice of following the official route down the other side, then back 600 feet up to the ridge again, with pretty iffy trail, or just following along the Divide as Jim Wolf recommends. It turned out that the divide route was very easy. We followed a good game trail, most recently used by a herd of sheep. We had some climbing, but not too much. It was one of the easiest shortcuts I’ve been on. A word about the trail: posts are far apart and none say CDT, even at junctions. A lot of the trail has been very very wet and muddy and sometimes very eroded. Six inches wide and twelve inches deep. On the other hand, this first half has been easier to follow than I expected. The guide book keeps talking about faint trail and no trail and bushwhacking, yet usually there has been pretty good treadway, or cairns or posts on alpine terrain with no obvious tread.

Later, same day: After having said that, we managed to lose the trail. It made this into a very long day. Both guidebooks are very vague and we couldn’t place ourselves in the description, so we made matters worse by going the wrong way down a stream, realized we had descended too far, turned around and found the trail not 100 yards from where we lost it. Even when we found it, we couldn’t be sure we were on the right trail as there are several stock and game trails in the area. That was the trouble with the guidebook description, it said, "Ignore the posts and cairns, ignore the treadway, ignore the obvious route, look for eroded patches and obscure trails." Right. We heard a herd of frightened sheep in the rocks being threatened by some coyotes. We couldn’t see them, and couldn’t see or hear any sign of a shepherd. It took about an hour or more to get found again. Aside from a few brief sprinkles, the day stayed sunny but cool. We walked along the Divide for 3 ½ miles with incredible views in all directions. We saw a herd of something in a meadow across the way - could have been deer or elk or sheep. And there was one lone deer as we descended to Bear Creek below Humpback Pass. We thought about camping at one of the many ponds up on the Divide, but with the clouds, we worried about thunderstorms. Plus the swampy ground makes it harder to find good campsites. There is a lot of that with the snow still melting. We crossed several snow patches. There are lots and lots and lots of flowers: waist high larkspur, pink and yellow paintbrush, marsh marigolds, columbine, harebells, etc. I like the tiny alpine flowers too. There are some pretty pink and white ones. I hurt all over from too many miles. We may have saved a few miles this morning, but we lost them when we were wandering around looking for the trail. It was a pretty area though. Our campsite is near a major trailhead, with a jeep road up to Kite Lake, and several trails in the area. We are pretty close to the road, but no one is passing by tonight. There are cars parked above us though. This is the last pass with road access until we reach Wolf Creek Pass - I won’t miss the jeeps and ATVs a bit. There have been more of those than I expected. They’re not obnoxious, but they’re there. I was expecting more of a solitary wilderness experience. Though not as crowded as the AT, there are more people out here than I expected.

Jim: Stony Pass was a circus - a constant stream of tourons in their rented 4-wheel drives. I’m glad we didn’t stay too long. Actually, there were some hikers up there too, but we didn’t see them - I think we missed them while we were "lost". OK, so we got lost - we both had a brain cramp at the same time and took a left turn instead of a right turn. It wouldn’t have happened if we’d paid attention to the map - and the guidebook. But we weren’t paying attention so we paid the price - a couple extra non-productive and unwanted miles. On the other hand, it kept us off the ridge long enough for the thunderstorm to pass through before we went back up to the highest point in sight. We also got to listen to the coyotes killing the stray sheep - another lesson in life and death. Ginny wanted all the blame for this one - but she can’t have it. I was as much responsible for that wrong turn as she was - and maybe more so. After all - it’s always the male’s fault, isn’t it?? That’s one of the Rules. Again the last couple miles were downhill - steep downhill. But we were pushing hard to get off the ridgeline, so we got in at dusk - cold, wet and tired. And the water source when we got there was a pond - a green pond. But it didn’t matter - after 18+ miles nothing mattered except food and sleep.

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© Copyright 1997 Jim & Ginny Owen