In between 14ers, I went to CDT SOBO Trail Daze in Leadville, held appropriately on Friday the 13th. This was the event’s 5th year, but I wasn’t able to attend while hiking the CDT SOBO in 2019, as I was already somewhere in NM. There were a lot of Trail Day events that hadn’t fit into my SOBO hiker plans, so in the past 2 years, I’d made a special effort to finally go to the 2 big ones: AT and PCT Trail Days. Thus, while I was already in CO and had wheels, I wasn’t about to miss this one. What a contrast! As opposed to thousands of attendees and hundreds of vendors, this cute little gathering had about 70 people and 5 or 6 vendors. That’s still huge considering that it’s the only one aimed at SOBO’s and also because the CDT is the most quiet of the Triple Crown trails.
I met up with many hikers I’d bumped into during my travels along the CDT, from Canada to Colorado. In that time, I’d visited 4 trail towns (East Glacier, Bozeman, Jackson Hole, and Pinedale) and hiked 3 common sections of the CDT, albeit alternate routes. So I guess it was no wonder a few folks thought I was actually hiking the CDT this year. Ironically, I did start my summer at the Waterton US\CA border monument, the CDT’s Northern Terminus. I just was going north on a different trail at the time…but still ended up going south. I guess I just can’t help being a SOBO.
One of the best reunions was with Alex, my hiking buddy on the GDT. I’d last seen him on the epic day we hiked Northover Ridge in Canada. The permit situation meant that our tramily had to split up, but we’d all planned to join again at the end of section C in Golden. The fires forced us to abandon the trail prematurely and I never got to see him again. But as fate would have it, Trail Daze brought us together for a last hike. He’d flown from Canada to WY to hike the CDT south to Leadville, before heading back to Australia. He’d been on a tear for a few years, completing the PCT in ’23 (where we first briefly crossed paths), then working various jobs in ski areas from Leadville, CO to Canada, and finally the hikes this summer. I also ran into hikers Wilder (CDT19), 9Lives and Peg Leg (who I met on the Florida Trail), Tigger and a whole bunch more I’m blanking on now.
It can be seen from the pictures that this event was a Mellie-fest. I had to laugh when Alex showed up with his nearly matching Mellie…completely unplanned, since I’d bought mine a week earlier. I guess we just had similar tastes. Melanzana was selling factory second Hoodies at the event (no appointment!), and they were flying off the racks. I might have bought a few more. The party later moved to a local bar, where I had one of the best nights dancing to a live band in a long time. The hiker funk inside the bar was pretty strong, but none of us cared (sorry bartenders!). I stayed until the band’s last set, but managed to only consume 2 drinks all night. To round off a completely hikertrash day, I crashed in my car while it charged for free overnight, behind the hospital. I went to bed around 1 am and got up to hike a 14er at 6 am…rough!
Saturday, September 14th, 2024
CO 14ers: 35 of 53
Distance RT: 11.25 miles (plus 8 miles from previous attempt)
Elevation gain/loss: 5600′
Starting Elevation: 10,320′
Summit: 14,007′
Rank: 51 of 53
Location: Sawatch Range, near Minturn/Leadville/Vail
Route: Half Moon TH to Half Moon Pass to North Ridge, Class 2
Companion: Alex
Mount Holy Cross…the only 14er that I had to go back to complete, so far. When Alan and I tried it a week before, we got turned around by rain, thunder and bad visibility. It was only 9 am, but a front moved in early. We were 1.5 miles from the summit…which sounds close but can be an eternity. It would have taken us at least another hour to get to the summit, plus hours more to get back. It was a good call to turn around and an even better lesson that peaks can always wait for a more favorable day. Fortunately, we were still able to hike to the summit of Mt. Sherman later that same day.
On my second attempt, the other member of my A-Team, Alex, joined in the fun. After my night out on the town and a not so great couple hours of sleep in the back of my car, we started the hike even later than Alan and I had. Lucky for us, the weather was perfect all day. I’ll spare you all the trail details, since I relived it twice myself already. It was a bit of a trudge repeating my steps for most of the hike, but at least having a good companion made the miles go by more easily. It was so fun to reconnect with Alex on a Colorado 14er. From northern California to Canada to Colorado, our friendship spanned a lot of miles. Hopefully some day I’d be able to visit him in Australia.
This was the last 14er I had left to do in this range. I completed all the ones in the Sawatch, Mosquito, 10 mile, Collegiate and Front ranges. The only ones left for me to do were in the Elk, Sangre de Cristo and San Juan ranges…mostly all the hard ones. After returning to Leadville, Alex and I made a nice dinner at the hostel where he’d worked and we tried to come up with a plan for the next few days. We both wanted to head to the San Juans. He wanted to hike more of the CDT through that section and I wanted to hike 14ers, of course. We also hoped to meet up with Alan in Lake City. But a storm was rolling through for the next 3 days, thus we had time to kill in towns. Alex had a few things to wrap up in Leadville and I had a hankering for a visit to the nearby Cottonwood Hotsprings. I’d never been and the timing seemed perfect. The next day, Sunday, Alex stayed in Leadville while I went to soak. The Hotsprings had a great deal: car-camping and 24 hr access to the pools for $66. Alex planned to hitch to Buena Vista on Monday, where I’d grab him and we’d drive to Lake City. Everything worked out perfectly and I really enjoyed the hotsprings!