Where these rappers never been before.

Day NinetyTwo, September 17, 15 Miles
At Mile 1842, Poptart 676/1000
COLD last night. Like -6C cold. Ridiculous. Also very moist, which left a layer of frost on everything. Used my bivy sack for half the night till its trapping of moisture proved counter-productive enough to sacrifice it's extra warmth. My sleeping bag froze instead.
I did, however, refuse to sacrifice my fleece jumper pillow or balaclava thigh warmer for their more heat trappingly effective purposes. Spent the last couple hours of the night lightly shivering. If that's the worst we get though, my decision not to buy a warmer bag was the right one. Oh how I hope it does not get colder.
Wore almost everything for the 5 miles to the highway. Got real hot real quick. Won't do that again. Andy, RT's friend from the PCT, was awaiting our arrival at Spring Creek Pass. Patient and no doubt sleepy from his pre-5am wakeup to drive down from Leadville he proved to be great fun, invaluable help and tireless in his watching and shuttling us around Lake City doing our boringass town chores. Unfortunately we missed the local breakfast buffet by two days. Apparently they stop serving it after Labour Day. You just know it was unbelievable. In the confusion, we left town only having one small meal. Myself and Hawkeye softly requesting the local BBQ place on the way out, we did remember to get some Brandy for the Juans and back up to the pass. Andy hiked with us for a couple of miles, with we quizzing him on his recent completion of the Leadville 100, then ran back to his car. Many thanks for everything Andy. Heavy pack with 6+ days of food but we made it to the Yurt. Yeah, that's right, a yurt. It's left standing and open during the summer months for CDT/CT hikers to use. And use we are.

I guess seeing is...

See what I mean. And I take bollocks photos.

Tick allow.

Day NinetyOne, September 16, 27 Miles
At Mile 1827, Poptart 672/1000
Up all morning to San Luis Peak, 14,014ft. First and likely only fourteener of the trail. Perfect day weather-wise, amazing view from the top, of course. Up and down afternoon, hiked late and cowboyed on Snow Mesa at 12,300ft. No snow. Everything today was huge, one of my favourites for sure.

Aspen.

Day Ninety, September 15, 32 Miles
At Mile 1800, Poptart 660/1000
Easy day, lots of road walking afternoon was almost like the GDB for a while. The Aspens are in full colour and are amazing. Caught RT at lunch, then Fugitive caught us mid-afternoon. Nice sunset, nice to be able to throw miles easily for a change.

New Zealand, Rocks!!!!

Day EightyNine, September 14, 28 Miles
At Mile 1768, Poptart 650/1000
Mostly forested divide walking all day. Kind of like Oregon. Sometimes there were meadows. Looks like this section will be easy, comparatively. Nice for a change before we delve into the San Juans. Last time we saw Starman he mentioned that a mountain biker he had spoken too had referred to the excessive rockiness of the trail lately as "like going over baby heads". That is a truly horrible thought. So why does the phrase 'baby heads' not leave my head? Why?

Two to too one 1.

Day EightyEight, September 13, 9 Miles
At Mile 1740, Poptart 640/1000
Another drag assy attempt to leave town. We're getting really good/bad at this. RT left early to do his extra five miles on the highway. In a series of food related building stops Hawkeye, Kombucha and myself went Coffee Shop, Safeway, Chinese, got really tired and wanted to nap, Natural Food Supermarket and finally, WalMart. Got a new camera which is pretty much exactly the same as my old one, the only difference being that it actually works. Not bad for $90, love America for that. Also got a new watch for $5 feat. Spiderman. My Rs350 Nepali watch had finally called it quits after yet another unintended drenching/drop/exposure to below-freezing temperatures. Saw Coach for the first time in forever and Lost and Jack too. Got some $1 Limeaid from WalMart but didn't try 'n drink it all at once, we all know what happened last time I did that vomit. My last town duty was to see where my shoes had been sent. Not good news. Not sure what to do about that.
Hitch was a pain but we got back up to Monarch Pass in time to see Fugitive who'd been hauling to catch the H.E.R.D. and a rendezvous with his brother. Back to the CDT, beautiful trail and easy hiking. Kombucha fell over. The Sun set magnificently. Purple and orange, lighting up the sky, the trees and my life.
Happy as usual.
Fin?

Missed da furst.

Day EightySeven, September 12, 0 Miles
At Mile 1731, Poptart 632/1000
First zero since Lander. Far too lazy to walk downtown especially when Back To The Future Parts II and III were followed by the same numbers in the Lord Of The Rings series. That's a lot of movie time, I do say. No idea what happened to the first ones though. RT is way better at LOTR location spotting than I am. Joker has left us. He had to get off for financial/job reasons. Shame and it won't be the same without him. Team Pacific Rim losses another member. Nobody to eat ridiculous amounts of dairy and meat products with. Pull your socks up RT, you're in.

Something happened... right?

Day EightySix, September 11, 5.5 Miles
At Mile 1731, Poptart 632/1000
Up to our trail, on the divide, in the wind. Where we love to be. Saw the remnants of some man-made rock walls used to funnel edible animals into slaughterable locations. Awesome actually. Hiking through another ski-area, which is Colorado for "you're about to hit a town, kid". Ate in and stanked up the Monarch Pass store before moving to the highway to start hitching. Unnecessary. St Naomi and Myke arrived, dropping off Tock, picking us up. Timing. Salida seems nice, if a little spread out. Reunited with DnA, it has been an age, then RT found us. Apparently he was chasing us. We were behind him. That never works out. Halfway interested in college football, Kombucha's friends, Jeff and Amanda showed up and we all returned to Quincys for meat.

I can Philip Collins in the air tonight.

Day EightyFive, September 10, 23 Miles
At Mile 1725.5, Poptart 630/1000
Cold, cold, cold. Got some road in up and over TinCup Pass. Colorado is becoming a little bland, I hate to say. It'd be nice to see some snow (not tooooo much, easy easy), Dan's description of these mountains as a quarry is bang on. At least we have the Aspens. Oh, Aspens.
Windy again, so we stayed low where we had the option then took a Wolf alternate that ended up being one of the best afternoons yet. Left the divide and headed down to an old railway/telegraph outpost that was part of a mostly tourist train line and tunnel up here in the late 1800's. Now a museum of sorts, the volunteers were super friendly and happy to let us eat in the warmth of the telegraph station (we'd spotted the smoking chimney a ways off), even offering the back rooms as a nap space... They know the way to my heart.
Down the old railway grade, sheer for hundreds of feet above and below, past ATV's and raspberries and back up to Tomichi Pass. Past an old cemetery and some creepy houses and began our easy bushwack back up to the trail. Another clear, starry night so imma sleep out again. Great day, thankyou James.

Paul's Boutique, or how Pierre Shaeffer created hip-hop.

Day EightyFour, Spetember 9, 27.5 Miles
At Mile 1702.5, Poptart 618/1000
Slow legs up and over the pass above Lake Ann. An attempted rendezvous with I Spi that didn't happen, we missed him somehow, but we did find beer and whisky. Up to a ridge as the sun set and so began another cold, clear, beautiful night. S.T.A.R.Z.

He learnt disappointment.

Day EightyThree, September 8, 25 Miles
At Mile 1675, Poptart 606/1000
Didn't get the early start I wanted, but neither did the other three so I caught them after an hour, still packing up. Past the trail up to Mt Massive, another day perhaps. By the time we got to the Mt Elbert trailhead clouds were building and a slight time pressure on this section made the decision to not undertake the 4000ft climb (yeah, ten whole GPU's) very easy. A slight shame, Elbert being the highest of the Colorado 14ers and obviously the high point of the divide. It's forgotten as soon as I walk past though, and focus on Poptart number 600. Down to Twin Lakes for lunch, nothing like we expected and everything was closed excepting the unfriendly store. Which only sold things we had in our food bags anyway (seems some of the things for sale actually came from other hikers food bags...). Happy to leave, with Hawkeye as close to angry as I've ever witnessed, we headed towards Hope Pass. We'd been following the route of the Leadville 100 for a few miles and would all the way to its turn-around in the semi-ghost town of Winfield. Started to rain just as we began the 3400ft climb up the pass that I will one day attempt to run (sans 20lb pack) and didn't stop for a couple of hours. A long, beast of a climb that seemed neverending until I got well above treeline and began enjoying it and the rain. At that point it could have been neverending and I wouldn't have cared. The rain eased and the skies began to clear as we crested, the sun shining off the wet rocks and the fiery yellow Aspen scattered across the mountains, yeah it was good. Down to the 'dank emergency shelter' that was dank in neither sense of the word for a break, then continued down the knee thrashing descent to road. Winfield was cool and we found a nice campsite under some trees. Splendid.

I finished the PCT a year ago...
Oh.

Sometimes, when perfection surprises. Slurp.

Day EightyTwo, September 7th, 19 Miles
At Mile 1650, Poptart 596
Ate breakfast with Myke, Naomi and Tock before sewing on a flame orange patch to the ragged shoulder of my shirt. Things are falling apart. Like my pack. 1000 more miles kid, thats all. Saw Whitefish and Pace in town which was awesome, haven't seen them since Lincoln. Actually, that was right after some drunk guy was telling me about how he's a pro-golfer (he did not look the part but who am I to say anything right?) who spends his time between Leadville and Palm Springs before announcing he was "Off to drink some beer" 2-for-a-dolla at 10am can't be wrong eh?
Back on trail at middaythirty. More thanks to St. Jugs Naomi. Finally a cooler on trail, guess the PCT really does spoil you. But thanks to the Leadville Hostel for the DrP. Myke had warned that the miles would not come easy between Tennessee Pass and Twin Lakes. He was right, six hours for 13 miles what? It's easy hiking just long miles. Got about the best Huckleberries yet though. Made the most of my 6pm haul tonight and hiked a fast couple hours till dark which is a little before 8pm these days. Not sure why, but I generally feel lethargic most of the morning, a little better after lunch but once 6pm rolls along I could run for hours. It's nice. Saw my first Elk since hunting season began. Clouds eventually gave their rain as I got into my tarp, which I do appreciate.

Angel of Desire, retire.

Day EightyOne, September 6, 5 Miles
At Mile 1631, Poptart 590/1000
Got to Tennessee Pass early and stood in the cold wind for half hour before a friendly dude and his two ultra-friendly dogs gave me a ride into Leadville (Americas highest city? City is a loose term over here). The plan was to find my crew. So I went to Safeway. No dice. Already out of ideas I headed downtown. Just before I got there, Hawkeye appeared out of a house and invited me in. The house belonged to Bill and Pat and they were our amazing Leadville Trail Angels. Food, shower, comfort, internet, good times.
Leadville is an interesting town. At one point it was the second largest city in Colorado, with closed mines and modern times it's crashed a bit (or a lot) but has a cool feel about it. It's also all about the Leadville 100 Ultra for me. I'll be back to run that sucka one day.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leadville_Trail_100
Anyway, we got hotel rooms sorted (I claim another enforced-by-me zero for Joker, Hawkeye and Kombucha) and met up with Myke, Naomi and Kombucha's friends Amanda and Jeff for cheap beer. Like 2 for a dolla PBR's cheap beer. Ridiculous good and potentially a little dangerous. Leadville continued to bring the awesome when we hit up Quincy's. One item menu; choose your steak size. And I can't remember ever having Fillet Mignon that good, perfectly cooked or cheap.
Leadville. I love you.

Plays over and over in my head.

Day Eighty, September 5, 26 Miles
At Mile 1626, Poptart 588/1000
Down past a slew of dayhikers and their dogs to the sounds of a band sound checking? Huh... Copper Mountain is a big Colorado holier-than-thou ski-and-golf-resort. Hung out a couple hours and found the Colorado Trail about midday (turns out I was lucky not to be 'asked to leave' the golf course as I wandered through it looking for trail, others were not so). Much of the CDT for the rest of the state is also the Colorado Trail, which means generally good tread and a marker post every two metres. Have not walked on well marked trail since the GDB in Wyoming. It's nice. I can't get misplaced. Unless...
Mountain Bikers screaming down and past me I went up and over Searle Pass, down past an old army barracks and set up an early camp in a miserable, lonely spot. It wasn't that bad really but I feel shite so yeah.

I swear that was not planned.

Day SeventyNine, September 4, 18 Miles
At Mile 1600!!! Poptart 576/1000
It's amazing how great sleep can be without obnoxious light lighting up your life every half hour. Got to Silverthorne nice and quick, had a good breakfast and saw Myke and Naomi. Silverthorne is a pretty cool town with everything we need and the trail goes straight on through. Awesome. Hawkeye's been talking up Chipotle Mexican for a long time and Silverthorne has one. So we did. And it was pretty special. The burritos there weigh more than Van Peski's pack and are deliciously excellent.
Hawkeye, Kombucha and Joker are walking the bikepath shortcut, I've taken the trail, we shall reunite in Leadville. So I'm on my ownsome for the first time since NoMo. Busy dayhikery type trail, yet I still managed to get off trail twice 'cause I don't look at my maps and have no guidebook at present. This is what happens when I'm on my own. As usual, when 'misplaced' I just walk in the 'right direction' until I find my trail. Sixty percent of the time it works, every time. Chatted with folk, found out about the earthquake in Christchurch and ate delicious Blueberries. Ended up being a very easy 3200ft climb up to a pass I can't remember and a quick jaunt down to the valley floor. Camped way earlier than usual but I have nowhere to be...

Came back with your last call.

Day SeventyEight, September 3, 28 Miles
At Mile 1582, Poptart 568/1000
So all those "No Camping Overnight" signs in the hut were there for a reason. Not a threat or a even a request. They were advisory. There are these two giant fluorescent lights in the hut. That are on motion sensors. Which we had set up to sleep directly under. Awesome. I think each of the four of us spent much of the night listening to the other three trying not to move. I would stealthily, slowly, carefully move an arm or even fully roll over without setting it off. Then sighing in relief would be enough to light up my night. It was horrible. The second time the lights came on after none of us even moved Joker gave up and went outside. Once I moved and set off the sensor to the light above Hawkeye and Kombucha. Barely slept all night. I'm pretty sure you can torture people this way. I know you don't 'torture' people America, but you could use this sleep deprivation thing... Oh, wait...
Debility. Dependency. Dread.
Big climb off the pass but today's miles came much easier. Much less windy and some PCT style switchbacks down off Jones pass in a painfully long descent. A very /\/\/\/\/\/ afternoon, some sweaty climbs and scrappy use trails distracting all over. Ended up camping out at 11,450ft with the lights of Silverthorne and buzzing I70 below.

Every now and then something happens that reminds me I should look at my maps a more carefully, but I don't. Then something happens that reminds me I should look at my maps more carefully, but I don't. And so on. Till I get lost forever.

Oh, electric shocks, no!

Day SeventySeven, September 2, 20 Miles
At Mile 1554, Poptart 558/1000
Awoke confused. I could hear the buzz of a highway and the horn of a train. What? The climb up to Devils Thumb Pass revealed all, we were high above another heavily populated Coloradian valley. It just hadn't been that apparent we were so close to civilisation. Although, everywhere in Colorada is close to civilisation. Windy and cold on the divide, and knowing we had more to come we walked the road between Rollins and Rogers Passes then back up. This was actually a day I'd been looking forward to for a while, a Ley alternate takes you over five 13,000ft peaks in five miles. Despite the wind and it being ridiculous cold it was one of the best days yet. Had lunch on James Peak, then Mt Bancroft, Parry Peak, Mt Eva and finally Mt Flora. Loved watching the birds have fun in the wind. Down to Berthoud Pass and its warming hut. No water or outlets to charge things but we're sleeping in it.

Wait, what? Did you just quote a Martin Lawrence movie?

Day SeventySix, September 1, 22 Miles
At Mile 1534, Poptart 548/1000
Damn cold near the river last night. Ray Jardine does not approve. Nice walking, high above a lake amongst berries and blowdowns. Lotsa bathrooms and campgrounds. That was important. The CDT phenomenonon of fast hiking but slow miles was in full effect today. Curses. Lunched at a falling over old cabin. Hiked hard and did a massive 2.8 miles in 1.5 hours. What? No...
Camped early at water before the trail takes us up onto the divide for a whiles. We all have the fear. Our food bags are light and this section is seemingly going to take longer than anticipated. Hmmmmmm.

Reunition.

Day SeventyFive, August 31, 8 Miles
At Mile 1512, Poptart 540/1000
Well, at least we planned on doing half the Rocky Mountain NP Loop and go into Estes Park. But it was all cloudy and we were all lazy and already in a town. DnA, RT and Myke all left, couldn't bring myself to join them just yet. Ate a six pack of ice-creams and the Monster Burger at the brewpub. Had a nap at a coffee shop which was only legit 'cause Kombucha and Joker were slowly nursing their coffee. Dragged ass along Grand Lake and Shadow Mountain Lake/Reservoir. Saw a Bull Moose and a Beaver, both for the first time on trail. Watched some confused fish fail to jump the damn and walked along the Colorado River. Spotted a familiar MSR Hubba tent through the trees, Lake! Awesome to see him again and double awesome that we could camp together, with Lost and Found for the first time in fourages as well.

... well, maybe all 'ceptin' hym.

Day SeventyFour, August 30, 16 Miles

At Mile 1504, Poptart 534

Never rains in Colorado, always hail. Shortcut up to the divide with nice views back to Parkview. Bowen Pass and Bowen Mountain were amazing. Much more impressive than that Bowen Mountain I used to live on at least. Our eyes nervously watching to the north and west as we headed for the cover of trees. Hawkeye didn't make it. Sat shivering, wearing almost everything before slogging the long, boring walk down into Grand Lake. Life is much easier when the trail goes through a town. Caught up with DnA and Joker, had an awful lunch and spent the afternoon between the friendly library and rather unwelcoming hotel. First shower in weeks but still no laundry 'cause there's always the next town right? Spent $30 on my dinner after a mildly drunk Joker convinced the mildly drunk me that a $22 meat platter was what we both really wanted. It was. Stealthing is a hard thing to commit to when buzzed, the effort and all. So we crashed DnA's party. Everything in Grand Lake is for sale if your interested. I'm not.

... make no sense to anyone...

Day SeventyThree, August 29, 25 Miles

At Mile 1488, Poptart 526/1000

Redank windy this morn. Eventually got sick of cursing it out so I began yelling at it to blow harder. It didn't so I guess I win. That's right wind. Embrace.

Past Haystack and the two Sheep Mountains (lots of "Sheep Mountain" in these parts, no sheep though, curious). Past a hunter crapping on a rock all of a metre below the trail, Kombucha didn't notice but I sure did. Thanks man. Long, windy, exposed climb up Parkview to the wee hut atop it somewhere around 12,300ft. Hung out in there, all six of us, crammed in amongst the radio equipment and various varieties of animal and human waste. Down the rocky, stumbly, scrambly ridge to cross a highway and start on up again. Camped in a beautiful basin and watched the stars do battle with clouds.

The things he wrote up there...

Day SeventyTwo, August 28th, 29 Miles

At Mile 1463, Poptart 514/1000

Oh the rain! So much pain, so much glory. Last night was amazing, to not sleep on a lump. Even when some truck drives by my head at two in the morning. What? Five more miles on the highway then up to a dirt road via some tetanus wire. Finally hit trail this afternoon. Opening weekend of bow-hunting season so plenty of camo around, usually featuring a loud vehicle. Broke out raining early in the evening as we were high on the divide. And it was wonderful. The light, clouds, lashings of rain, rainbows, lightning. All coming together to perform the most wonderful dance around us. We appreciated it. Approaching dark, Joker and I stumbled across perhaps the best campsite of the trail so far. RT, Hawkeye and Kombucha soon joined us. Set up my tarp facing the storm over Parkview Mountain (tomorrows destination), out of the wind howling over and around, with a little purple wildflower beside me.

But that was forever ago.

Day SeventyOne, August 27, 7 Miles
At Mile 1434, Poptart 500!!!!/1000
Back to Safeway, careful not to make any sudden movements. Cursed Lemonade!! Ruined me. Not enough to keep me away from the Pizza Hut Buffet though. Ate good and watched Hawkeye and Joker get hyper-competitive on "Extreme Hunter". Carrying out beer, pack is heavy. The good kind of heavy. Thanks to the Ski Haus for fronting me a replacement therm-a-rest. I can sleep in comfort and not on a lump again. Couple miles on super busy Highway 40, then onto quiet 14 till tomorrow morning sometime. Finally found some publicly available roadside flatness to camp on (unknown to us at the time, camping was prohibited there, along with all activities aside from day hunting, can't hike but you can shoot shit). Enjoyed my 500th and a PBR. Magical. Cows moo, Coyotes howl.
This happened weeks ago. I can't really remember much.