Sometimes you get unlucky in life- like having the peak of your life stunted by a pandemic. Other times you find blissful luck- like having a friend of a friend who owns a ski house in Breck and is happy to let you crash there. You guessed it! Both of these examples describe my current situation. The former doesn't need more explanation, the latter goes like this: My friend that I hiked the Colorado Trail section with, Dru, was living with a friend from college in Breck for the summer at their friends' unoccupied house, and I was able to join for 2 weeks. This gave me the perfect transition time for planning and resetting at just about half way through my 4 months on the road. It also provided an awesome basecamp from which I was able to do lots of fitness and adventuring. Here is what I've been up to the last 2 weeks... HIking 14,000 footersThe final 14er adventure I undertook was a solo one. The Decalibron Loop consists of 4 peaks, pictured above. With this loop hike I doubled my 14er count in one day from 4 to 8. Most people hike the loop clockwise, starting with Democrat. With beta from Jack, I decided to hike starting with Bross because descending Bross sounded sketchy. It's a scree field for a large section, with lots of loose rock. It was much easier to hike up that, finish the bulk of my elevation gain early, then ride out the rest of the hike on some rad ridges. I guess for my ego it's worth mentioning that I got King of the Hill for this loop on Strava, finishing all 4 peaks in 3hr 35min. Road bikingmountain bikingTaken on my ride of Boreas Pass Road. This gravel road section was more my level, but the ride down the mountain into town rocked me. I have a lot of concern with mtb, mainly I am very afraid of getting hurt. I know that I'm a beginner which is why I'm so terrible. But I've enjoyed dabbling in this new sport because I would usually avoid activities where I can't feel competency. Mtb is the most fun way I can feel genuine terror, and grow from it. Rock climbingthe journey continues... I'm pretty sure that Colorado is the best place to be in the US in August. I had an amazing month, complete with all my favorite outdoor activities and outdoor inclined people. Next month I will be in Utah, mostly near Salt Lake City. The journey out there will take me 10 days, and I'm super excited to continue out west. Heading to the desert is new territory for me, adventure awaits!
At Penn State, I worked for Campus Recreation's Outdoor Adventures program as a trip leader. My coworkers were some pretty rad people, and I always imagined that post grad, I'd be adventuring with some of them in landscapes that offer more than central PA. This past week, that became true, as I visited two new towns and adventured with college friends.
My first stop after getting off of the Colorado Trail was Vail. My friend Jack lives there and works as a guide with Apex Mountain School. Both Jack and his girlfriend, Jourdan, were RPTM majors with me at Penn State, and Jack was a trip leader with me at Outdoor Adventures. It was super cool to visit Vail for the first time as well as to see Jack & Jourdan in their element!
After my time in Vail I drove to Fort Collins to visit my friend Carrie and her boyfriend Chad, both of whom I know from Outdoor Adventures. They are crushers for sure! We got into lots of climbing and a burly hike of my first 14,000 footer. Pictures will be able to share the story better...
Colorado continues to rock my world, pun fully intended! For the next week or so, I'm living in Breckenridge at 10,500ft at a fortuitous free accommodation. I'm looking forward to a strong week of NBA Playoff basketball, fitness, and planning the rest of this road trip!
Follow along: Insta - @adwitz Strava - Addie Hurwitz Polarsteps app - Click Here (also embedded below for easy viewing) Over the past five and a half days my friend, Dru, and I completed a 71 mile section of the Colorado Trail. Dru and I met while working for the Appalachian Mtn Club's Teen Wilderness Adventures two years ago, and this was our first time hanging out since. I had decided that a section of the Colorado Trail was definitely something I wanted to do while in the state, and it was serendipitous that Dru also was headed out to CO with no plan, so she joined for the trip! The Colorado Trail is a distance hiking, biking, and horse packing trail that runs 500 miles from Denver to Durango. Something that sets the CT apart from other distance trails is that the whole thing is at elevation, adding quite a challenge. If you want to read more about the CT, click here! We hiked sections 6, 7, and 8 which wound all through Summit County- near the towns of Breckenridge, Frisco, and Leadville. Prime real estate. Overall we had a fabulous time on the CT! Something that blew me away was how there was zero rain on the whole hike. I've always thought that backpacking without rain might actually be fun... well I was right! This hike was type 1 fun, that means it was genuinely fun to do in the moment (unlike type 2 fun, where it's terrible in the moment but a great memory later). The weather was nice and dry, beautifully sunny, and a nice cool temperature for hiking. At nights it did get a bit chilly, especially at higher elevations. This is not unusual- Colorado is this great every summer apparently, although summer only lasts 3 months! Aside from the weather making the hike super pleasant, the terrain was just a joy to hike through. The trails were switchbacked and winding, none of this rock staircase stuff that I've seen in New England. The lowest elevation we were at the whole time was 9,500ft. As you can imagine, the views up in the alpine zone were spectacular and the rocky mountain water was from the source and delicious. Our friend Elissa (also from AMC Teen Wild) joined us for the first two days of the hike, then picked us up at the end. A highlight of the trip for me was that I planned a solo hike, then got friends to not only drive me, but hike with me as well. What a peachy trip! Here's some nitty gritty details: Gear: Backpack: Kelty Coyote 75L Shoes: HOKA One One Speedgoat 3 Sleeping bag: North Face W Cat’s Meow 20 degree Sleeping pad: Therm-a-Rest W NeoAir XLite Trekking poles: Leki W Legacy Lite Rain Gear: Marmot W Minimalist jacket, W Precip pants Water purification: Potable Aqua Food storage: BearVault 500 Tent: Big Agnes Fly Creek Ultralight 2 Here are some photos to tell the rest of the story... I am so happy with my experience on the Colorado Trail! Dru and I talked at length about our dreams of future through hikes. I can definitely see myself spending more time on trails like this in the next few years. For now, my road trip continues on! I have through the end of the month planned in Colorado then I'm thinking Utah... but who knows!
Following my climbing trip at The Red River Gorge in Kentucky, I headed to Western North Carolina once again. It felt funny to have been out for about a month and only made it as far as my second home. I was brought to Western NC to visit the Nantahala Outdoor Center, in order to recertify my Wilderness First Responder. The class was a new hybrid style to be safer because of COVID. This meant half of the class was online. The hands-on practice in these classes is the key part to learning, and there definitely was way less of that unfortunately. But I got the cert and am now employable, although still unemployed. Life goes on.
Following my stop at the NOC, I drove halfway to Colorado and camped for the night in Missouri. The campsite was a no-fee area in the Mark Twain National Forest, and it was definitely a little sketchy. But just a little sketchy, not unsafe sketchy. Not every campground is going to be like the well-to-do ones of Shenandoah. My decision to bail on camping and get a hotel will be based on safety and logistics. I ride the line, questioning "am I truly unsafe staying here" versus "do I just not want to camp tonight". I determined I was safe at this place in Missouri and had no real reason to bail, so I stayed and it was fine.
The next day I drove the rest of the way to Colorado. It was my second time doing the Kansas thing- 520 miles on the same highway locked on cruise control. I had a great day but my campsite finding did not go as well as the previous day. Turns out the campground I had picked out was only accessible by 4-wheelers or lifted trucks. By the time I got there it was dark and starting to rain. Perhaps with some time driving around I could have found a legal spot for the night, but it was already quite late, I didn't want to add more driving to my already 14 hour day. I drove to the next town, Idaho Springs, and got a room, I was very glad I did.
The next day (yesterday) I arrived in Frisco to visit with my friend, Elissa. We met in summer 2018 trip leading for the Appalachian Mountain Club in the White Mountains of NH. Not even an hour after my arrival we were on mountain bikes headed to meet up with one of her friends and go for a ride. We rode around the edge of the Dillon Reservoir, the riding was pretty easy technically, but I was for sure pummeled on a cardio level by the elevation.
Speaking of cardio, I am about to head out on a backpacking trip. I will be endeavoring to hike 71 miles of the Colorado Trail in the next week. I will have Elissa joining me for the first two days, and another friend from AMC Teen Wild, Dru, joining me for the latter 4 days. I am super excited to get into the Colorado backcountry because of the views and the challenge. I am most nervous about the elevation effecting me terribly. I've adjusted my milage to account for how slow I will be- attempting to do 10 miles per day is a drastic decrease from the 15-20 mile days I did on the Long Trail and the Mountains-To-Sea Trail.
That's the update for now! In a week I'll be reporting back about how this backpacking trip goes. Reminder that you can see my road trip progress through Polarsteps. The preview is embedded below, and to go directly to the site click here. |
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