Urban Adventures....

It's been a while since we've posted, it would appear...

Life has finally slowed down a bit, thanks to the cold weather and the approach of winter.
After the Colorado Trail, we proceeded to stay busy, finally cracking in October and designating November to be our "Off Month".
So, what do the Clarks do in an 'off-month'...?! We go urban adventuring!

We went to Baltimore, Maryland, to visit our very good friends The Bells, who used to live near us in Colorado. We had a fantastic time visiting with them and their two lovely girls, seeing their hometown, playing games, going on walk/runs, and watching the girls do their homework. Is it just me, or does the level of academics for grade school children seem to far exceed my own college education?! These girls are doing an hour or more of homework each night, creating riddles and solving fraction math problems! They are the smartest girls I know, and we thank them and Stacie and Matt for opening up their home to us! Love you guys!

In between our visit with our friends, we took a one-night detour to our nation's capitol! I had never been to Washington D.C., and it had been a long time since Hal had been there, so we took the metro in from Baltimore and spent a day and a half walking around and seeing the sights. For the record, D.C. is our most favorite big city, hands down! The people were all extremely friendly and helpful, the city was clean and well taken care of, and all the museums and monuments are FREE! Also, it was about 60-70 degrees both days and sunny, which helped...

We arrived in Chinatown, and proceeded to get a free map from a kindly lady standing outside of the metro station. 

Chinatown



On our way to Union Station, we saw this very rare and endangered albino squirrel! Well, maybe not so endangered, seeing as it was scavenging in the grass for leftovers, but certainly rare to us!

Washington D.C. Albino Squirrel!



Union Station



We did notice that there was construction work going on, everywhere, in the city. Even the Capitol was covered in scaffolding. Not to mention the heightened security...We couldn't get close to the Capitol or any of the Congress buildings.

Capitol construction

As close as we could get...

From the Capitol area we headed to the Smithsonian museums. We hit the Botanic Gardens, the American Indian museum, and our personal favorite, the National Air and Space Museum. We also breezed through the Museum of Natural History, where we saw the Hope Diamond. Turns out it doesn't look all that different from the one in the movie Titanic - Ha!
Then we found ourselves a nice hotel near the National Mall, put our feet up for a bit, and headed back into the city for a delicious, authentic Mexican meal!

The next day was Veteran's Day, which we didn't plan, but it was neat to experience. The whole National Mall and surrounding streets were barricaded and blocked off due to the inaugural Concert for Valor. Hal was marveling at the immense amount of police, fire, and ambulance support that was present the entire day...



All the ambulances, and this was only from one street!!!







We walked and saw all the monuments, including the White House, before we took the metro back to Maryland. I think we had to have walked at least 10-15 miles each day, and we still didn't even come close to seeing it all! We definitely want to return to D.C. again, maybe for 2 weeks, and explore Georgetown and spend more time in the museums.



Barricaded from the Washington Monument...

A picture of our reflection in a mirror. Note the Washington Monument in the background...

Hal with the Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial in the background...

As close as we could get to the White House

Looking across the Reflecting Pool..





Thanks Bell Family and the wonderful city of Washington D.C. for a fantastic urban fall adventure!

P.S. If you are interested in urban adventuring and fast-packing, we highly recommend these brand new packs - Ultimate Direction-Fastpack 20.  Thanks to Mom and Dad, for giving them to us as an early Christmas gift! They have two sizes, S/M (which fits me) and M/L (which fits Hal). They fit in the overhead bins on the plane, so no extra luggage charge, and they are super comfortable. We wore them all day, both days in the city, and didn't have sore shoulders or anything!

Thanks for reading and hope you are all enjoying fall!

The Day The Walking Stopped.

Another couple of weeks have passed and so have the aches and pains of walking. We walked into Durango with Steve and Rita (Kasey's parents) who had met us at Gudy's rest stop, which was about 4 miles from the finish. We hurried along the last three days so we would not have to be on the trail another night. It was great but we are glad to be able to duck indoors when it starts raining! We did about 25 miles a day-ish for a few days to accomplish this. Woo Hoo!

 

The cold above 12,000 feet was better than the hot days because we didn't feel like we needed to bathe as much.

 

 We got back to Creede after another respite from the trail to work a couple of shifts. Remember we had planned to complete the CT in one go but had to rest to fix KC's knee. I'm glad because I had a bad Achilles issue that needed some rest also. Shhhhh! Don't tell KC.

 

Some of the best places to walk were from Creede to Durango. Our favorites were the Weminuche Wilderness , The Grenadiers, and then into Durango. But really Segments 24 and 25 were our super favorites. High mountain landscapes with jagged peaks and open expanses where one can see the trail extend forward for miles. We are used to the mountains from Denver through the Collegiate Range so to us, those have become fairly mundane.

 

 

This night we went up high and stayed there above 12,000 feet for more than three days.

The wind howled like a hurricane all night and then continued for two days. It made our noses peel.

Thankfully we had dehydrated lasagna to ease the suffering.

 

 

Dora the Explorer!

 

 

See the resemblance?

 

All told we were on the trail for 24 days, four of which were half days or less. It was a memorable experience! I wish I could say that it changed our lives or something huge, but it didn't. It was beautiful and gave us more ideas for more adventures. KC was planning more suffering as we were suffering. I think everyone or everyone that is capable, should have to walk a longer trail such as this one.

 

 

 

In the background is a lake that we would like to come back to soon. Near Lake City maybe?

Crazy awesome landscape everywhere.

 

 

 



 Over yet another pass...

 

 

 

And another...

 

 

This is the only way to roll! Notice the size of that pack.

 

 

 

Granola lunch stop. Mmmm!

 

We saw a guy here at this lake with a 70 lb. pack who told us that that was how real men hiked. Oh yeah, it was 5 days into his trip and we were about two days from the end. Also he had the pack on the ground and was taking pictures of ducks!

 

 

 

???

 

More of the same. And have we mentioned how awesome these Dirty Girl Gaiters are?!

 

 

Seconds from the finish...funny how it just ends after walking about 22 miles a day for three weeks... Now what?

 

Yay family!

 

 

 

THE END!





Segments 14-20, only 8 segments left!

Here's a brief recap on our 2nd foray onto the Colorado Trail...Segments 14-20...

We leave soon for the remaining 8 segments, roughly 145 miles to Durango and the end of the trail.
It's been quite a journey, definitely taking up more of the summer than we thought, and it's most certainly been harder than I thought.

These middle segments included about 115 miles of trail, most of it on or through ranchland and cow herds. I'm just now starting to forget the stench of cow pies!

Cattle Country...

 There were also extremely scenic sections, like coming to the top of Marshall Pass and the Fooses Creek area as well as the San Luis Peak and surrounding high country outside of Creede. We had one particularly crazy weather day when we went from sweating in the 85 degree sun to freezing in 40 degrees and the most epic hail storm ever! All within the span of two hours! Colorado mountain weather-if you don't like it, wait five minutes!!!

Oh boy, yet another afternoon storm!

Almost to Creede!

Top of Fooses Creek Trail

 One of the best things about this trip was the trail magic and fellow thru-hikers.  This seemingly-abandoned horse trailer was actually converted into a hiking shelter, courtesy of one of the local ranches. Inside it was stocked with duct tape, books, a chair, Gatorade, and sodas! Such a welcome treat in the middle of all the pasture-land.

Hiker shelter, courtesy of Coleman Ranch



And we somehow, amazingly, caught up again with our friend John, whom we had met on the very first rainy day leaving Waterton Canyon! I can't fathom the stars that aligned to allow us to meet him again, after he took the Collegiate West route and after we took four days off from the trail... It was fun to hike with him and hear his captivating stories. Thanks for the fun trail times, John, we hope you made it safely to Durango!



And speaking of friends, Hal and I's friend Andy drove all the way to the hard-to-find trailhead in Creede to pick us up when we were done! Thanks a million Andy, wolf-pack for life ;)

Happy to see Andy!

Allrighty folks, that's the short recap version!  We'll look forward to finishing and sharing the final pictures! Thanks again for all the support!
Happy Trails...








Dealing with the Unexpected...

Sorry folks, no pictures here...

Of all the things I thought we'd encounter on the trail that would make us have to call it quits, like a broken bone, horrendous weather, lightning strike, lost or broken gear, or chance encounter with a Sasquatch, I never expected knee pain to be in that category.

We made it 230 miles in 11 days, over 40,000 feet of elevation gained and even more lost, arriving at Mt. Princeton Hot Springs on Sat. 8/9/14. We started from Waterton Canyon in the pouring rain, pitched our tent that night in the rain, and at least woke up the next morning to no rain, but heavy clouds. For the next 4 days we were inundated with daily rain showers, keeping us constantly clammy and damp. Not to mention the trench foot...!

One of the coolest animal encounters I've ever had happened on the third day, when Hal stopped mid-trail to avoid kicking a small baby owl! It was sitting in the middle of the trail, and we were worried that someone would step on it, so I put my gloved hands down by it and it hopped into my hands! It was amazing. I was able to gently deposit the owl a few feet off the trail, hopefully not too far for its mom to miss it. It didn't even want to leave my hands, putting its head back and closing its eyes for a little nap! Sad to leave it, we had to continue so Hal built it a small ground shelter, just in case...We think now that it was a young burrowing owl...

We posted earlier about arriving in Breck and at Mt. Princeton, and have now healed for 4 days and feel ready to tackle another 6 sections of the trail. We are hoping to complete the trail up to Segment 20 on this trip.
During that time, I did get my knee worked on by the best massage therapist ever, Matthew Gibble (Raining Faith Massage). I highly highly recommend him for any sports massage or injury and recovery issues. Turns out my knee is an over-use injury (big surprise!) combined with soft tissue damage. Basically doing our typical thing of going too hard, too fast, too soon.
When we return to the trail, we will be shooting for 20-22 miles a day, instead of 30.

Okay, thanks to everyone for following and for all the support! We didn't make it for our thru-hiking goal, but have learned a ton in the process and are still going to finish the whole Colorado Trail, hopefully by September!

Happy trails,
~Kasey~

Arrived at Mt. Princeton Hot Springs!

Just sitting here in the lobby of the Mt. Princeton Hot Springs Resort and Spa, enjoying their brownie sundaes and wi-fi!

We got here this afternoon and restocked our food supply, soaked in the healing waters, and did some laundry. 

Getting ready to head out and camp for the night, so we can get an early start tomorrow. Our packs are dishearteningly heavy with 6 days + of food!

We have been lucky enough to have mostly sunny days since our night in Copper, have seen some amazing mountain valleys and passes and been amazed by the kindness of both friends and strangers!

Heading from here to Lake Molas and then hopefully onto Durango...

Aches and pains are quite prevalent for both of us, so we are pairing down the mileage and daily speed. The descents have proven most difficult on my knees, but a combination of Hal taking some of my pack weight plus multiple ibuprofen doses a day is keeping the pain and swelling down...

Good night for now!!!

The Colorado Trail-made it to Breck!

We are sitting here at the Red, White, and Blue Fire Station 6 in downtown Breckenridge, enjoying a much-needed trail break! The guys at the firehouse have been nothing short of fantastic, letting us sprawl all over with our wet and smelly camping gear!

And why were we all wet and smelly?! 

Because in delaying our start time a day and trying to avoid the low pressure storm system we actually managed to walk for 13 hours in pouring rain, only to have to set up camp in the rain, only to have it rain all night, and then wake up to put on all our wet gear again!

Thankfully our first few days on the trail were the hardest-when we finally had sun on Saturday we were ecstatic!

Thus far all our gear is holding up great, our minds are fresh, our bodies have consistent but different aches every day...

We are managing almost 25 miles a day, hoping to bump it up to 30 when we get a bit further along.

Otherwise, we have seen some amazing wildlife and have met about 5 other enthusiastic and friendly thru-hikers!

Can't wait to start out again tomorrow morning, bright and early from Breckenridge. 

We will try to check in again at the Mt. Princeton hot springs where we hope to soak in the healing waters and rest again for an afternoon...

Thanks to all our friends and family for supporting us on this big adventure!

Less than 400 miles to go!!!

Waiting to leave...

Backpacking the 50 mile Gore Range Trail...Gear testing for the upcoming Colorado Trail...

For all the preparation we've done for the Colorado Trail this year, we had yet to actually backpack and camp with our gear.

So we picked a 45 mile (turned out to be a 50 mile) trail close to Summit County to test our packs and to have a fun mini-trip before the 500 mile Colorado Trail.

Since the Gore Range Trail is a point-to-point hike, leaving from Green Mtn. Reservoir outside of Silverthorne and going to Copper, we were very happy to have Mom and Dad join us for the beginning of our trip, thus removing one leg of a car shuttle!
We got off to a not-so-early start of 10:45am last Thursday, because Hal had just come from a shift at work. We hiked in from the Surprise Lake Trailhead, thus removing unnecessary driving on a dirt road and cutting out maybe a mile or two of the actual Gore Range Trail. The two trails joined up later on and then we were on the Gore Range Trail for the remainder of the hike.

Thanks Mom and Dad!

Mom and Dad left us at Surprise Lake and then we were on our own for the rest of our 15 mile, 9 and a half hour day.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that we also got lost on Day 1, adding about 1,000 ft. elevation gain and a few miles to our total. Calling the Gore Range Trail a 'trail' is a stretch. Here's a picture of Hal looking out over said 'trail'... Tell me if you can see anything that looks even remotely like a path...!!!



The trail is where, exactly?!


The horrific mosquitoes and dead-fall all attributed to this being about the hardest trail I have ever done. The first day alone we did over 3,300 feet of climbing!


Deadfall and Delta!





And we brought Delta! Our little Chihuahua is such a trooper! She was right at home in the middle of the wilderness. We found a campsite that first night around dusk and were able to rinse off in a nearby creek and be in bed by dark.

 

After Day 1, we assessed all our gear and food and decided that everything was working perfectly, we had plenty of food, and water was never far from the trail, which was a nice commodity. 

Our packs weren't giving us too many hot spots, trail running shoes were light and comfortable, sleeping bags and tent were warm enough and dry, and mosquito headnets were the best Walmart purchase ever!

Fashionable mosquito head gear...





 Day 2 consisted of more varied terrain, more climbing, and the most amazing high alpine meadows and views I have ever seen. We were surprisingly fresh in the morning, considering all the bushwhacking we had done the day before. We kept up a smoking pace of about 2 miles per hour, including all our stops. I think this is about what we will be capable of on the Colorado Trail. We may be able to average 3 mph on the CT because the trail is well marked and there is actually less climbing. My Garmin watch showed our average moving speed to be a tiny bit higher than 3 mph, but all the stops slowed us down to 2 mph.

Delta and I trekking-the hiking poles were AMAZING!

But the stops were also probably what kept us going all day. We tried to stop for roughly 10 minutes every hour, with longer stops at lunch and dinner. 

Great dinner stop!

By the end of Day 2 we had gone another 12 hours, 21 miles, and 5,500 ft. of elevation gain. Whew! This trail was steep! We had the best campsite that night, on a bed of soft pine needles in a little clearing of pine trees. We found that camping on pretty much anything other than grass keeps you much warmer and drier. Plus I like to think that a bobcat/lynx led us to our campsite that second night....We were coming down from the last pass at dusk and looking around for a good place to pitch the tent when I saw a small, tan/brownish colored animal with a short bobbed tail close to the ground off to our left. I went 'quietly' running after it, proving that I clearly had more energy even though a few minutes before I was trying to pretend like I was exhausted ;)  I never saw the animal again but that led us to our sweet camp spot!

 

We hiked out on Day 3, which was supposed to be roughly 8 miles, based on our map, but which turned into 13 miles and 6 hours of hiking. We kept thinking we were 'almost there' and so we made dumb mistakes like not stopping to completely fill our water reservoirs and not taking the time to stop and have a real lunch. This made for a harder finish than was necessary, but it proved to me, yet again, that I learn something each time we go out!

 

Hal and Delta...



The last part of the trail was an unceremonious hike in the exposed sun right next to I-70. The trail comes down by Copper and then turns left, toward the actual Gore Range TH. It was nice to have our car waiting there, and not have to drive back up to Green Mtn Reservoir. Thanks again Mom and Dad!

 

Are we done yet?!

It was a successful hike and a good confidence booster for the CT. Never mind the fact that I still feel like I am recovering from the effort, some 3 days later...I will just try not to think about how 18+ days of 25+ miles will feel...Everyone says that after the 3rd or 4th day you forget about being tired...We'll see if that's the case!

Either way we are excited for the Colorado Trail!
Stay tuned for brief trail updates. We will try to blog when we refuel in towns and have service!

Thanks for reading!

Colorado Trail Gear List

This is our partial gear list for the Colorado Trail. It is composed of gear that we think is the best for the budget we had made. This is not a no expense spared list but it is also not the most frugal gear list. I will mention with each piece, a less expensive or free item that would have worked in place of the more expensive item and vice versa, an item that is better, lighter or smaller but will cost more.

This is Kasey and her Osprey Talon 33 liter Pack.

 

This is a fully loaded pack. It is capable of carrying four days of food consisting of 3700 calories per day in addition to what is shown in the picture. She chose this pack mostly for comfort and took into account the weight. It weighs in at about 1lb and 7oz. She will carry roughly 18lbs with 3.5 days of food.

 

Here is a list of the stuff we are taking with a small explanation.

 

Pack:  Hal Osprey Exos 48 2lb 7oz. It is a wee heavy but is very comfortable. I have tried some of the others like Go Lite Jam Pack etc. There are a few more ultra light companies like (Z packs) that make packs in the 14oz range that I did not want to try, mostly because they are made to order and it seems the lighter they are the more uncomfortable they are. I have not tried most of them but I may in the future. Imagine losing 1lb 5oz on just the pack! WOW! My pack cost about $175 on sale - too much.

 

Shelter: 2 person fully enclosed tent by Big Agnes Fly Creek UL2, 2lbs and 4oz ish. We chose to use this tent because Kasey is afraid of bugs at night and would rather be fully enclosed. I am secretly happy with this choice also. This tent was not cheap but it is one of the lightest Free Standing tents around, roughly $300.00  We have a 1lb tent tarp option from Go Lite that we may try when we want to lose another pound.

 

 Ground pad: Therma Rest Neo Air X Lite. 12oz or 14oz with sack and repair kit. Noisy for others in the area, but it is air and about 2.5 inches thick. Makes for a great night of rest. Another option would be the Ridge Rest 3/4 length which weighs in at about 8-10oz and is a hell of a lot less cash. $35 vs. $129. This could also be used to give some rigidity to a lighter pack without an internal frame.

 

Cooking and drinking: Jet Boil Sol $120. This will boil enough water to just fill a dehydrated backpacking meal for two. A 110g canister of isobutene fuel should boil 10 liters of water. You can stretch that by not bringing the water to a complete boil and waiting a little while longer for your food to come back to life. I have also built a small cat food can stove that costs almost nothing using fuel that is about half the cost of the canister fuel. Write me and I will give you directions to build it. It is very simple and uses fuel found most places which makes it great. It has cost savings but minimal weight savings after getting pots and all the other parts. Jet Boil is fast, safe, easy, and packs well.

 

 

My pack fully loaded minus food. It weighs in at about 11 lbs. My pack will weigh in at about 21 lbs with 5 days of food.

 

Sleeping Bags: Go Lite 1 season 30 degree. These are 850 fill down with Pertex Quantam fabric that is water resistant yet breathable. We will supplement these bags with very light down jackets if needed. They weigh in at 1 lb 9oz each and pack to about 8"X 5" compressed in a Sea To Summit 1.3oz compression sack. Western Mountaineering makes very good bags that last for a decade if you treat them right. The equivalent to ours weigh 1 lb 3oz. They cost about $450 vs. Go Lite costs us $260 and $290.  

 

These items will put Kasey and I at just under 6lbs each for the BIG FOUR:  Sleeping, Shelter, Cooking and Pack. This is a respectable weight that could be much lighter.  

 

We have used big box manufacturers, like REI, because they carry most of these things along with the ability to return anything if it sucks or we just don't like it. That is a great benefit to us. It is also difficult to acquire small suppliers goods and make sure they will work for us. Although the smaller suppliers offer the very best in light weight, reasonable prices that would make your trip very enjoyable, it will take some time to research. Most of the big manufacturers build packs and other items that will last under heavy abuse making them bulky, heavy and overkill for the most part. There are tons of products that are crazy light that will stand the test of time. Take the time to find these and you will not be sorry! 

 

We will post more details later. Please feel free to drop us a line if you have other questions or ideas.

Thanks again!