I woke up at 6am to use the bathroom and surprisingly, everyone else was awake. Even though we could sleep in, we still wake up with the sun. I was luckily able to fall back asleep for a couple more hours.
Our host Susan had already left on a road trip and we had the house to ourselves. I just met her yesterday, so it felt a little strange being there alone.
We all packed up and got ready to go to town and back to trail. I needed to go to the post office to ship Meghan the hoodies I bought and some other random things. I also needed to get new shoes.
The gear shops in town didn’t have my size, so I ordered some from the REI in Dillon CO, which is near our next stop in Breckenridge.
After chores, it was time for food. I bought a large pizza and saved half of it for the trail. After that we hitched out with a mom and daughter who were driving along the Colorado trail scouting out the towns. The daughter would be starting the trail in a few days.
I’ve actually hiked this section of trail before. In 2019 when Meghan and I moved back to Seattle she flew home for a bachelorette party and I had a long weekend in Colorado by myself. I spent a few days in Leadville and did a trail run on this part of the CDT.
I camped at a campground on the old Camp Hale, where the 10th Mountain Division trained for winter missions. This time I’m camped right off trail a few miles past where I made it a few years ago.
Tomorrow the trail passes by Copper Mountain ski resort. That’s where our friend Switch used to work in the winter at a restaurant. We’re gonna make it there by lunchtime tomorrow when a friend of Caddyshack’s is going to pick up our packs and we can hike the rest of the way to Breckinridge unencumbered. This is called slackpacking.
After that I’m going to meet up with an old friend from high school and hopefully get my new shoes.