Looking back to the time on the trail I really must say that the most important things worked out very well, and I’m very thankful for that.
I stayed in good health and had no injuries. There were no dangerous situations with bears, moose, cows, dogs, people etc. All the resupply packages arrived in time, and were in good shape. When hitchhiking I got a ride pretty quickly, and with really nice people.
My gear worked out very well, with a few possible improvements.
People on the trail were super nice, and yes there were some „characters“ on the trail – but that goes for myself as well 😉
I had two trail magic surprises, one near Camp Hale, the other on Lujan Pass. Thank you so much for offering beverages, fruit, sweets and even Pizza. And just being there, knowing how much that can make the day for a thru hiker!
Also on my zero days I had wonderful encounters with people in the hotels, motels, restaurants, shops etc., especially in Twin Lakes, Creede and Silverton.
So when I write about my „ordeals“ most of them are not really too serious – but on these long hours and days out on the trail my mind sometimes got stuck on these things.
The trail
Knowing how much of an effort it is to maintain the trail, and with all my full respect for all the trail crews and everyone who is involved:
There were a few sections that were quite challenging to hike. And I don’t mean the long ascents to Hope Pass, the Tenmile Range etc.
Spoiled from the trails in the European Alps, I really missed having switchbacks in some places. The trail around Holy Cross Wilderness, and the days in the Cochetopa Hills were the worst. Straight up the hill, all in the woods, no „reward“ on top with a nice view. Straight down again. Repeat.
Combine that with a super rocky trail with fist size rocks all over the place. No chance to look left or right, no way to get into a steady hiking pace…
Looking back to these sections I can laugh now, it’s just crazy how the mind wants to change the reality instead of just accepting it and then make the best out of it…
Humidity
When planning the hike I had the idea that in Colorado, and up in the mountains the climate in general would be rather dry with low humidity.
Well, I learned that rinsing my sweaty T-Shirt or socks in the afternoon would repeatedly result in still very damp clothes next morning. Even when there was no rain late afternoon or in the evening things just wouldn’t dry.
Putting up a tent next to a creek also was not the greatest idea (in a place where hikers have camped before me). Not only the outside of the tent was wet, but also the inside from the condensation. Yes I have read about this before my hike – but I guess I had to experience it myself…
So after a couple of days I had my (almost) daily „yard sale“ some time during the day – spreading my tent, the sleeping bag and everything else worth drying in the expanse of the Colorado Rockies…
Mosquitos
Between the Holy Cross Wilderness and Twin Lakes this was pretty bad. Yes I had a repellant with me and that did help a bit, but still these little creatures decided to taste my blood every 30 seconds or so.
While observing the situation I found out that about 2/3 of the mosquitos were on my left arm, only 1/3 on my right. I had the repellant on both arms, so there must have been another reason for this difference. My mind was busy doing calculations and making a scientific research out of this, so that helped to keep my humor alive…
The situation lasted for 2 – 3 days (it was bad in Twin Lakes, but on my zero day there I took a shower, reducing my body odor and mosquito attacks), before and after this section mosquitos were mostly rare.
Food
That was a somewhat more serious issue. I had decided to go „cold“, so no cooking, just nuts, energy bars, figs, raisins, beef jerky, little salamis etc.
I would do it again without a stove. But I had actually worried too much about resupply and having the „right“ food. Even in the little Jefferson market there would have been enough to resupply. And besides always carrying some extra vitamins and definitely electrolytes I just would go with the available choice. Also except the first few days, temperature for a good supply of chocolate is no problem.
Message to myself for the next thru-hike: Dare more junk food.
Another thing that I didn’t expect was that I just didn’t have a good appetite on the trail. Several people reported of a „hiker hunger“ kicking in after few days, but that was not the case for me. So within the five weeks I lost a good amount of weight, and I think at the end of my hike through the San Juan mountains I was really running out of fuel. I tried my best to eat my dried fruits and nuts, salamis etc. but I am sure it was not enough.
Well, that was definitely a lesson learned for me, to be more conscious about having a good and regular supply of calories.
Another thing: Taste the products before carrying them with you. Of course one never knows for sure how the taste may change during a long hike. But if you know that you hate something, don’t carry it. I say this because I had a good supply of Cliff Bars with me, I had never tried them before. I thought that would be „good calories“, but I hated them so much I really had to swallow them down with lots of water…
Weather
Maybe the most serious of my points here. Although looking back I was quite lucky with the weather, I didn’t expect that it would be so unstable.
I thought there would be afternoon thunderstorms in some places, but found out that rain and thunderstorms can come in at almost any time. One was at 10 pm in the morning. I had two evenings/nights with hours of rain, storm and thunder above treeline (the center of the thunderstorm stayed maybe 2 km away from me luckily). When I kept seeing this towers of dark clouds building up, I just got tense and it really changed my „flow“ of hiking, especially on my last days in the San Juans, around Snow Mesa etc.
In lower altitudes that was not so much of a problem, but around Collegiate West and the San Juan segments, this is something every hiker has to cope with (may vary each year, and within hiking season, of course).
One idea is to make a descent to treeline heights in between, maybe have a late afternoon and a good night „in safety“ before going up again. Just to relax the nervous system for a few hours
