Winter Park to Grand Lake (7/20-7/22): 53.3 Miles
Leaving Winter Park with some rest in our bones, we caught a hitch from a local gal, Trisha, who exclaimed “tell me everything!” as she drove us back to Berthoud Pass. Once dropped off, we hid in the trailhead building for an hour to avoid the classic afternoon rains. But once back on trail, the heavenly views quickly welcomed us back.
We soaked it in within those first several miles as much as we could, as we knew the mountains would start to slowly fade away. We could even see the Denver city lights in the distance. Though lower mountains, the horizon graced us with a sunset before crawling into our sleeping bags - something that was worth staying up a little bit extra past the “hiker midnight” of 9pm.
Even with the little bit of rest in Winter Park, our legs continued to feel heavy. Climbing up to James Peak seemed to take forever. Hikers that were coming down from the top stopped to chat, which gave me a good excuse to stop and try to catch my breath as I explained we were trying to hike to Canada, which led to more talking. Maybe not so much of catching my breath, after all. We got to the top and though we knew this was our last 13k’ climb, we still had more climbing to do for the day & remainder of CO.
We hiked a rocky and uneven ridge, offering us glorious views, but twisted my ankle with every step on the slanted terrain. I was thinking more and more of how ready I was to be done with Colorado; an odd thought to have in such a beautiful place.
We dipped down into the valley where smoother walking was met with hotter temperatures. Mosquitos hovered over our sweaty bodies when we stopped for a break to filter water, grab a snack or simply stop and take a look around. Nothing like wishing you were back up on that uneven, higher elevation ridge again!
We decided we’d be taking an unplanned “zero day” once we arrived in Grand Lake - much needed after hiking 17 days straight. The early morning graced me with 2 moose right off trail. I took it as a little good luck charm, and pushed through a long, hot day. We hiked our biggest day on trail yet: 25.6 miles!
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