Grand Lake to Steamboat Springs (7/24-7/27): 75.1 Miles
A few hours before arriving in Grand Lake we had heard of an update from Rocky Mountain NP that the CDT 22 mile section of trail (a days worth of hiking) had shut down due rock and mud slides, results from a fire in 2020. We were disappointed, but looked at the bright side of things, as this would now put us one day ahead.
We road walked 6 miles to keep our footpath connected, which gave us a glimpse of the burned area. The morning dew, along with the smell of somewhat fresh burned wood and a hint of wildflowers was an interesting, earthy scent.
The next day we climbed up to our last 12k’ of the trail: Parkview Peak. Even though we were reaching the end of our climbs, once again, this felt like such a tough climb. The scene at the top was just as good, and we enjoyed the higher up views during our lunch before hiking down.
Later that day, Ross was a bit ahead of me (as usual) till I saw him sitting on the side of the trail. He wasn’t by any water, wasn’t fixing his shoes or anything like that…so an odd spot for him to be. It wasn’t until I tripped over some sticks and he pointed down at the trail that I noticed the “1000” he had put together. We hit our 1,000 mile mark! It was a cute, fun way to celebrate, but quickly remembered how much longer we had to go (about another 1,400 miles). Back to hiking!
We ended this section with some more beautiful views, a cowboy who had visited with us at our camp that promised Ross some coffee in the morning and 12 miles of road walking to an intersection of the trail we hitched into town from.
Our night in Steamboat was spent at the edge-of-town KOA, where we were able to do laundry, take a shower, swim in the river and have our first bonfire! It was the closest we had camped to anyone this whole trip so far, but for a cheaper tent pad in an expensive Colorado town, we had no complaints.
Steamboat Springs: our last town in CO before hitting WYOMING!
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