We are alive and well and have made it through the toughest section yet. It is really hard for me to find the right words to describe my experience this section because I struggled so much, yet I feel stronger mentally and physically as a result of pushing myself when it got super tough. I have never wanted to keep doing something and wanted to quit that very same thing all at the same time before. I know I keep saying this, but this experience is really really hard. I have given in to the fact that for the next four weeks my body won’t ever really truly be comfortable, something will always hurt or ache or be bruised, blistered, burned…the list goes on. I am beginning to feel worn in, worn out, and to be honest a little worn down and in many ways (though different than mine), I think Mike is too. With 210 miles covered and 275 to go, this tough place to be mentally right now and our next push is challenging in more ways than one. We have less water sources available to us as we get into cattle country and we are getting ready to push almost two weeks straight through to Lake City, Colorado with no layover days. One day over the 2 weeks, Aunt Sara and Mama Lynn will come and meet us on North Pass with a resupply box, but we plan to hike that very next morning. High mileage goals and high altitude are also playing a role moving forward. Not to mention Mike and I have been inseparable for three solid weeks (your imagination can decide what that comments means).
Everyday this adventure becomes a more multi-faceted endurance experience.
While most often the beauty of your surroundings and a good hot drink at camp can help to mend the unpleasant feelings from a long hard day on the trail, this is not always the case. Below are just some harsh realities of this experience thus far:
1. If you are hiking through an exposed section in the heat and you are climbing 4,000 feet elevation over a 5 mile climb straight up with absolutely no deviation or turn or anything (Imagine here if you will an Escher painting, or for you younger folks that hallway at Hogwarts where the stair cases move and you always end up back where you started. I kept thinking I was at the top and it took two days to actually get up there), just straight up and up and up and up and you begin throwing up and then having visual and auditory hallucinations of men wearing orange saying that there was soup being offered at the top of the mountain… you have to keep going because you are in fact in the middle of the woods and have to at least make it to a camp site for the night… and you must do this even when you realize there is no soup.
2. My own smell makes me nauseous and is truly unbearable, for me that is saying a lot too!
3. Diarrhea… no toilet… enough said
4. The backs of my legs look like some one beat me with a baseball bat they are so black and blue and I am not sure what happened, that is just how they look
5. My shins are covered in bugs bites of various types
6. I have a sun burn regardless how much sunscreen I use, at 12,000 feet those rays are coming for you no matter what
7. Blisters that form on top of blisters that then form blisters on top of those.
8. I am still only able to cover about 11 miles a day and that isn’t even totally consistent so we are usually behind schedule, this plays mind tricks on you and can add stress to an experience that was intended to reduce it. We have had to make multiple changes to our course as a result of that particular reality.
9. The sight of the food we have packed is becoming unbearable, I never realized how much my body would crave diversity. This caused some struggles for me in the last days, as my body began rejecting everything I put in and the very thought of food was enough to make me gag.
… and these are just a few things we are dealing with out here.
I was feeling low about my physical abilities upon arrival in Buena Vista, I guess because I thought I would be bagging 11 miles per day no problem by now, and it is still extremely hard for me. Additionally, I was naive about this entire endeavor when it came to how much work there is to be done outside of just getting in the miles each day, and I can feel Mike’s patience and generosity wearing thin; it is not always easy being together 24/7.
Despite all of this, I want to keep going. Why? Well number one I am stubborn as hell and number two because this really is amazingly enriching and every day when I wake up alive after going to bed thinking it may be “my time for the long sleep”, I feel empowered and brave and strong and all the good things one would hope to feel from an experience like this one. So onward I must go, no matter how hard it feels at the moment.
We had the chance to see some very majestic things over the last 6 days, we are in Collegiate Country and have passed under most of the Collegiate Peaks. At Twin Lakes the trail diverges and we had the option of hiking the Collegiate West or Collegiate East portion of the Colorado Trail and we chose the east. This was where the climb from hell was located (soup hallucinations), at the time we thought we were choosing the easier of the two routes, not sure there is such a thing now that I was on the “easy” side. Nothing out here should ever be called easy! We would like to hike the West portion sometime as well just to compare the two sections. On the east section we lacked perspective because all these huge 14,000 ft mountains were directly above us. You could feel their presence looming high over you, yet we didn’t get as many spectacular views as we would have hoped. As I am writing this entry from Buena Vista, I am looking out on a storm forming over Mount Princeton. Over this stretch we have experienced the most challenging ups and downs in terms of terrain so far with some really spectacular views to go along with it. The fires out west I think have been causing the haze we’ve seen since coming into the Arkansas Valley. We hiked to Twin Lakes and Mike tried his hand at fishing there with no luck, another attempt was made at a pond upon entering the San Isabelle National Forrest near the trail head to the Missouri Basin, still no luck. Then on our last night out at Harvard Lake, Mike landed two Brook Trout that we ate for breakfast the next morning, what a treat and the first food I’d kept down in over 24 hours.
The dogs are just so fun to hike with, and on the really tough days I just tell myself this is all for them. Every day continues to be the best day of their lives. Joey has caught two squirrels and didn’t quite know what to think; he was definitely proud of himself, he just didn’t know what to do with them once they were dead. Mike and joke he has now caught 2 of at least 10,000, I don’t think he is a major risk to the woodland creature population so we will let him get on for now doing his thing. Lil Britches has two turbo rockets for back legs and blasts with all her might chasing Joey through the forests each day, it has been a blast watching her trail confidence grow more and more. People are always surprised she is doing as well as she is. To be honest, he is better shape than me right now, and that’s no lie!
We hiked out to the road where our dear friends Paul and Ashley came and picked us up and took us into Buena Vista for a layover and resupply. Their faces alone were enough to almost make me cry, it felt so good seeing them. The time spent with them was amazing, they treated us to the Hot Springs and a meal, but the time spent catching up with them was what was really special and much needed. We have rested for 3 days here in Buena Vista and will set out again tomorrow. I am feeling recharged and ready to push on, this time with less giddy excitement pumping through me and more determination. I feel older somehow… it must be because I am 29 now (hahaha).
Thanks For Reading and as always thanks for your love and support.
Love, love, love! You 4 -are awesome! Thanks for the great writing!
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