ZERO IN CREEDE

Thursday, June 14

We arrived in Creede, Colorado around 11 AM on Wednesday the 13th. I didn’t plan on taking a zero in Creede and I hoped to convince the group to hike out on Thursday afternoon and get the 3,200 foot climb back to the official CDT done that afternoon. That would hopefully get us to Monarch Pass (96 miles) by Monday afternoon with the goal of hitching into Salida to resupply. There was also a storm predicted on Saturday and Sunday and I thought getting ahead of it would be a good idea.

I confess I didn’t try very hard to persuade the group to leave on Thursday, and the great food, friendly town and good company sucked me in. Smokey really needed a zero to take care of her feet and after the first night, I could tell the extra day would be good for me too.

The Visitor Center in Creede is amazing! They have fresh fruit, granola bars, bottles of water and Gatorade for hungry hikers. The staff are kind, knowledgeable, and generous. They have great WiFi and they even let me use a laptop to do a few things that are hard to do from my phone. I spent way too much time there, but they never hinted I overstayed my welcome. The environment wasn’t conducive to creativity, but I did get my pictures posted, a few emails written, and some blog drafts done.

The cafe across from our motel, The Snowshoe Lodge, had the best bacon and French Toast. I’d come back to Creede just for that! But there is also great fishing, hiking, and old mines to explore. It’s a great little town and if you are ever in the area, I highly recommend a visit. If you go there in June, you might even get to meet some CDT hiker trash.

We plan to get up early on Friday morning to begin hiking...after one more breakfast of French Toast, of course. I am enjoying Colorado and hiking with my new friends, but with a firm date to meet with Eva on the 29th of June, I’m counting the miles and days until I get to Breckenridge and take the bus to Denver to meet her. It will be a whole month since I’ve seen her and I’m getting excited!

For additional content, check out Flickr for images, YouTube for video, SoundCloud for audio, and the Postholer Map with my most recent location.

Thanks for following along!