Saturday, July 7
After a wonderful week with Eva that included attending church, seeing our daughter and her fiancé, day hiking, visiting friends, and lots of rest and eating, I am hiking again with 5 Star. He had a suggestion for an alternate that would shorten the hike from Highway 9 near Breckenridge and I decided to join him. It involved a fair amount of walking on a bike path through Keystone and a road walk towards Montezuma, where we would rejoin the trail.
The big selling point for me was that the alternate allowed me to "Slack Pack" from Highway 9 near Breckenridge to Keystone. Slack Packing is hiking without all your gear, and I accomplished this amazing feat by leaving some of my heaviest gear and my food bag with friends staying in Keystone. I carried my backpack, but it was amazingly light! I picked up my gear and food at their condo and we continued our hike through town, stopping for lunch at Kickapoo Tavern. After leaving the road, we hiked up a canyon with beautiful views and interesting mining ruins.
We hiked into the evening, experiencing occasional showers, and camped 5 miles from the summit of Grays Peak, the high point of the Continental Divide Trail. I went to bed anticipating a big day tomorrow, but I had no idea how exciting and challenging the day would be!
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!
Comments
what a gentleman's way to hike, that slack packin'!
fyi, 7/11 is feeling the strain. pushing too hard, i think. he left pinedale, wy, yesterday.