A Short Tour of the CDT in Southwestern Colorado

Summary/Lessons Learned

Of the 11 days we spent on the trail, we slept at elevations greater than 9,000 ft for all but one night (that was in Lake City) and at 11,000 ft or more for 8 nights. The highest elevation on this section of trail was 13,100 ft but the trail dips below 11,000 ft only 3 times in 130 miles.

For the first 5 days we averaged 11 miles per day, the next 6 days we averaged over 15 miles per day with no serious back, knee or foot problems in evidence. The conclusion is that in the absence of High Altitude Pulmonary Edema (HAPE) (or commonly called Altitude Sickness), we’d have finished what we started out to do. This leads to the rather obvious conclusion that avoidance of HAPE is a necessity for completion of a CDT thruhike. When we watched the McVeigh’s CDT video neither of us really understood why Carol McVeigh had pulmonary problems after she had spent months on the trail. Now we understand all too well and HAPE research is very high on our priority list. And we were both taking Diamox - we should have been taking double doses. High mileage days, heavy packs, the cold and wet, the lack of sleep and insufficient acclimatization time all contributed to our downfall - as did the resupply excursion into Lake City.

There are no shelters on the CDT - and the weather can be extremely unpredictable and violent. Without a tent or at least a tarp, we’d have had a date with the Search and Rescue people - and a medevac helicopter. It ain’t the AT.

The water is ALL contaminated. Anyone who doubts that is welcome to their medical bills.

But don’t say you weren’t warned. In fact, it’s contaminated enough that we clogged a Pur Hiker filter in 11 days. That puppy’s on it’s way back to Pur - it has a one-year no-clog guarantee.

Nor is the treadway related to the AT in any way. Much of what we encountered was either rock or running water or mud, churned up by the horses and other hikers and occasionally by dirt bikes. We’ve been home for a week and our boots still aren’t dry. There are sections of dug trail and there are sections of stock trail that are in really good condition, but there are also sections of trail where there are multiple paths, some of which are tremendously eroded. Regardless of what anyone else says - horses and mountain bikes DO tear up the trail. But not nearly as much as dirt bikes.

Snowpack - is NOT necessarily gone by mid-July as some would have you believe. I have a whole lot of pictures of Ginny crossing snowpack that’s 4 to 5 ft deep and covers 100 yards or more of the trail - in early to mid-August. The worst snowpack was only 2 ft deep and covered no more than 12 - 15 ft of trail - but a slip would have meant a 400 foot fall.

When the sun was out we burned. When the sun wasn’t out we were wet. Sunscreen is a necessity - as is good rain gear.

The maps may not have been all that accurate with respect to the trail location - but they DID tell us where we were - when we paid attention to them. Our problems occurred when we weren’t paying attention.

Guidebooks - We met one man hiking a section of the CDT who didn’t even know there was a guidebook. Even with 2 guidebooks and the maps it’s easy to get lost - lots of stock trails, unmarked side trails, erosion gullies, game trails, etc. A guidebook is a necessity unless you just like wandering the high country.

Wind - is a constant. Sometimes a gentle breeze - sometimes a force that tried to blow us off the trail - sometimes just enough to rattle the tent and wake us up at night. But it’s always there. The old cowboy song – "They call the wind Moriah" – it’s not just another pretty song, it’s another expression of reality.

Acclimatization time - requires at least 10 days, supposedly full acclimatization takes several months. The tourists may make do with 3 or 4 days acclimatization - but they won’t be playing at 12,000 ft - they’ll be in Durango or Lake City or Creede. Which means somewhere between 6,500 and 8,700 ft. It’s just not the same ball game. If we had taken it easy for a few days before beginning our hike, we would have had fewer problems. One day simply wasn’t enough.

Down vs synthetic sleeping bags - Before this trip we were seriously considering getting down sleeping bags. After sleeping in a wet (or semi-wet) tent, sleeping in the clouds and dealing with rain, fog, hypothermia, morning condensation, frost, wet boots, bogs, etc. for 11 out 12 days, we were very happy that we brought synthetic bags - even if they were worn and falling apart. There won’t be any new down bags for us - we’re looking for new synthetic bags. [NB: So much for prophesy. We ended up using down bags on both our CDT thruhikes, without any serious problems.]

This is a summary of the weather we encountered while we were hiking -

Day Morning Noon Afternoon Evening Night
1 Sun Clear Clear
2 Sun Cloudy,Rain Sun Rain Rain
3 Cloudy Rain Sun Rain Rain
4 Rain,Fog Rain Sun,Sprinkles Thunderstorm Fog
5 Fog Cloudy Sun,Sprinkles Clear Clear
6 Sun Sun Rain Rain Rain
7 Fog Sun,Sprinkles Sun, Sprinkles Clear Clear
8 Frost,Sun Sun Sprinkles Clear Clear
9 Sun Rain Rain,Hail Rain Rain
10 Rain Cloudy Sun,Rain Sun Clear
11 Freezing Sun,Rain Sun,Rain Clear Clear
12 Sun
14 Sun Thunderstorm,Hail,Rain

Treeline - is sometimes a long, long way down. Much of the CDT is on the Divide - and it can be many miles and hundreds of feet of elevation loss to get to someplace with trees or any sort of protection from really bad weather. There sometimes isn’t an easy way out.

Livestock - we had to learn to live with them - or go home. This is THEIR home and they’ve been there a lot longer than the hikers. In reality, we only ran into cattle once and sheep twice - and at least once we were grateful for the horses on the trail ahead of us - they kept us on the right trail.

The Bald Eagle that we saw hunting near the road to the airport south of Durango - he was a sign - we’ll be back.

Home | Links
The Thruhiking Papers |
Created: 09 Jan 2004
Revised: 15 Oct 2016 		Copyright © 1997-2017 Spirit Eagle