Grand Lake was such a neat town! As a CDT hiker, I felt welcomed and supported by people even though I only spent a few hours there. From the librarians to people who picked me up on the road to the community center providing space for thru-hikers to rest and reorganize, I enjoyed my time at Grand Lake. It seemed like that the community was excited about having us come through town.
I picked up my resupply at the post office and got ready to hit the trail at the community center. I left the town in the evening and set my camp just outside of the park boundary for the next day.
The next morning, I started hiking right before dawn. I love watching the transition between the night and morning while hiking. When I came to a meadow, it wasn’t quite light enough to see everything but in the distance, I saw a mama moose and her calf moving around. Soon, the meadow turned into a burned forest. Wild roses, fire weed, and small aspen trees covered the forest floor. While I was focusing on inhaling the scent of roses, I came around the corner and I saw a mama moose with a calf right next to the trail so close that I stopped immediately. I talked to them to let the mom know that I was there. I waited for them to move away from the trail. The calf was staring at me. As I stood there waiting for them to move away from the trail, a deer showed up and walked around them casually. I tried to do the same, following the deer. The calf kept their eyes on me and started to come closer to me. I was like oh shoot! The mom wouldn’t be happy about this! I went back on the trail and started walking fast. I knew mom was aware, but she didn’t look at me as much. I thought the calf was being curious, fearless and playful. I was able to continue hiking without scaring them away from grazing their breakfast in a burned forest. In the first two hours, I saw moose three times! I thought that burned forest provides what they like.
The trail became switchbacks once it went above the treeline. When the switchback was over, my favorite alpine world with wildflowers and the view of the Rocky Mountains was right in front of me. I stopped many times for breathtaking views and I tried to take it in what I was seeing as much as possible. When I made it to the highest point on the trail, I saw a peak not too far from the trail – Ptarmigan Peak. I thought this might be my last peak ascent in Colorado as the terrain becomes more gentle and elevation would be lower after Rocky Mountain National Park. I also liked the name of the peak. When I worked hard to move through snow or was trying to climb up on the ridgeline in San Juan Mountains, often Ptarmigan was there, cheering me up. I dropped my pack and I climbed up to the peak and I enjoyed the view. From there, it was mostly downhill. At the bottom of the valley I saw burned forest again. In this burned area, I did not see any animals or didn’t hear any bird songs. I thought it was raw and still grieving, and needed more time to heal for birds and animals to come back. I walked through as lightly and quickly as possible so that I wouldn’t leave any scars on the wounded land.
In the late afternoon, I made the circle around the heart of Rocky Mountain National Park, and crossed a wide wetland of Colorado River. I saw a family hiking toward me. When they saw me, they asked me about what I was up to. When they found out that I am a thru-hiker, hiking to Canada, they wanted to take a photo of me with their two kids, and the mom said, “Is there any way we can support you? Like giving you a donation?” I wasn’t prepared for such kindness and was a bit surprised by their generosity. Her husband gave me cash right on the spot! This was the first time I received donations on the trail! Later, they sent me more donations through Venmo. I decided to save the money for a special breakfast when I reach Canada. I hope their children learned about what thru-hiking is and someday perhaps inspired to try hiking – any length!
I made it across the park boundary to Arapaho National Forest. I was so happy when I saw the park-national forest boundary! The forest seemed very damp and there were a lot of mosquitoes. I wanted to find a dry and less buggy camp spot so I kept walking. I finally found a perfect spot and I settled in for the day.
The next morning, I woke up realizing that it was the first night that I put my sleeping bag over my body to sleep and never had to get inside. It’s the end of June and I was below 10,000 feet. I could tell it’s getting warmer and less high altitude every day. In exchange, after snowmelt what comes next is mosquitoes. When I hiked the PCT in 2023, I hit the mosquito season in Oregon around this time of the year. I remember Oregon mosquitoes were tiny and mighty, and we shared our evening prime time together. Thinking back on the success of the PCT, I owe a lot to mosquitoes. They would eat me if I slowed down, but if I was moving at 2.5 miles or faster an hour, I could outrun them. I wonder if Wyoming Wind River Range mosquitoes are similar to Oregon mosquitoes. Anyways, they’re just hatching in Colorado and I wasn’t annoyed too much.
I started hiking toward Bowen pass. I could see the first light illuminating the mountains through the trees here and there. I came across a creek and I found Alpine blue bells growing near the water. They are the best right before flowers open. I asked for permission to taste and I nipped a few as my morning salad. Those baby leaves were so tender and delicious! I usually crave fresh organic green salad when I come out of the trail. As long as I have mountain bluebells, I could get my fresh greens every day. I could add rose petals and Columbine flowers to make my salad to make it more colorful and tasty. It’s incredible to taste wild vegetables while thru-hiking in the mountains. In August, I will hit the berry season in Montana. I remember dedicating half an hour every day to forage huckleberries when I hiked PCT in Washington. Foraging is such an intimate way to connect with the land, understand the kinship we have with the Earth, celebrate the season, and to receive the gift that mother nature gives us. It’s an inspiration and joy to become a caretaker of the land.
When I reached Bowen Pass, I was surrounded by wildflowers. Still early in the morning, the valley was lit up by the golden sunlight. On the north side of the pass, I could see the mountains becoming lower and lower. I said goodbye to the place where I came from and descended down to the other side of the valley into the woods. For the rest of the morning, I hiked mostly in the woods. I knew I had continental divide on my left hand side, but I couldn’t really see the divide that well.
For the next 7 miles to Highway 125, the trail followed a creek and went through a burnt forest. I felt open and healing energy from this area. The birds were singing, the trickling sound of the creek was soothing to listen to and the meadows surrounding the creek had a lot of wildflowers.
After turning away from the creek and starting to climb the hills, I came to what I called the wildrose garden. This area had the most wild roses I’ve ever seen in my life! The elegant, strong and sweet rose scent was in the air the entire time that I was hiking through. I inhaled the smell as much as I could for every breath I took. How often would I come to a place like this surrounded by wild rose flowers? I’m not sure if I’ll ever come to a place like this again!
I made it to highway 125. It was Sunday and I thought there might be a surprise trail angel at the parking lot. No. I saw one car parked, but that was it! I crossed the highway and continued until I found a shade to take a break. I checked where the next water might be. It turned out that the next water would be 9 miles ahead. I had a half a litter left and I was like shoot! From there there was a steep climb up to 12,200 feet! Right when I had a deep sigh, two people came down the hills. I asked them if they saw water or snow melt. Tim, one of them, said, “There was no water, but I have water in the car and I’ll be happy to give you water.” I thought what perfect timing they’re there! I appreciated Tim and Daryn, a father and a son, meeting up for hiking in Colorado, and kept going.
The climb to Parkview Mountain was pretty steep. When I got to the top, I saw that the snow was almost all gone on the mountains in the north. I descended down on the ridgeline and when I reached the saddle, I saw the ridgeline was going up. I didn’t want to climb again and also it was in mid afternoon when I usually hit low energy and focus time of the day, I needed something to keep me engaged. I decided to pick my own route, following a drainage down then climbing back up to the trail. I probably spent more time traveling by doing this but it was a fun experience. I traveled past the burned area and made it to the forest for the night.
The next morning, I spent some time fixing my gear. My socks and left shoe got some holes. I only carry essentials and they need to be working perfectly. I was happy with my patching jobs. I paid attention to my feet for the first hour of hiking, making sure that the patches were not giving me hotspots on my feet.
As I hiked, I noticed that rugged mountains became rolling mountains. Snow has almost all disappeared, leaving green grass and wildflowers on the hills. I was following continental divide and now it was almost all in the treeline. There were so many downtrees in this section! It reminded me of the PCT’s northern California section. For the first hour, I counted 98 downtrees! It takes so much more effort to go around or duck down to avoid them, and they could be dangerous. I don’t take it for granted when the trail is clear of down trees.
The trail went up and down a couple of times over 11,000 feet. I made a final push to the last saddle before downhill walking began. From there, it was all forest road walking, my least favorite part of the CDT. Since the trail is not complete, CDT uses forest roads and highways as corridors to connect the trail. Walking on the road is hard on my feet; however, there were no down trees.
My favorite part of the road walking was when it took me through the aspen stands. Everything was so green! Some aspen leaves still had the early stage of lime green color, some already transitioned to darker greens. Underneath aspen, more green! And my favorite flower Columbines were everywhere. Occasionally, wind brough that aspen leaves chime to my ears. The color of green brings calmness and a sense of peace. I felt these feelings as I walked through aspen forest, even though I dislike walking the forest road.
Eventually, I came out to open grassland where Sagebrush was the dominant species. I started seeing sunflowers as big as my palm that I hadn’t seen in the mountains. The gentle wind carried the mixture of all sorts of wildflowers’ scent.
Since it was a beautiful evening, I kept walking, leaving Arapaho National Forest and entering private land. Right when I crossed the boundary of the private land to the BLM land, I saw a couple of water jugs next to the trail and a man standing outside next to an RV camper. I asked him if the water was for the hikers and he said to come to the camper for water. Jim, the trail angel who has been supporting the CDT hikers for the last 7 years, graciously offered me with water. Later, as I was hiking, he was driving to the highway and gave me a ride for the last 2.5 miles.
From the highway, Wendy, Brian and Judy, the trio gave me a ride to Rabbit Ears Pass. Wendy, a newly retired woman at age 67, was the one who will be hiking Colorado CDT and other two will be joining her here and there. I told Wendy that I would love to be like her, hiking the CDT in my 60s. This 9-mile stretch on the highway is also part of CDT but I gave myself permission to hitchhike this section for safety and other reasons. I have my own CDT mileage bank that saves extra miles that I walked for such occasions so that at the end, it would still come to 3,100 miles of hiking the trail. For example, miles from three 14ers I climbed off the CDT miles are part of this mileage bank.
I made it to Rabbit Ears Pass late in the evening and walked half a mile to a nice campspot. Tomorrow, I will hitch a ride to Steamboat Springs to get resupply then head back up here to continue north. My hope is that I will cross the Colorado/Wyoming border on the 4th of July. It’ll be an amazing way to celebrate our day of independence, interdependence, and resilience.
It’s almost July! Happy summer time!
Appreciation:
Kailey, Derek, Josh and Dana for the ride in and around Grand Lake; Declan and Harper Watanuki for their generous donation at Rocky Mountain National Park; Tim and Daryn for being unintentional trail angels and giving me water at Willow Creek Pass; Jim, a trail angel, for your support for the CDT hikers for the past 7 years and providing me with water; Wendy, Brian and Judy for the ride to Rabbit Ears Pass. Thank you!