Colorado Trail Segment 2-3

Segment 2

Sorry for the delay folks! A few weeks ago, we started segment 2 at the South Platte River Trailhead with our friends Casey, Troy, Eric and their pooches.

The beginning of segment 2 was super hot and very dry.  The temps went up to 95° on Saturday and there was no shade in sight as this section had burned down due to a forest fire many years ago. We carried 3-5 liters of water for that section.

We stopped early in the day, as everyone was hot and we there was a need to conserve water. Bryan, Eric and myself dropped our packs weights to mainly water and essentials and went on for another few miles. By doing this, we were adding more miles in this section and also staging our next weekend on the Colorado trail.

There was a thunderstorm that evening that was well appreciated after the hot day. On Sunday, we simply hiked back to the South Platte Trailhead.

Segment 3: June 17-19

A few weekends after that, Bryan and I parked at the Little Scraggy Trailhead. That Friday night, we hiked 5 miles of what we had left over the weekend before which meant we were done with segment 2.

That Saturday morning, we hiked out 5 miles back to Little Scraggy Trailhead. We woke and made breakfast as usual until a jackrabbit came running by… and then another quickly followed by a fox running after these 2 jack rabbits. It was a pretty interesting sight were as they just zoomed right by us. We had just witness how the food chain worked!! This trail is definitely wilder than most.

There was a bike race on segment 3. A sign warned that about 400 bikers was going to go through this section with us.  Yikes!

We stopped at our vehicle, resupplied on water, ate a few snacks then decided to get started with segment 3. Well… there was a lot of bikers out that day! The bikers were going in the same direction that we were headed and made it difficult to keep an eye out for them. Because it was a race, they focused on speed and little on who’s using the trail… Thankfully, most of them were courteous and let us know when they were approaching us from behind.

Segment 3 had a few water source that were very appreciated after the segment 2. The Android app did not point out to the biggest source, which I thought was odd. Eventually the racers veered off to another trail and we had the CT all to ourselves, with the occasional non-racing bikers. Ah the peacefulness of the trail once again…

It was another hot day, and we had to stop around 1 or 2pm to rest and took a short nap. Segment 3 was only 12.6 miles but with the heat and the added mileage from segment 2 that morning, we stopped a mile short from segment 4.

The night wasn’t as cool as the previous one but we slept like babies. The heat definitely made us more tired. Crazy how it is unseasonably warm here!

On that Sunday, we hiked 11.5 miles back to our vehicle. We started early to avoid some of the heat. Bryan went on front of me. By being taller he was able to knock down all the spider webs so I didn’t have to. Isn’t it nice? Bryan stopped to treat more water and I continued hiking. I met a few thru-hikers and was very envious of their journey… hmmmm I wonder when I will be doing another thru-hike?

Once I got back to the car, I wondered where Bryan was… he couldn’t had been too far behind from me. After waiting for 30min or so, I started back tracking on the trail. He was with 2 bikers off their bikes and walking back to the trailhead. I soon learned that one of the bikers had taken a pretty bad fall and Bryan used his Wilderness First Responder to tend to his bad wound. We helped the bikers to get them back to their car by driving them to their trailhead. They were so thankful for Bryan helping out they offered to pay us! Ha, Silly bikers, from one outdoor enthusiast to another, we’re more than happy to help out!

Keep on hiking, friends!

 

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