Hiking the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) Northbound in 2013- sharing my preparation for the hike and my day to day experience while I'm on the trail. Inspiring people to follow their dreams.
Oh man, I can’t believe I’m saying this but I REACHED THE CANADIAN BORDER!!! I can’t believe that I made it and am thrilled that I’ve accomplished my goal. Thanks Grannyhiker and OregonTrail for checking in on me, things have been crazy trying to get things in order. I apologize for being behind on my blog posts but trying to find a computer in small Montana towns had been very difficult. I’ll be doing some catch up work in the next week. I’ve got some great stories of what happened in Montana including the hike through the Tobacco Range, sleeping in a public park in Bozeman, finding a wallet with $350 inside, avoiding fires & hunters in the Bob Marshall Wilderness and my cold and snowy finish in Glacier National Park! Stay tuned.
I lay in bed with the TV flickering on a random daytime show that makes no sense nor do I care who the actual baby daddy is. This is the zero day that I had in Grants, it didn’t involve moving because of my aching foot that was tender to each step that I had taken. The rest of the group had left that morning but I knew that an extra day would give my foot the rest it needed to make it to Cuba, which was the next destination for my next segment.
Grants is small towns that once use to be a booming city for Uranium mining and use to have one of the biggest and most productive Uranium mines in the country. As the local shuttle drive told me high school kids were dropping out of school to go work the mines for the average starting salary of $80,000 per year, creating a huge void in the school system. Once the government stopped buying the Uranium, the mine laid off 4,000 people overnight, starting a mass exodus out of the town. Grant has since recovered but you can still see the boarded up shops of the downtown but you can still feel the local pride by its banners and its people.
After resting in the hotel room, doing some shopping at Wal-Mart and getting a resupply box ready to be shipped to Ghost Ranch it was time to leave. My foot was feeling a little better but I was ready to keep moving. I’ve learned the longer I stay in town the more comfortable I get and the more my head starts spinning with ideas. I called the local shuttle to give me a ride to the post office and then to the Mumm’s who are local trail angels and were holding a new bladder system I had ordered from REI. I was tired of always taking my pack off to drink water so wanted to try this new hydration system. The Mumm’s are great people who leave out water caches at the start of the Malapais, entering the final canyon towards grants and one final one on the last stretch up Mt. Taylor. They are wonderful people with a big heart and I was happy to meet them and give them a much-needed donation.
Hugo & Carole Mumm
I got to the trailhead for the next segment and began the long hike to the base of Mt. Taylor, hiking about 10 miles that day to the water cache left by the Mumm’s. I like staying next to caches as you can drink all you want and then camel up in the morning for the next day. This was my first section alone since the border and I was actually happy to be hiking alone for this part. I was able to hike at my own pace, my own schedule and gave me some time to think about the journey so far.
I hiked up the 11,301 ft summit of Mt. Taylor, a leftover ridge from a volcano that had exploded many millions of years ago, now making it the high point of the CDT in New Mexico. I was so happy to be gaining some elevation and the straight up trail and eventual switchbacks brought me back to this realization. I summited Mt. Taylor in the morning with the sun rising over the huge horizon that laid before me. To the south were the mountains I had walked through to reach Grants and to the west were the open plains of the desert landscape that hid Arizona not far away. To the east and north you could see the next ridges and plateaus that would be my home for the next couple of days as I hiked on top of expanding Mesa’s. I spent a little bit of time on top before making the descent down the mountain, following forest roads to my next water source, American Spring. This was one of the nicest springs I had seen so far and was happy to get the water out of the pipe that was surrounded by great meadow full of grass and glorious shade. What a change from the low-lying desert areas that had been my home for so long. I ate a nice leisurely lunch there before continuing my trip down the mountain. That day I hiked 27 miles making camp in a patch of tree’s after getting a burst of energy from Skrillz on my newly downloaded Spotify app. Yes, some say technology is wrong in the woods but music is a great companion after a long day, especially Bob Marley.
The next day brought a boring road walk that seemed to never end. It finally did at my next water source, Los Indios Spring. This is the point where I’ve made one of my most stupidest mistakes of the CDT so far and taught me to read and then reread my map notes 10 times before making my next move. The sign read Los Indios spring .5 miles so I thought that it was that far past the gate I had to walk through and down the 200ft canyon as noted on the maps. I walked the .5 miles past the gate but, still no turn off or canyon. I still saw foot prints so I kept walking, thinking the makers of the signs had made a mistake and I decided to keep on going. I ended up stupidly walking about 3 miles before deciding to reread my maps and take the point of view of the southbound hiker and reading that at the gate you would go .5 miles down the canyon to the spring. So this meant I had to walk the 3 miles back, go the .5 miles down the 200 ft canyon to get the water. I don’t think I’ve ever walked so pissed off before in my life. I walked back, got to the spring and threw down my pack in anger. I knew I had made a mistake and being out of water for the last hour made me even more mad. Why did I make this mistake? What was I thinking? All of these things ran through my head to learn from the mistake I had just made and to not do it again but I knew that I would.
After coming down off the high plateau and the breath taking view it provided it was back down to the desert floor where the fear of rattle snakes, heat and water resurfaced. It was miserable. That section of trail was miserable for me.
Back in the Mars like landscape
It was hot, the landscape was Mars like and it had no appeal for me. It was only about 20 miles worth but it put me in such a bad mood that I found myself walking faster and harder then ever before. After finally being in the tree’s and seeing green beautiful grass it was hard to right away switch back to the desert style hiking I had been enduring for weeks.
Beautiful View from the top of the Mesa
The last 20 miles before Cuba was a gorgeous change from the previous miles in the ugly desert because you spent so much time high on the plateaus that surround the area with wonderful rock formations, wonderful expanding views and cairned trail that was easy to follow. It reminded me of hiking Utah which is one of my most sacred places to hike in the world. I happily followed the cairned route up and down the mesa skirting the edge and then back to the middle again with my shoes filled with sand. My shoes were dying and I couldn’t wait to get my nice new pair once I got to Cuba, saying good bye to these after 530 miles of hard walking.
My New Balance Leadville 100’s lasted a long time over tough terrain
I walked into Cuba at 9 pm that night on Memorial Day, road walking the last 4 miles in the dimming light of the day as people drove home from parties and celebrations. I was happy to get to town and plop down on the bed knowing that another section was done and a good rest was coming my way. I lay on the floor of the shower with the water hitting my tired and bruised body knowing that this section was now done and that I was eating away at my eventual end of New Mexico.
A bum knee isn’t something to stop you from hiking, so I took off from the American Inn hotel after taking a day off to rest the knee. I started out with a new knee brace from Walmart and enough food to make it through the next section. The first 6 miles was a road walk through town towards an old non-working windmill outside of town, following the highway that had brought me into town. I was still in high spirits, despite my aching knee, which I figure is just part of the experience.
Windmillin’
The weather was hot walking out of Deming. I’ve learned that road-walking on the highway is not only fun from the steaming heat rising from the asphalt as it hits you in the face, but that most people don’t drive, they stare at their phones as they text, which is scary. I was happy to leave the highway and start weaving through the residential streets north of Deming. After about 7 miles I was outside of town and heading toward the broken windmill that was my first landmark on the map. Once I found that, I was on my way to Spider Windmill. It had good water, but was also surrounded by the typical mounds of horse manure and whatnot. The water was greenish with floaties, which I’ve become used to. Its amazing how quickly you become used to something that normally you would look at and say, “I would never touch that.”
Leaving Spider Windmill I headed northwest to a non-functioning windmill and gate. The map did not have rose on it so it was difficult to orienteer, but I took my best guess and started walking. I thought it was odd to be going cross-country when the maps said there was a road, but I’m learning that in New Mexico, a “road” often isn’t really anything more than an obscure line in the dirt. Admittedly, I got completely misplaced after about 2 miles, seeing no tracks or foot prints from the group of hikers who had left 2 days before me. I was being hard on myself because at home I’d stare and stare at the maps. I thought I’d have a better idea of what to expect, but staring at them in the comfort of my home is completely different than actually being here. I decided to sit down, drink some water, calm myself down and figure out where I was and where I needed to be going. After about 15 minutes,I stood up high on a fence and spotted a shiny object about 3 miles to the west of me. I was convinced it had to be the non-functioning windmill and decided to go for it. After an hour I reached it and the “heavy gate” that was supposed to be there. Although I was relieved, I can say it was the lowest point of the trip so far. I consider myself a good navigator, so getting lost 10 miles outside of town was disheartening. It’s a real blow to your ego to get lost in a place you thought you had researched thoroughly. I started feeling as though, if I had gotten lost here, how am I going to handle being in the middle of nowhere? During my little pity party I saw 3 people walking toward the tank and figured they were other CDT hikers. Immediately my mood changed and I was relieved when they finally got to the tank and I met Alarick, Abbey and Daniel, who were CDT hikers as well. They sat down with me in the shade behind the tank and we started sharing stories of the trail. They were needing new shoes already and they shared some of their high and low points. I have to admit it was great to be around other hikers and to hear they had been having trouble as well. Swallowing my pride, I asked if I could hike with them and I was grateful when they said yes. So now I was part of pack of CDT hikers and was very happy about it. We hiked together for a few more hours to the nicest windmill so far. There was good water and actual shade from a real tree, not just a big bush.
Over the next couple of days we hiked together, leaning on each other for navigation, sharing food and having good laughs. We got misplaced the next morning, requiring us to go cross-country to get back on the actual trail. Alarick and Abby had been suffering from severe blisters that looked horribly painful to walk on. They were determined to keep going, though. They’re both strong hikers who definitely have a no-quit attitude. Being from Seattle, they had done plenty of hiking and had decided to do the trail as a challenge, just as I had. Daniel was from Austria and was on the CDT because he was debating between this trail and the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) and flipped a coin, which landed him here with me. I was grateful to have the company.
Over the next couple of days we hiked from windmill to windmill, fighting the brutal New Mexico wind, full of sand that whips you in the face each and every moment of the day. There is no escaping this wind… It is relentless. I don’t know how the people or the cows who live here handle it. We met a local rancher with a weathered face. He was nice enough to inform (and scare the crap out of ) me by saying this area is home to 6 different types of rattlesnakes, of which the rancher explained, “If you get bit by one of thems Mojave rattlesnakes you might as well bend over and kiss your ass good bye, because there ain’ts no anti-venom for them.” Having already been hyper-aware of rattlesnakes, I was now even more worried about them. According to the rancher, during this time of year they hang out in the afternoon, hiding behind rocks and biting people as they walk by. Great.
Hulk Hogan the Messiah?
Over the next couple of days we traveled from the desert to the hills which had trees and shade for us to hide under. We passed an abandoned house that looked like one day the owners just picked up and left. There were shoes, clothes, dishes and piles of National Enquirers laying around. Its was a creepy place for us to take our afternoon siesta, but it was shaded and provided us with some good laughs thanks to the tabloids, which told of aliens, bat boy and how JFK is still alive. The next day we got deeper into the hills and met with another hiker named Sunday who joined our group, as well. It was fun hiking in a pack and hearing his stories from the thru hike of the PCT he completed last year. We got misplaced again, which left us with a fun bushwack over two mountains and down several sketchy sections to get back to the trail. Once back on the trail we headed toward our last water source, which was a spring that was 200 meters from a trail junction. Well, that water was barely there, leaving the 5 of us only 1 liter of water each to make it the 7 miles to Emory Pass. That night, tired and dehydrated, I dreamt of showers, pools and ice cold classes of water. I’ve never dreamt of water before and got a taste of what it feels like to be severely dehydrated, wanting nothing more then to chug a bottle of water.
Emory Pass!
The next morning we reached Emory pass at 10 am. We held a sign reading NEED WATER, which fortunately worked because a kind person gave us half a gallon, which we split between the 5 of us. Now it was time to get a hitch. Alarick, Abby & Daniel held a sign that read HIKER TO TOWN, which got them a ride after about an hour of trying, leaving me and Sunday to get the next one. We got a ride an hour later with a nice couple on their way back to Arizona. They were a wonderful couple who drove us all the way to the Motel 6 where I stayed for the next two days resting my swollen right ankle. I’ll be going back to Emory Pass tomorrow to start the next leg of this journey though Mimbres and on to Doc Campbell’s at the foot of the Gila River, which I’m very excited for. So far I have been humbled by this experience and can’t wait to keep going because I’m loving the experience and want more!
Well, I’m finally here. I’ve made it back to Deming after completing the first 56 mile section of the CDT. Its been an amazing experience already and am happy that I’m out on the trail doing it. I’m no longer dreaming, I’m doing.
My arrival into Deming was good because I had my family with me to wish me well for the trail and it was great to have everyone here. At 8 am, Saturday April 20th, I was picked up by local trail angel Keith to take me down to the border. He’s been helping hikers like me for many years and is great resource not just to get to the trail but for rides around town and to stash water for you as well. On our way down, he showed me important intersections and introduced me to some of the people who I could take water from when I got there. I encountered a great collection of local people with big smiles, great stories and colorful personalities.
Me and the trail angel.
On the border
After a 30 min drive we finally arrived on the border. It’s not what you would expect from all that you hear on the news about it. It’s pretty much a couple of buildings, a big long fence and streams of cars coming and going. Keith talked to the border patrol to let us walk up to the international line to get some of the traditional pictures of me standing next to it and the plaque that all hikers want to get their picture next to. I wanted to take more pictures, but I was told that they will confiscate your camera if they think you are taking pictures of the government buildings and I certainly didn’t want that to happen to my new camera. After some more pictures, I said goodbye to Keith and started walking. I have to admit, as soon as I started walking I started to cry. I was overcome with joy that I had set a goal for myself to hike the CDT and here I was actually doing it. It was a powerful feeling to be doing something that I had sacrificed so much to be able to do. It’s an amazing feeling that I hope everyone might get to experience in their life, and I know that I will never forget it for as long as I live.
The long road…
The first 56 miles is walking mostly on 4×4 roads back to Deming. First was the town of Columbus, which looks like an old abandoned mining town that has no reason to be there. Oddly, there are a bunch of people driving around in really nice trucks but houses are ugly, so it makes you wonder what kind of business they are in…. just sayin’. I passed by a older lady in Columbus who was watering a couple of trees and she waved over to me and said ” I hope your having a great day” and I stopped and waved back at her and said “Yes, I’m having a great day”. She looked so happy and I was happy for her. About 1 mile outside of Columbus I walked up to a border patrol car that was out looking for a pair of illegals who had walked around the border fence. According to the border patrolman there aren’t that many illegals crossing in this area because the land is very harsh south of here; you mostly get illegal drug activity. I told them I hadn’t seen anyone. Honestly, had I run into them I would have probably just helped them any way I could, and wished them well on their journey. Being an immigrant myself, I can’t talk bad about someone else trying to make a better life for themselves in a new country.
On my first day I walked about 15 miles total, following a fence and then a 4×4 road to my first water cache that was not easy to find. Since I decided to not use GPS on this trip, I didn’t have a waypoint to plug in, only a dot I had made with my pencil indicating the general area of the water cache. I was happy to find it 30 mins before sundown where I made camp to get out of the 40 mph winds that had been hitting me all day. The sun, wind and sand takes a toll on your body that you don’t realize until you’re out here.
Morning, April 22nd
Day 2 brought a gorgeous sunrise that made me feel ready to tackle my first full day on the CDT. I packed up quickly eating my typical 2 Clif Bars for breakfast, as I walked the 3 miles to Willie’s house where I could get water. Willie was an old Vietnam Vet who has been helping hikers for many years, giving them as much water as they need. After chatting with him for a few minutes and taking just over a gallon of water I started the 10 mile cross country walk to the back side of the Florida Mountains. I was certain I would see plenty of rattle snakes during this section, but I didn’t see any, which was fine with me because I hate snakes. I’ll be happy if I don’t run into any this entire trip.
Moooo.
Nasty.
My only water source out here is the water provided by the wind mills that are for the cows. So most of the water sources I found either smelled of cow poo or were swarming with bees. I know that I have to drink out of these disgusting troughs but I can be a little picky when I know there are more options ahead. To treat this water I have both Aqua Mira and a Sawyer filter system and this is the only way I’m drinking any of this water. I finally found some good water towards the end of my day and decided to stay the night there because my right knee had started hurting pretty badly. My knees had never hurt before on hikes so I didn’t want to push it and hurt myself early on this trip. I setup camp and watched the sun set over the vast horizon with its stream of reds, oranges and pink. For a place that has very little, it shows off a lot.
On my third day I was happy to be heading towards Deming and getting out of the wind. I had only about 18 miles to go to get to town and 3/4th of that was road walking which doesn’t take much time. I walked through the Florida gap to another trail angel that let me take water from their hose which was much better than the water I had gotten from the tank the day before. After tanking up there and taking about 2 liters with me I made the final road walk back to Deming. I’ve decided to take a zero day (no hiking) at the American Inn Motel which is only $39 a night to let my very sore knee rest. I have had to make changes to my plan after hearing that the resupply in Mimbres is no longer there, forcing me to do a 8 day carry to Doc Campbells versus the 3 days I had planned for. I’ll head to the local Walmart and get some food for this next long carry.
All things considered, I feel great and am excited to finally be out here walking the CDT. I’m already enjoying my time on the trail and am looking forward to putting in even more miles. I have to stay focused on staying hydrated and injury-free so I can make it to the end. Now I’m off to get some good local Mexican food, because it can’t get any more authentic than this! 🙂
I held in my hand a $210 quilt that has the latest and greatest technology inside of it, like piles of 850 goose down-filled baffles with silky 10d nylon. At my feet is a new sleep pad that was designed with body mapping technology to cradle me as I sleep. These are the kinds of things you read about and see when you start buying gear for your thru hike or outdoor adventure.
I’m like most people – ok maybe not most – but I have a lot of gear that is old, but has served me well for many years. They are my ‘go-to’ items such as my Golite quilt, Big Agnes one-man tent and closed cell foam pad that has seen better days. We each have those pieces of gear that have been with us forever, like an old friend. I know I can depend on them because they will not let me down. These pieces of gear are iconic in our minds, so it’s hard to start thinking about buying new gear for my CDT trip. I almost feel like I’m cheating on my old gear just by thinking about this new and exciting gear I want to buy. Recently, I had the opportunity to buy some gear at great prices, so I pulled the trigger and got a couple of new things, despite what I imagined as nasty looks from my old gear.
Nemo Siren 30 quilt: This quilt is the newest technology in quilt manufacturing and the first run for a company called Nemo Equipment. It’s rated at 30 degrees, weighs 18 oz, 6’ long, 10d nylon on the outside and filled with 850 fill down. If you’ve never used a quilt, think of a sleeping bag with the bottom cut out. I’ve been sleeping in quilts exclusively for 5 years and absolutely love them. By using a quilt you save weight because there is no zipper and no hood. I toss and turn during the night and this quilt is wide enough to prevent drafts from coming in and is a great piece to just throw over you as you hang out in camp.
Klymit Inertia X-lite: This is a ¾ length pad that is the worlds lightest, most compact and technically advanced sleeping pad on the market today. It blows up in about 3 breaths and is pretty comfortable. It rolls up smaller then a banana and weighs only 6.1 oz. This will be new for me, since I’ve traditionally used a ¾ length closed cell foam pad for several years, using my pack as the portion that protects my legs from the ground. I’ve never been a huge fan of inflatable pads because, in my eyes, it’s a ‘moving part’, which means it has features that could go wrong. It could pop, it could leak or some valve could break off. I purchased it because if I’m going to be sleeping on the ground for 5 months, I should get something that is comfortable. And I have to say, when I laid on it, it was very comfortable.
Rab Xenon Jacket: Weighing only 12 oz in size Large, this jacket is a synthetic power house featuring super lightweight synthetic fill that will stay warm even when wet. I picked this as my ‘go-to’ garment for early morning hiking in cold weather and in case of light rain in the cold. It comes with a full-length zipper, 2 zipped pockets and a chest pocket, which is essential, in my eyes, for storing items you will need quickly and won’t have to worry about slipping out of your pocket. I wore it recently, while walking a dog in a snowfall. It kept we warm and dry with only a cotton tee shirt underneath in 32-degree weather, for over an hour.
It was day 5 of my Thanksgiving trip and I was waking up next to the San Juan River as it winded through the red stoned cliffs that surrounded it. Today was the day I was going to charge up Slickhorn Canyon like a ball of fire and nothing was going to stop me.
Getting ready to hike the CDT is a challenge that will test you in many ways, so for this Thanksgiving I decided to give myself a good physical challenge. For the past 7 years I have taken a backpacking trip to southern Utah during the Thanksgiving holiday. Like any addicted backpacker you view company days off, especially a Thursday and Friday, as just an excuse to take a nice long backpacking trip. This year I decided on an 82.2 mile loop in the Grand Gulch Primitive area in southern Utah that would test me physically, logistically and navigationally. I’ve been to the Grand Gulch before, always wanting to hike the entire length. My prize would be the smell and sounds of the river and all the water I could drink. Instead of just going back the way I came, I planned to walk the 3 miles along the San Juan to the opening of Slickhorn Canyon and then hike up the canyon to my bike. My mountain bike was chained to a juniper tree that would take me the 7 miles back to my car, creating what I called the Grand Loop. From all the research I did, I didn’t see any mention of this loop or anybody doing it, so I will just announce now that I am the first person to ever do it (probably not true).
I was going to hike 82.2 miles in 8 days with just my map and compass, no GPS. I brought 15.2 lbs of food equaling 1.9 lbs of food per day, which would keep me feed and warm in the expected 50 degree days and mid 20 degree nights.
My food supply
My gear was a minimal collection of a frameless pack, half sleep pad, 20 degree bag, a freestanding tarp, long johns, long sleeve top, cut off pants, 2 pairs of socks, 1 change of undies and my beloved hat. I’ve had my hat since I first started backpacking and it has been on all my adventures. It’s my favorite piece of gear that I never leave home without.
I left my job in Boulder at 4 pm, arriving at the Bullet Canyon Trail head at 12 am. In the morning I drove to Slickhorn Canyon #1 and locked up my mountain bike to a Juniper tree with a note asking anyone that found it not to steal it, hoping they would listen. I started down Bullet Canyon on Saturday at 10 am, watching the canyon walls grow higher and higher around me as I descended to the canyon floor. I stopped at Perfect Kiva to sit in it again; it was like visiting an old friend after a long absence. That night I camped near Totem pole with the sound of light rain hitting my tent which was good fortune as this lowered my water problems just a bit. I hiked the next couple of days going down the Grand Gulch, walking in the rocky creek bed and trudging through the sand. As I walked, I passed many ruins, hieroglyphics and petroglyphs that were on the map, but found far more that weren’t. Staying alert in Canyon country is important because there are no warm and fuzzy signs pointing you to the sites or telling you which canyon is which. You have to pay attention because one missed canyon or water source can have a negative effect on your trip.
I was moving faster than expected over the next couple of days. My daily schedule included getting up at 7 each day, leaving camp by 7:45 and eating my breakfast bars as I started hiking. This is the schedule that I wanted to replicate, to be like what it will be on the CDT; chasing the sun to get in my daily mileage, repetition at its finest. I reached the San Juan on Day 4 of my trip and what a great sight it was. The beautifully flowing river, so soft in its appearance, cutting through the canyon like it had been built there. The smell of the water, the shadows across the walls of the canyons and the sense of finally making it here after 4 years of wishing was tremendous. I was very happy to say the least. That night I setup my shelter 3 yards from the San Juan, making a little fire from wood a NOLS group had left behind and smoked a fine cigar. Everything was right in the world.
The next morning was a completely different situation. What I thought would be an easy 3 mile, 2 hour trip ended up taking me 6 ½ hours to complete. I had counted on there being a small patch of vegetation hugging the river the whole way that I could walk along to the mouth of Slickhorn. Instead what I got were constant up and down ledges, over and around large and small boulders that were constantly shifting and sliding from beneath my feet. The vegetation was thick and tough to push through, not to mention the sharp and prickly plants that were eager to taste a sample of my blood. After 6 ½ hours of difficult hiking I was happy to be approaching the mouth of the canyon. As I sat down after that long and difficult hike a huge bee stung me right on the back, in the one spot that I could barely reach. What a great way to conclude such a day. I decided to not hike any further; I’d had enough of hiking, so I setup camp again by the San Juan making the best out of a hard day. That night I had a dream that made me feel unworthy of being in a place like this, that I was some how faking it. In my dream I was still the 292 lb person I had been just 11 months earlier; sad, fat and depressed. I woke up at 6:30 that morning and the first words out of my mouth was “Fuck you!!!!” I was determined that day to push it hard, to hike my ass off and push myself to my personal edge. I hiked almost nonstop from 7 am until 6 pm while gaining 2,800 feet of elevation when I finally reached my bike in the dark. I was a blaze of fire coming out of that canyon, which was difficult to navigate with its endless pour offs to navigate and multiple side canyons tempting me in wrong directions.
That day I hiked the most I had ever hiked in my entire life with a pack on: 17.9 miles. In the morning, I mounted my bike with sore and wobbly legs to peddle the 7 miles back to my car. The road was a mix of deep sand with some hard pack mixed in to tease me. I reached my car on Friday at 10:30 am; it had taken me 6 days, not the 8 to go 82.2 miles. I was so happy that not only had I accomplished my goal of completing this loop but, because 12 months ago I had set a goal to lose weight and get fit enough so I could do things exactly like what I had just done. I had accomplished my goal.
It was 12:30 am on my 33rd birthday. I had been up since 6 am the previous morning. The wind was howling outside of my tent, blowing snow and bitter cold. I was putting on my boots to hike up to the top of Mt. Bierstadt to watch the sunrise. This was going to be a good year!
Flashback to December 26th, 2011: the day I made the decision that I was going to start getting my life together. I was going to lose weight, be happier and start living out my dreams regardless of what other people said.
Fast-forward to today: It’s January 1, 2013 and I can say that I have lost 60 lbs. this year by exercising and changing my diet to more reflect a Paleo diet. I am also on my way to hiking the CDT in 2013 and I am pretty happy these days. This past year has been full of ups and downs, and I want to share some of the best and worse times with you.
The not so good stuff:
Getting divorced and going through that emotional process
Starting a new life with many unknowns laying before me
Changes in things I thought were concrete; like my parents’ marriage
Learning that working out and staying motivated isn’t as easy as I thought
Stupid Pontiacs that need to have their brakes changed all the time!
Realizing that not everyone will support my new way of thinking and how I want to live
The good stuff:
Moving to Boulder to be closer to work- 7 min commute vs. 1 ¼ hrs previously
Hiking up Mt. Bierstadt for my birthday and watching the sunrise over the Rockies, by myself
Running the Colorado Spartan Race with my sister- I now love obstacle races!
Starting to run and running the Bolder Boulder 10K and Merrill Down & Dirty 10K
Committing myself to meditation and reading at least one book a month
Going to therapy to work out my ‘issues’
Learning that I am tougher then I thought I was; mentally & physically
Most importantly, reevaluating my life and what I want out of it. A clear path is the only way to move forward.
I started out the year with just another New Year’s resolution, but now I know that even though they are cliché in a way, they are important to make. They’re a reminder of what you want to accomplish for the year; how to be a better you. I started out just saying I wanted to lose 75lbs, but what made me lose 60lbs was remembering why I wanted to lose the weight. Constantly reminding yourself of the why is what keeps you going after you’re sick of the diet change, the new foods and the new way of thinking about your daily activities. It’s also not about what you are losing but what you are gaining from this. Feeling better, looking better, playing with your kids without getting winded, having a more positive mind set and not just having a dream but the will to make it happen.
Setting goals that are attainable are the most important part of this whole transition. You can’t just say “I’m going to lose 75lbs,” because it won’t work. I learned it’s easier to say, “this week I will exercise 5 days this week and only drink 3 beers this weekend.” These are attainable goals that keep you focused, but also help you reach your big goal. Last thing I will say is that you will fail at some of your goals. I’m not trying to be harsh but its true. You will be distracted and you will fall back into old habits after the glow of attaining your new goals wears off. This is not the time to quit. It’s the time to test your resolve. Do you have the will and desire to get back on track. Yes, you went to McDonalds and ate a Big Mac, super sized fries and washed it down with a 6 pack of microbrew. It tasted good and felt good but you know it did not help you reach your goal. What you do now is say to yourself “I screwed up and gave myself the fix I needed to feel normal again, but its time to get back at it.” This is how you will accomplish your goal.
Although the CDT may just be a loose connection of individual trails, that together create the CDT, right now it is like a person to me. I think about it constantly and I am trying to make every decision relate to it. Getting myself ready for it and being fit to hike it, preparing properly and getting to the finish — is my New Year’s resolution. Next year, I hope to be writing about what an amazing trip it was and where I am at in my life.
No matter the length of your hike, there is one common factor that everyone must contend with and that is Food. Without food you will go nowhere. The body is going to need its calories and if I know my body, I know that it’s going to be screaming at me!
While walking the equivalent of a marathon per day, more or less, I will need a ton of food to keep my body moving and in the proper spirits.
I want to approach my food planning with enjoyment, while considering the caloric density per ounce that will nourish me, yet not weigh me down. In other words, the amount of food I carry must not be insufficient for its burden. How do I make sure that I’m taking the right stuff that my body needs and how much of it and when?
Food planning is going to be huge for this trip. Some hikers, like Andrew Skurka, use spreadsheets to keep track of every meal, every bar that he carries. He typically will do what he calls a ‘caloric drip’ to where he is eating 400-500 cal snacks throughout the day, so that his body is always running on some new calories and continues to burn energy all day. Eating 9 meals a day, with only a hot dinner keeps the body going for long periods of time without bonking or causing a injury.
Excel spreadsheets help you keep track of what your bringing
Another veteran of backpacking, Glen Van Peski of Gossamer Gear, has written an article about the way he does his food planning for his vegan diet on the trail. Mike Clelland, a long time NOLS instructor who has taken groups all over the world and into every kind of weather, wrote a great article on backpackinglight.com called * Food Planning using Pounds Per Person Per Day (PPPPD). After working for NOLS for so many years he has developed a way to estimate a hiker’s food needs and he estimates that the average hiker’s needs are about 1.4 PPPPD. Now this can change depending on other variables such as length. You need to add more PPPPD because you will get hungrier as you go for a longer hike and also depending on the weather. He has also written an article called Groovy-Biotic Cooking: Quick, Healthy Meals with an Ultralight cook kit. This is one of the best articles out there about how your cook kit can be healthy and light, but also give you a ton of great options with spices, sauces and tons of calories. I’m going to try making Super Spackle sometime soon!
I’ll have a chance to put the above articles into action by starting to plan for an eight-day trip on the Hayduke trail. I used to take a Thanksgiving day backpacking trip every year, but that hasn’t happened in awhile. Unless a miracle happens by the PTO fairy, this will probably be my longest trip before I start the CDT. I’m going to make the most out of it.
* The Mike Clelland articles might be only for Backpackinglight.com members but, these article are worth the membership fee!
I started camping when I was about 8 yrs. old. My dad brought the family and I out to Colorado for a camping festival with over 200 Czech people, which is where my family immigrated from back in 1979. At the time, the woods of Colorado were amazing with the trees, rocks, cliffs and the possibility of bears. Oh, how I wanted, but didn’t want to run into a bear. It’s an amazing feeling to be both scared and excited at the same time.
I continued to car camp with friends and family through the years but it wasn’t until about 8 years ago that I decided that there must be much better things to see far away from the parking lot and my beer stash. My buddy Bret always wanted me to leave the site and go for a hike but, I was more interested in being fat and close to my beer then to actually go out and see something. Once I did leave the parking lot, I was amazed at how beautiful, quite and clean everything was now in the woods. There were no beer cans, propane stoves and huge fire rings so you could have that stereotypical ‘bonfire’ that your suppose to have when you camp. I learned how to follow a trail, pack equipment (not lightweight) and setup camp in the backcountry. I was immediately hooked. I spent a long time looking for resources to learn more about it. After a few trips with a traditional heavy pack, I knew I had to lighten up. I weighted about 300lbs at the time so I didn’t want to carry another 50 lbs on my back. I went looking for a lighter way and below are some online resources I found:
Here is a summary of my favorite backpacking sites:
Backpackinglight.com is probably the best website you will find that is dedicated to lightweight backpacking. It has a huge online forum community that is very helpful, great gear reviews, buy/sell your used gear and wonderful trip reports posted by members. They examine techniques, philosophies, gear, and the evolution of products and are constantly challenging the status quo of current backpacking trends. This should be your first stop if learning how to hike. If you’re going to start venturing into the backcountry you might as well do it light!
Whiteblaze.net is another great site to learn about backpacking, hiking the Appalachian Trail (AT) and get advice on gear and technique. This site has been around a long time so there is a large archive of forum questions and discussions. There are also a lot of colorful members who are very helpful with your questions and will be honest on what they think of your gear list or any question you ask.
Backpacker.com is the online site for the same named magazine that I’m sure you have seen somewhere. They are great at posting reviews, trip ideas, interviews and stories related to the outdoors. I tend to use this mostly for trip ideas; you can enter in a place such as Rocky Mountain National Park and it will pull up trips that they have either posted online or in their magazine. I do question some of their reviews but, they are a great place to look if your brand new to backpacking and still need to learn what the 10 essentials are. My only warning is that they mostly promote traditional gear, not very many lightweight options but a good place to look.
My next posting will be a trip report from my weekend in Canyonlands National Park over the Labor Day weekend. Keep a look out for that soon!
CouchtoCDT 