1st timers...any advice?

imported
#1

Hello All,
My fiance and I are planning to spend a month hiking next summer and would like to get any advice possible from experienced hikers. This will be our first moderately long trip and I must say that we are a bit intimidated. We will be in Pagosa Springs for a week in July on business and would then like to hit the trail. Any suggestions on which where to start, considering both that we are beginners and that our scenery of choice is old growth forests? We did a pack trip last summer in the Bob Marshall Wilderness which was absolutely spectacular. Which books would you consider the most helpful in planning this type of trip?

Thanks for any help,
Rob and Tina

Robin Smith

#2

Being from the east, I like the AT and blue blaze trails near it. But, have hiked out west. My suggestion is to get some back issues of Backpacker magazine. They offer alot of trail choices and give good discriptions. We’ve tried some of their recommendations and were not disappointed. Happy Trails.

Charles Moffitt

#3

This area is beautiful.
Not sure what trails, accomodations are available. Probably
some national forest or State parks in the area.

Ken J

Ken J

#4

Pagosa Springs/Wolf Creek Pass is a good place to start your hike, or better yet, Cumbres Pass, south of there near the New Mexico border. Then just hike north as far as you can get in a month. Chances are it will be somewhere that you can get a bus to Denver. The Trail goes near a lot of towns in Colorado. (Near meaning a 30 mile hitch in the far south, less than that farther north.) The trail in the San Juans is somewhat obscure, but the guidebooks (Jim Wolf’s Southern Colorado CDT guidebook or Tom Jones’ CDT guidebook) are good. Trails Illustrated makes good maps for the CDT. A few errors, but usually not major, if you have the guidebook to compare. Wolf’s guidebook was better, I thought. If you start in Pagosa Springs/Wolf Creek Pass - pack light as it is a long way to your first resupply at Lake City or Creede and the climbs are long - especially as you get used to the altitude. However, the San Juans are absolutely gorgeous. You can choose to either follow the CDT or the Colorado Trail, once you meet it near Pole Creek. Bring a compass and learn how to use it before you go. In Alpine terrain the trail sometimes vanishes completely. Bring warm gear - I got hypothermic in August in Colorado, thanks to a worn out sleeping bag and an all day rain.

Ginny

#5

Papa Smurf - Tennessee aint in the east ; central ; think , central . Rafter / Secret Agent

Secret Agent