Creede or Lake City

imported
#1

Hello,
I’m thru hiking with two friends and we are having some trouble figuring out where to resupply after Salida. It seems like both Creede and Lake City aren’t good options but it has to be one of them it seems.

Does anyone have any info on which would be better? It’s a long hitch to creede but Im hiking with two girls and we’ve had great luck hitching so far.

We also have to skip a segment between Salida and there to made it to durango when we need to. Any recommendations on shuttles or trail angels in Salida?

Thanks,
Tyler

sisyphus

#2

The southern end of Segment 14 ends across the street from a parking area. This weekend, there were about 10 cars there…but no people around three in the afternoon.

My suggestion would be to first try to hitch a ride from the Angel of Shavano Campground at mile 15.3 or so. It would probably be pretty easy around noon as people are packing up to leave.

Sand Creek is the last decent campground with water before Angel of Shavano that I recall. There is free camping just outside Angel of Shavano campground by the North Fork.

Be advised, there are STRICT fire bans in place. No fires except in a metal ring. And the stove MUST be UL approved. I heard they are writing tickets in the Angel of Shavano Campground. (This means no pepsi can stoves.)

Gershon

#3

Don’t know who you talked to, but Creede and Lake City are two of the coolest towns in Colorado. The hitch can be a bit tricky, but the two times I’ve done it things went ok. There is a rest area sort of spot where you hit the highway at Spring Creek and lots of cars stop there. Look for pickup trucks and ask for a ride in the back. Go to whichever town you can get a ride to.You will have a better chance with locals than tourists.

Most hikers look like dirtbags by time they hike that far from Denver and that is part of the problem. Colorado is full of water. Amazing what that stuff will do for your chances of getting picked up.

bearcreek

#4

Both are pretty cool towns. PCT thru-hiker “Lucky” put me up in Lake City when I went through in 2009. Creede is by far a better resupply. They have a small grocery store versus Lake City’s large convenience store. As such, Lake City is a much more expensive resupply with far less selection. I don’t think it’ll be a bad hitch either way.

Soup Sandwich

#5

My wife and I thru-hiked in ’09 and this is what we did at Spring Creek Pass, (our patented system !) We each got on one side of the road about a 100’ apart, and stuck our thumbs out, being agnostic (like Bearcreek mentioned above) as to whether we went into Lake City or Creede. We wanted to increase our chances of getting a ride by making EVERY car passing by a possibility, not just one side of the road. Yes, traffic is indeed light here, and maybe we got lucky, but we caught a ride in under 30 minutes in the last afternoon (to Creede, which was awesome town). Of course whoever pulled over had to have 2 open seats in their car and be willing to take two when at first glance they pulled over expecting to pick up one person. But I think most people who are willing to stop won’t mind the change as long as they have room and you explain nicely…

Layer Man

#6

I have been fairly vocal in the past about the hitch into Creede. I do think it is important to emerge from San Luis Pass on or near a weekend for best hitch chances. That being said, I really enjoyed Creede, even though I walked 8 road miles before being picked up in 2003 by a local in a pickup. One thing about Creede - it is wise to have a reservation for lodging if that is your intention while in town. I failed to make that preparation, and ended up tenting in a resident’s back yard. JMO.

TrailGuy

#7

in all my travels I have never met a more hospitable community then the community of creede booth towns will do but on numerus occasions in winter and summer thrue hikes ski adventures the people there have always been jus incredibly nice:cheers

beaver