Food caches? - The Colorado Trail

imported
#21

Hitch hiking is extremely easy in Colorado, I lived in Breckenridge, and a few other surrounding towns, for six years and hitched nearly every day to work, or the mountain for skiing. Never have to worry about getting a ride in Colorado, as long as it’s day time. Night time would take for ever to hitch hike. Day time no problems. Better then leaving caches for sure, and you will have fresh food on every resupply.

@Incognito, totally agree. I hate having to use public bathrooms when on trail. If I’m in a town sometimes I wait till I get back to the trail to make happy Orange Shovel time, rather then use public bathrooms. I was surprised, on the AT though, how many shelters had outhouses that were decently clean. Lots of good volunteers out there.

Oh and in Breckenridge, plan on finding good people in town who will let you crash on their floor. Save money on the hotel room. If not, well theres a ton of hotels and a hostel, as long as its not a holiday weekend.

The Silverthorne hostel, behind Denny’s is allegedly a very sketchy place. I had friends stay there and get all their stuff stolen, then the owner yells at them for mentioning it. Avoid the Silverthorne hostel, every thing I have heard about it points it out to be a scary place staffed by very creepy meth heads.

Guino

#22

Yikes! That’s exactly where I want to take my sons…

Nancy from Family on Bikes

#23

As a solitary male hiker, I had mixed success with hitching along the Colorado Trail.

It took me almost an hour at mid-day to hitch a ride from the trail head into Salida. I was quite surprised, as there was a significant amount of traffic on that highway. As usual, all the nicest cars went speeding past, and I was finally picked up by a guy who was down on his luck, driving a crappy old Saturn. He asked if I could help him out with maybe $5 for gas, but I happily gave him $10 as he dropped me off right in front of the hostel in Salida instead of down the hill along the highway. Getting out of Salida was easy, as John from the Simple Hostel shuttled me.

My second solo hitch was at Silverton, and I got picked up by the first car! It was a couple of hikers with a 1/4-ton pickup truck, so I just hopped into the box for the 5-minute ride into Silverton. On the other hand, other hikers told me that it took them an hour to get a hitch into Silverton.

My third hitch was at the trail terminus outside of Durango. I was hiking with another guy, and it took us about 15 minutes to get a hitch to downtown Durango.

So, basically, a mixed bag.

Loup

#24

Most difficult hitch is into Creede from Spring Creek Pass. Best to just ask people who stop at the parking / rest area there.

Two ways to get into Silverton. One is from Molas Pass after Seg 24 and the other is from Stony Pass before Seg 24. Stony has a lot of Jeep traffic and is actually easier for some people, but waiting to go via Molas sets up a perfect length hike of 74 miles in to the Durango trailhead.

bearcreek

#25

John from the Simple Hostel picked me up in Princeton and dropped me off there a few days later for a very nominal fee. Nice guy! I gave him a call on my cell when I had reception with a ETA to the trailhead, he met me there.

Bill from the Leadville Hostel will also pick up and drop off for a nominal fee. Both places we’re great to stay in and had private rooms if you prefer.

Karlg

#26

If a person isn’t too obsessive about hiking southbound while traveling southbound, there is an easy way to manage resupply with 2 cars and 2 people.

Park one car at the start of Seg 1. Drive to the end of seg 1. Hike north to the start of seg 1 and take the car to the end of seg 2. Hike north to the start of seg 2, etc.

So you can progress southbound to Durango even though you are hiking northbound all the time. It’s a little different experience. For those who hike longer distances, most of the trail could be slackpacked.

Gershon

#27

If you possibly can, absolutely, positively slackpack segment 7 (Breckenridge to Copper Mtn). Both sides are steep, especially near the top when going south, and that upper north side reportedly holds snow longer than any other spot on the CT. There was still a fair amount starting about a mile below the summit when we went over in mid-July of this year. Nothing we needed an ice axe or crampons for, but enough to really slow us down and make us concentrate on where and how we placed our feet. Ipod off; brain on.:lol

Use the free Summit Stage buses to get back and forth between Breck and Copper Mtn.

wandering bob

#28

Segment 7 is usually a piece of cake. At 12.8 miles, it is one of the short ones. The logistics of how a thru hiker could slackpack it are daunting and not worth the bother. I guess you could take the shuttle to Breckenridge, find someone to watch your backpack, pull the second day pack out, take the shuttle back, and then hike back to Breckenridge.

It would take less time just to do it.

bearcreek

#29

When I was in Breck, I actually did catch the free-bus to Copper and slacked my way back to Breck. It’s true that it is a relatively short section, but as I recall, it was about a 3,500 foot vertical gain and steep so it’s somewhat strenuous. The 10-mile range is also a very beautiful place to hike, so it was really nice to not be schlepping a 30-lb pack.

That approach is a little more expensive, as slacking section 7 resulted in my spending an additional night at the Fireside Inn in Breck, and eating an additional night of restaurant food. So, call it a $50 decision to have slacked the section…

Loup

#30

Not bad. At that rate (12.8 miles in 2 days) you could do the entire trail in 76 days!

Dan Fischer