How often in towns with hotels?

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#1

Will we be camping pretty much every night or will we be near towns with hotels occasionally? I’ve just ordered the guidebook and I assume that info will be there, but I’m kind of antsy to start planning this thing!

Nancy from Family on Bikes

#2

If you are travelling by bicycle, it’s really a question of preference about how often you stay overnight in town. A typical hiker might walk 15-20 miles per day on the CT, implying a total duration of 24-33 days of actual hiking. As a result, most hikers will need to resupply at least twice (if they are fast hikers) and more likely four or five times. Some of these re-supply exercises are easy as the trail passes quite near town (Breck, Twin, Leadville, Silverton) while others require a lengthy hitch (Salida, Gunnison, Creede, Lake City). For a hiker, it can be tough to do an “in-and-out” resupply in a single day because the the logistics of some of these places.

For a biker, it’s a bit of different story. Because you can travel such long distances between re-supplies, you can effectively choose the easy “in-and-out” towns if that’s what you want to do. Or you can stay the night for a shower and a soft bed if that’s what spins your starter.

If I were biking, I’d probably stop in Breck after 3-ish days and ~105 miles. Then I’d probably bike into Salida or Buena after another ~100 miles. Then finally I’d probably bike into Creede for the final resupply before Durango. Because you can easily ride 30-40 miles per day, you’ll be able to finish the trail in 12-16 days of biking. You will not be forced to do 7-day hauls between re-supplies like hikers. You can just stop and re-supply when it’s convenient for you.

Loup

#3

If you have not already done so, you really should look at Mags’ end-to-end guide. It’s one of the most useful planning documents that I’ve seen for the CT:

Loup

#4

I dont think most folks bike into Creede. Remember that the bike route is quite different from the hiking route. (Tell me if I am wrong). Last summer several folks who were biking the trail felt that pushing the bikes up boulder strewn trails was not a lot of fun! They thought hiking might be better. Point is, if you are debating hiking versus biking remember that pushing a bike uphill is added weight. We had some folks who averaged 12 miles per day on bikes and got passed by hikers. But they were having a lot of fun anyway.

Apple

#5

Nancy,

Hostels are the way to go. There is a hostel in Breckenridge. You can spend two nights there, slackpack to Copper and take the free bus back. The Leadville Inn is a great hostel. They can pick you up at the ends of segment 8, 9 and 10, I think.

Salida has a hostel and plenty of motels. It’s 13 miles from the trailhead, though. Still, it’s the last resupply point before the 100 mile stretch without resupply.

Silverton has a hostel which I’ve heard is good.

Gershon

#6

We will be hiking rather than biking now - a whole new experience for us! Thanks for the info on hostels. Good to know we can take a break here and there.

Nancy from Family on Bikes

#7

Apple,

The hike-a-bike sections are probably not that much fun, but they are not the majority of the trail. There are long sections with manageable uphills that are nicely switchbacked, followed by easy downhills on which bicycles cruise. But you are correct, that there are some short sections where a bike is a major liability. There were even a few short sections where I wondered whether a horse could reasonably walk the trail. All things considered, the cyclists seemed to be doing big miles compared to those of us on foot (but I might be biased due to the big bike race that was held, with really fit, young participants!).

When resupplying, the real benefit of a bike is that a 10-mile ride on a FS road or a highway is less than 1 hour, so you can ride to town, resupply and ride back to the trail head with ease. For a hiker, hitching the same distance can work well or poorly depending on your luck. I’ve had 2-minute hitches and 1-hour hitches during my hiking career…

Loup

#8

Yep, we had bikers who averaged 12 miles a day. We also had some incredible bikers who averaged 100 miles per day! So there is quite a range. BTW, we had folks who did the whole trail on horses this year (pretty cool). And a couple of hikers with llamas. 2 years ago we had a CDT guy with no tent, tarp, or anything. He always found natural shelter (like leaves) to sleep in. I could go on… The CT is an amazing thing.

Apple