My friend and I are planning a thru hike and trying to do it in an approximate 33 day time constraint. We need some idea of the amount of days of food to plan between sections. If anyone who has hiked the trail could give us the amount days it took to hike from
Moose
I hiked the CT in 50 days, so the time it took me from town stop to town stop would not be reasonable for your trip. It should be pretty easy to figure a rough estimate of how many days worth of food you’ll need If you have a 33 day limit, which means a 14.2 mpd average.
Start to Breckenridge ~101 - approx. 7 days of food
Breck to Twin Lakes ~74 - approx. 5 days of food
Twin Lakes to Salida ~70 - approx. 5 days of food
Salida to Creede ~87 - approx. 6 days of food
Creede to Silverton ~64 - approx. 4.5 days of food
Silverton to Durango ~72 - 5 days of food
A couple thoughts: 14.2 mpd is very reasonable over the long haul, but especially if you’re coming from lower elevations to start out, you may want to go a bit slower for the first stretch as you acclimate. Fortunately, the trail does not start out at 12,000’ in Denver, but by day 2-3 you will be approaching 10,000’. You can make up significant time on the trail from Salida to Creede. However, you may want to slow down near the end of this stretch in the fabulous La Garita Wilderness to enjoy it. Also, Creede is a bit of a hike off the trail, Lake City is a good alternative in my opinion, especially if you’re pressed for time. If possible, you may want to try to pick up the pace earlier on in the hike to enjoy slowing down in the San Juans, which are outstanding. Good luck. -Matt
Sweeper
Thanks for the advice Sweeper. If any one has hiked the trail close to this pace your input would be helpful. Thanks.
Moose
Sweeper
I am planning to hike the Trail this year in about the same number of days as you. Are there any resupply points you really liked/didn’t like, or some you wished you’d used but didn’t? Same question for camp sites. By any chance did you stop at Rainbow Lake Resort or Mt. Princeton Hot Springs, and what did you think of them as a place to stop? Any helpful hints you’d like to pass along would be greatly appreciated.
Tawanda
town stops i liked:
jefferson - crappy food, but it broke up the stretch from waterton to breck.
breckenridge - nice all around town, a bit spendy, but you can find anything you need. walmart and supermarket are accessible by free bus up in frisco.
leadville - i hitched in from twin lakes, again, it broke up longer stretches. there is a hostel and a supermarket there.
buena vista - tough hitch on a weekday, easy on a weekend. there is a super market there and not too expensive motels.
salida - walmart! and cheap motels. problem with salida is that the old part of town, the part of town with class, is a 1/2 mile or longer walk from us 50 where the motels are at. can be a tough hitch in/out. folks drive fast here.
i didn’t really care for:
i also liked:
i kinda wished i visited:
and i didn’t visit either rainbow lake resort or mt. princeton hot springs. i think i should have visited the hot springs.
finally, i think i took 40 days to hike the CT. and i took a detour and visited a few 14ers in the sawatch.
d-low
send to General Delivery, c/o Jefferson Market, 38600 US Hwy 285, Jefferson CO 80456
Be sure to mark it with Hold for CT hiker and an ETA, and have ID for pickup. BTW the market is open Sun-Thurs 7-7 and Fri-Sat 7-9, they have a cafe open daily 7-3; there is another cafe across the street that serves brk, lunch and dinner.
Tawanda