Seg.6 - The Colorado Trail

imported
#1

First I would like to thank the brave one that post holed through all those feet of snow for 7 miles before I came along and stepped in their foot steps. Without your imprints I would have been completely lost and more exhausted than I am. So Segment 6 starts out beautifully and then turns into a nightmare close to the top of Georgia pass, patches of snow fields that are deeper than I am tall, are on the Park County side but that is nothing compared to what happens on the Summit side. No longer patches of snow you are now in a place of perpetual winter, thick forest and snow as far as the eye can see and deeper than deep. The snow is not nice either -it is ice snow like a slurppie that is over frozen. Bring snow shoes, wear snow pants, water proof gloves. I followed the foot prints that got me to the top of Georgia pass but totally lost the trail on the Summit side and just kept following the footprints till I came to road 355 which led to Tiger road. I spent the night in the forest of perpetual winter not really knowing where I was on a shelf of snow I stomped out for my tent.It was not what I had envisioned. Anyway due to what I experienced the last part of Seg.6 I am thinking of skipping a couple segments until the snow pack has diminished more. I was thinking of starting at Seg.10 or 11, any suggestions or input of how the trail vs. snow looks after seg.6. let me know, I only have 5 more weeks off from work to complete the trail, so I wanna go soon.
Ashley

Ashley

#2

:smiley: I coulda told you that, I live in Summit County.

Mellow Mike

#3

I’d imagine most of the rest of the trail is still snowbound at this point.

Anything above 9000 feet will be snowbound till mid/late June at the earliest; that’s the rest of the trail from Summit County to Durango mostly.

You should have snowshoes, iceaxe, and backcountry snow experience if you’re thru-hiking this early. It’ll be hardcore fo’ sure…

Mellow Mike

#4

Not to be negative or burst your bubble if you are attempting a CT thru-hike this early, but you REALLY
need to have backcountry snow experience if this is your plan.

It’s melting fast, but there is still A LOT of snow above 9000 feet. Sections of trail above timberline will still have potentially deadly snowfield crossings at this time.

Personally I wouldn’t attempt a thru from Summit to Durango until after July 1st.

Mellow Mike

#5

oh, and I read your other post about heading to Twin Lakes. That’ll be worse than Georgia Pass I’m sure.

There might be snow free trail in the Cochetopa Hills sections south of HWY 50, but I’d guess theres still snow down there as well. I’m sure you’d run into heavy snow going up Chochetopa Creek.

Mellow Mike

#6

way to be a debbie downer, mellow mike. I live at 10,000 feet on the Park County side and there is minimal snow here, except for some these recent storms are bringing. My thought is that further south things might be the same as around here, maybe and hopefully better. We had such a mild winter, at least on this side of the pass, it’s not so far fetched to think the snow is melting and hiking could be done earlier than usual this year.Come on, throw me a bone. Have you been down to the Arkansas valley and hiked any parts of the trail to say for sure what the conditions are this year.

Ashley

#7

No, to be honest I don’t know for sure. I’m just guessing from conditions here, and from previous hiking experience on the CT.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t go for it, I’m just saying you should know what you might be in for and have experience to handle situations you might encounter.

Seeing as you’re from Park County, I’m sure have knowledge of what you might encounter.

Passes are sure to be snowbound are there are many between Summit County and Durango…

The section of trail south of Buena Vista and North of San Luis Pass is where I’m sure you’ll find the least amount of snow now. It is melting fast as you know too.

Keep us posted on what you decide on, and how it goes. Good Luck!:cheers

P.S. I’s sorry for negativity; just lookin’ out in case you might not know what you could be in for…

Mellow Mike

#8

This link was on the CDT forum…
http://www.nohrsc.nws.gov/interactive/html/map.html?mode=pan&zoom=¢er_x=+-104.37¢er_y=+++36.42&ql=station&var=ssm_depth&dy=2009&dm=5&dd=19&dh=12&snap=1&o9=1&o12=1&o13=1&lbl=m&min_x=-111.71666666667&min_y=33.150000000001&max_x=-100.38333333333&max_y=41.65&coord_x=+-104.37&coord_y=+++36.42&zbox_n=39.41166666666693&zbox_s=36.35166666666729&zbox_e=-104.32166666666565&zbox_w=-108.66611111111264&metric=0&bgvar=dem&width=600&height=450&nw=600&nh=450&font=0&js=1&uc=0

Mellow Mike

#9

http://www.nohrsc.nws.gov/interactive/html/map.html?mode=pan&zoom=&center_x=+-105.957&center_y=+++37.484&ql=station&var=ssm_depth&dy=2009&dm=5&dd=31&dh=12&snap=1&o9=1&o12=1&o13=1&lbl=m&min_x=-109.16666666667&min_y=37.075000000001&max_x=-105.225&max_y=40.025000000001&coord_x=+-105.957&coord_y=+++37.484&zbox_n=39.857833333334334&zbox_s=37.458500000000996&zbox_e=-105.93778472222281&zbox_w=-107.58671527777977&metric=0&bgvar=dem&width=600&height=450&nw=600&nh=450&font=0&js=1&uc=0

MM

#10

Starting my hike on June 21st SOBO.

No back-country snow experience, and I couldn’t be more excited!

Low

#11

Thanks for the link. That is the best site I’ve seen so far for snow depth info. I wouldn’t say I’m the most knowledgeable person in the back country but I think I have been out in it a good amount. I learned a lot by being with an avid and obsessed outdoors man for five and a half years. But it is very different when you get in situations alone and I would rather not feel lost in the forest of perpetual winter with the sun going down. I can see my ego is going to have to change along with some of my gear. I am determined to do as much of the trail as mother nature allows in the next 5 weeks. So thanks for caring even when I got snippy over the state of things. That link is so easy to read.
Ashley

Ashley

#12

Low, I’m with you-- minimal b/c snow experience. I’m leaving the 20th, and hoping that Ashley’s forecast has changed considerably.

Curt

#13

Obviously - this is in no way, shape, or form official information - but everyone I’ve talked to in Colorado has said that it’s been a low Snow year.

Either way - it’s gonna be a sweet Summer.

Good luck on your hike Curt - I’ll be a day behind ya. Maybe I’ll see you out there.

Low

#14

We were planning starting segment 6 on Saturday…sounds like that’s not possible. I’ve checked out the link above and it helps, but has anyone been on segments 4 and 5? Think they’d be relatively snow free (enough to not need extra snow equipment) by this weekend?

smsjennifer

#15

ive been reading this trail journal he has been section hiking every weekend so far looks like he just did seg 4-5. http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=275728

kyle

#16

Thanks Kyle. We’ve been planning this trip for a while; I hope it works out!

smsjennifer

#17

Will we need to worry about bears? I know we don’t need to carry the canisters but do we need to hang food? I’ve never done so in Colorado, but I’ll be in areas I’ve never hiked before in the state. And won’t we be camping above treeline in some areas? Thanks in advance.

Beverly

#18

maybe im stuborn but ive never hung my food in co either and never had problems either so this year i do not plan to again?

kyle

#19

Hi, I am planning on starting Seg 6 on June 25 and going for two weeks. Any thoughts on the passability of Georgia Pass? Would it be a better idea to start my first two weeks on the trail closer to Buena Vista? Thanks

saphta