Soda Cooler - The Colorado Trail

imported
#1

To all hikers on the Colorado Trail and CDT. My sincere regrets for yanking the soda stash I had for you along Pine Creek a short ways west of highway 114 along the trail. There were three main reasons for doing so.

First of all, the most important reason is that it has been hard for me to get out there to restock it this year, and will be even harder in August and September. Too many music events (marching camp and others) and family things going on.

Secondly, hikers have been going through sodas at a rate unprecidented. When I first started putting out the cooler in the 90’s, I would put out about 30 sodas, whic would last 2 weeks. These past few years, I’ve been putting out 60 sodas (and 2 coolers) with plans to re-stock every 3 weeks due to schedule. Well, according to the trail register I maintain there, they are running out after only 2 weeks. But, the entries in that trail register do not come even close to reflecting the number of sodas I’ve gone through. 60 sodas gone, and only 15 or 20 people signing in. This has been disapponting to me, as one of the main reasons I’ve put that there is to read comments by hikers. Fewer and shorter comments with more sodas consumed is not worth it.

Finally, in that register I ALWAYS put something to the effect of telling hikers to double bag the journal and seal BOTH zip-locks. I am sick of soggy journal when the July rains hit. If the journal were secured as I’ve said, this would not happen. Even if on top of the soda cooler where I leave it. I got there on August 3 with sodas to re-stock it, and found the soggy journal in ONE bag and not sealed. So, I yanked the coolers.

I may try again next year, but am not sure. Not worth the cost of sodas and gas for a measly journal.

Burntfoot

#2

I am sorry you pulled your cooler but I understand. :sunglasses: I can tell you that we heard a constant stream of appreciation about it at our camp about 10 miles down trail. I think things went south at the bike race when a huge crowd went thru at night. I got slammed too. Enormous amounts of food and drink got consumed with a small percentage of folks signing in (although some of the racers did leave nice comments). I know at least 56 bikers went thru because I watched their Spot trackers. Anyhow, some of the south bounders have mentioned that you pulled your cooler and I will let both directions know why. I too have had hikers who eat and drink at my tent and never bother to say thanks but they are a small minority. It is amazing how many hikers are still coming thru this late in the year. 20 came thru on Wednesday and 9 yesterday.

angel apple

#3

56 bikers? I know bikes are allowed, but the large-group thing is ridiculous. If I do decide to put the cooler back in next year, I’m going to have some stipulation stating that it is for hikers only, and if groups larger than 4, then sodas must be shared. I can’t afford time or money to go out every week to put out 60 sodas.

burntfoot

#4

Burn foot,

Thanks for the soda cache over the years. The CT (and, to a lesser extent, the CDT) has grown in popularity among both hikers and mtbikers.

I know the pop was a welcome treat when I did the trail, but totally understandable that you have a life outside of trail angeling.

Please hold on to the register. Lots of CT/CDT history in there for sure!

thanks again for your years generosity.

CT Hiker

#5

Burntfoot and Apple, Place a small sign at your caches that says something like “Limit one drink and one snack per hiker.” We hikers know you’re Trail Angels and not sherpas who carry our food for us.

Bowlegs

#6

When I hiked by there on August 2 it was just a trash pile. No sodas. Broken styrofoam coolers, a soggy journal and a trash bag full of hiker trash. It was not a pretty sight.

Captain Blue

#7

“20 came thru on Wednesday and 9 yesterday.”

It was quite a privilege to thru-hike the Colorado Trail back in 1998. There might have been 20 long-distance hikers out there the whole season, and not a single one crossed my path heading the other way. I’m under the impression that much of the (trailed) Colorado backcountry has trended the same way during the intervening years, to say nothing of the increase in 4x4 activity on forest roads. By and by, the appeal is for a different crowd than it was “back in the day,” and we’re not talking all that long ago. The memories are still fairly vivid.

blisterfree

#8

Sometimes I think about the incredibly good fortune of having been born in a time in history and a place in the world that have allowed the political, social, and economic freedom to tramp through still-wild places, often alone but never as an outcast, exposed to the elements and rigors of the wild but protected by technology, such that a neophyte might blossom into a new world of discovery, and to do it all on a footpath created and maintained by the people and for the people. My conclusion is that the odds of such a positive alignment are staggeringly slim, and that I’ve been incredibly blessed. We’ve all been so blessed. But also realize that the future, as the past, will certainly be a different roll of the dice for other generations. I don’t know that it’s in our power to control the many factors that inevitably render change the only constant in this world, but I have to hope that freedom and the pursuit of happiness continue to walk hand in hand with our continued commitment to protect and enjoy the natural world. Without wild place and wild things, those core tenets of the established order that underpin all of my experiences would ring hollow indeed.

blisterfree