Bikepacking the Colorado Trail, Summer 2022, Denver to Durango

Can a recreational, middle-aged cyclist from sea level bikepack the Colorado Trail? Yes.

History

Read: Bikepacking the Colorado Trail, Summer 2013, segments 23, 22, 23

Read: Bikepacking the Colorado Trail, Summer 2015, segments 25, 26, 27 & 28, Silverton to Durango

That triggered the idea; we should ride the whole thing. Since 2015, Mark and I have been planning a ride from Denver to Durango. He'd be retiring soon, and I'd just take a month off. We'd ride the whole thing at a gentleman's pace - taking breaks in towns, swimming, enjoying it. That was the idea. Mark did retire. I asked my work for a month off, letting them know a year in advance. In July/August 2022, we'd ride the whole thing. It was harder than we remembered.

This is the story of that trip.

Short

Mark and I planned to do the entire Colorado Trail, from Denver to Durango in July/August 2022. I'd fixed my afib problem, and Mark had retired. We didn't do much preparation for the trip individually, or together. Mark did some planning. We had a rough idea of 15 riding days, 18 total days. We drove from California to Durango, dropping his car and renting a minivan, then we drove with just what we'd be riding/carrying to Denver, returned the minivan and started pedaling. 

The first few days involved climbing steadily from 5500' to over 12,000'. I had some bad days, due to altitude, then Mark did. We leap-frogged with a young bikepacker named Jake, got into a rhythm. I recovered from the bad days, but Mark was having more of them. By about the middle of the Colorado Trail, Mark made the decision to pull out. I decided to keep going. The middle segments were tough. I had one really bad day, my water filter failed, and I reached out to Mark, who hadn't left the area yet. We reconnected, he gave me his water filter and some gear, and I continued. The ride changed from a  recreational ride to a mission. I started to add miles and hours, pushing myself to complete it, on time. The segments 14, 15, 16, 17 were very tough, rocky, challenging. I felt low. Segment 18 was quite nice. I learned some things; start very early, throw out a shelter immediately, when storms begin, get in with all your gear nearby, filter often and fully. I rode through the La Garita wilderness bypass to Cathedral Ranch Cabins, one of my favorite days, then back up to the highest country, where I went over the highest point, and then to Silverton. I had a nice birthday, doing something good for someone else. In Silverton I had a very nice, short stay with Christine and Josh, friends of my friend Erik, then knocked out big, two-segment days to finish in Durango, where I stayed with former Bay Area friends Liza and Matt. My total days were 19, with 1 zero day. We'd remembered the trail being easier than it was.  

Route

I had the 2013 Databook from the Colorado Trail Foundation, and Mark had recently bought the most recent edition. His had more information about the wilderness bypass routes that bikes must take, and it had plastic-coated pages for water resistance. I'd found Devon Balet's Colorado Trail route page, with GPX file, which Mark and I both loaded on our handlebar gps computers, and which I'd read. We planned to use the gpx file, the databook and the well-signed trail to navigate, doing all the bike-legal sections, and riding all the wilderness bypasses. Mid-way through the CT, I installed the Far Out app on my phone, and paid $20 for the Colorado Trail bikepacking module. It was worth it, to me.

Day by day, on the Colorado Trail

I created this with QGIS from my gpx files. Each day is a different color.

These pages detail each day, with photos, track, story. Heads up: I started narrating what I saw, felt via videos recorded on my phone, more as the trip went by. These narrated videos are in my photo albums. I'd share them in the blog posts, but this blogger platform doesn't let me. I encourage you to watch / listen to those videos. They worked well as instagram stories, which have all evaporated. 

I've added descriptions to some of the photos, but Google Photos makes it so hard to find/see the descriptions that it feels pointless. I'll go back though the albums and update as many descriptions as I can. When my phone is in airplane mode, no GPS data is attached, but some have location. Most of the words in the reports below are from me dictating to my phone, before I fell asleep. I've tried to fix grammar, punctuation, spelling. If it seems like a stream of consciousness, it is.

• Colorado Trail 2022; Prologue
• 2022/07/20 Segment 1 Waterton Canyon to South Platte River 32.4 mi +2,866 ft / -2,350 ft
• 2022/07/21 Segments 2 & 3 South Platte River to Little Scraggy to Rolling Creek 28 mi +4,482 ft / -2,582 ft
• 2022/07/22 Wellington Lake to Bailey, shuttle to Kenosha pass (wilderness bypass) 12.1 mi +1,195 ft / -1,510 ft
• 2022/07/23 Segment 6 Kenosha Pass to North Fork Swan River 19.1 mi +2,716 ft / -2,830 ft
• 2022/07/24 Segment 6 North Fork Swan River to Frisco (wilderness bypass) 20.4 mi +2,010 ft / -2,933 ft
• 2022/07/25 Frisco, bike path around Segment 7 to Segment 8, Guller Creek 17.2 mi +2,880 ft / -274 ft
• 2022/07/26 Segment 8, Guller Creek to Segment 9, Tennessee Pass to Leadville (wilderness bypass) 28.4 mi +2,432 ft / -4,242 ft
• 2022/07/27 Leadville to Segment 11, Mount Massive to Clear Creek road, to Buena Vista (wilderness bypass) 47.9 mi +3,180 ft / -4,872 ft
• 2022/07/28 zero day in Buena Vista 
• 2022/07/29 Buena Vista to Segment 13 Silver Creek to Chalk Creek, Segment 14 Chalk Creek to US Hwy-50 40.9 mi +6,369 ft / -5,412 ft
• 2022/07/30 nero day, Foose's Creek to Poncha Springs to Segment 15, South Fooses Creek 14.9 mi+ 2,262 ft / -1,575 ft
• 2022/07/31 Segment 15 Foose's Creek to Segment 16 Sargents Mesa 25.9 mi +4,878 ft / -3,524 ft
• 2022/08/01 Segment 16 Sargents Mesa to Segment 17 Hwy-114 to Segment 18 22.2 mi +3,036 ft / -4,039 ft
• 2022/08/02 Segment 18 to Saguache Park Road to Cathedral Ranch Cabins (wilderness bypass) 41 mi +2,486 ft / -3,277 ft
• 2022/08/03 Cathedral Ranch Cabins to Segment 22 Spring Creek Pass 34.8 mi +5,038 ft / -2,285 ft
• 2022/08/04 Segment 22 to Segment 23 Stony Pass 19.8 mi +4,130 ft / -3,803 ft
• 2022/08/05 Segment 23 to Silverton (wilderness bypass) 13.9 mi +760 ft / -3,806 ft
• 2022/08/06 Segment 25 Molas Pass to Segment 26 Hotel Draw Road 31.1 mi +4,898 ft / -5,334 ft
• 2022/08/07 Segment 27 Hotel Draw Road to Segment 28 Junction Creek to Durango 45 mi +4,951 ft / -8,451 ft
• 495 miles, 60,569' climbing, 18 riding  days, 1 skipped segment (7, rode the bike path around it), 1 skipped wilderness bypass (Lost Creek Wilderness, got a ride from Jason)
• Colorado Trail, 2022; Epilogue
• Thoughts about bikepacking the Colorado Trail