Roger Carpenter

CDT June 23-27: Monarch Pass to Twin Lakes, Colorado

Me and Elusive were treated by my friends Nancy and Sandy McVie to a wonderful campground dinner feast here in Twin Lakes. It made the hard five days of hiking well worth it. It took Elusive and I five days to hike 70 miles, a section I thought I could cover in four days. Each day included long ascents to beautiful mountain passes. I do not time to write many details. The photos will provide glimpses of the challenges and rewards.

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CDT June 15-19: Creede to Monarch Pass

Summer finally arrived in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, with warm, even hot, days with clear skies (no thunderstorms for five straight days), and rapidly melting snowpack! As Mr. Snowman says: “Oh no! I’m melting…melting!”

Oh no! I'm melting...melting! — Oh no! I’m melting…melting!

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CDT June 11-14, Wolf Creek Pass to Creede

I left Pagosa Springs on June 11 after two days of welcome zeros. But I did not feel mentally ready to go back to the CDT, and instead wanted to stay another day in wonderful Pagosa Springs after taking care of town chores. The result was an unsettled mind state. And I believe this contributed to forgetting to pack my headlamp in my backpack. I hiked just 4 miles on June 11, and that was all I could handle, and discovering I had no normal way to illuminate the dark night made my unsettled feeling even worse.

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CDT June 3-8, Chama, NM to Wolf Creek Pass, Colorado

Hiking the CDT is to “embrace the brutality.”
The CDT reaches the high, snowy country just north of Cumbres Pass in little time. I added a lot of weight to my backpack in Chama: snowshoes, microspikes an ice ax and a a seven day supply of food.

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May 31: Stuck in Chama with the Colorado Snowpack Blues. What will I do?

In this post I describe why my experience in 1995 on the PCT, and with Wild author Cheryl Strayed, plays in important role in how I intend to proceed along the CDT north of here and into Colorado. In a way, this is my personal drama for 2016, and I am confident that my chosen path is the right one.

At Trail Pass in 1995: Cheryl Strayed, Doug, Pete and Roger Carpenter. Photo by Meadow Ed Faubert. — At Trail Pass in 1995: PCT hikers Cheryl Strayed and Roger Carpenter (front); Doug Wisor and Pete (back). Photo by Meadow Ed Faubert.

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CDT May 22-26: Ghost Ranch to Chama, New Mexico

Entering the CDT Gateway to the Rocky Mountains.

This 93 mile section of extremes were on full display in this New Mexico landscape: from the colorful, rocky cliffs and towers of the Ghost Ranch area to the high alpine mountains that were holding some snow above 10,000 feet, even lower in some places.

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CDT May 19-22: Cuba to Ghost Ranch, New Mexico

Up Mountains and down to the beautiful Ghost Ranch scenery and bluegrass.

The day the group of hikers and me left the Del Prado “mice-tel” in Cuba we climbed 4050 feet to a camp at 10550 feet surrounded by large patches of snow. It was my first experience of snow on this hike. Hiking to that elevation was no problem except for the climbing effort and willingness to endure cold, wet feet from the rapidly melting snow.

Melting snow in San Pedro Peaks Wilderness

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CDT May 13-17: Grants to Cuba, New Mexico

Hiking in the Land of Enchantment

I was concerned upon my first step out of the Motel 6 in Grants on May 13. Would my latest pair of new and wider shoes acquired at Beales Clothing Store meet the demands of the CDT? New Balance 409 shoes look like they are meant for pedestrian city walkers, not thru hikers! Mt. Taylor, 11,300 feet, was the challenge on May 14, so those shoes were tested right away.

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CDT Days 21-25, May 8-12

Pie Town to Grants, NM: Windmills, Trail Angels, and Lava Rock

The information about water in this section was clear. There were no natural sources of water except for a couple of stagnant, muddy ponds in places like Sand Canyon. It would be trail angels along the route who would make thirst quenching aqua available to CDT hikers. On the morning I left Pie Town I was walking fast on flat terrain.

One of several windmills that provided clean, much needed water.

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Pie Town

Thank you for all the nice comments. I read every comment and am aided by your positive feeback. I am having breakfast at the Gathering Place with about 10 other CDT hikers before I head back to the trail this morning. Even more showed up after I took the photo.

The community of CDT hikers is another positive aspect of this journey. They represent young and older (like me!), U.S., Spain, France, Belgium, Germany, Australia, Korea, and more places.