Slowly in Salida

Hi everybody, writing today from lovely Salida, CO.  I was lazy and managed to miss posting in Lake City, so I'll try and make up for it here.

The trip from Pagosa Springs to Lake City was a fairly challenging one.  Knowing this in advance, Greg, the other thru hiker in town, and I decided to make the 115 hike together, so we hitched out and hit the trail.  Very soon after departing we started running into long stretches of snow that had the annoying tendency to soften up early in the day, resulting in yet more postholing.  As the days went by however, the snow started to suncup, forming into shallow bowls that herald the start of the real thaw.  While this provided its own challenge in terms of hiking for us, it means that anyone traveling through just a few days after will probably have it free and clear.  Dang.  Still, as the suncups progress they acquire a beauty of their own, resembling waves and spines of snow that give the odd impression walking over a flash-frozen ocean.

The terrain was another challenge through this first section, with many ups and downs that lacked switchbacks to make the going easier.  At times it felt more like the Appalachian trail, with its brutal straight up climbs, only this time at 13,000 feet.  Luckily the views more than made up for the hardship, as the sparse vegetation means near constant views for dozens of miles.  The sight distance was somewhat limited by a haze produced by forest fires in New Mexico, and at one point we could see smoke billowing just over a neighboring ridge, but all in all the sights were spectacular.  One highlight was "The Window", a perfectly square notch knocked out of an escarpment above the trail, as well as the headwaters of the Rio Grande.  The terrain gradually became more gentle as we headed down to Spring Creek Pass and the way into town, where a 2 and a half hour hitch put a slight damper on our spirits.

Lake City was a nice respite from the trials of the previous days, particularly since a new hostel had just opened up there.  Greg and I were the first hikers to stay there, and in fact he knew the owner, Lucky, from his PCT thru hike in 2006.  Lucky, an Irishman of course, had since gotten married, had 2 kids, 4 dogs, and a mortgage, but retained his hiking spirit and was happy to give us info about the trail in the area.  The town was awesome for hikers being quaint, compact, and generally nice smelling (there were lots of lilacs, what can I say.)  It is nestles in a narrow river valley, giving it a very sheltered feeling, and seeing as we were there slightly before tourist season, wasn't very crowded either.  Greg decided to stay another day to heal his feet, which were rubbed raw due to the wet conditions, but I got a ride out with Lucky and continued north.

The trail to Salida has been suspiciously easy compared to the last stretch.  This might just be due to increasing snow melt, but the trail itself has been pretty tame, thanks to the fact that it runs congruent to the well-maintained Colorado Trail.  It generally climbs up to the divide, then follows the ridges on contour, meaning less strenuous up and down.  There has been more vegetation, including a smattering of aspens which add some nice contrast to the pine forests up here.  As always, the views are beautiful when the path clears out, revealing more snow capped mountains in the distance that hint at future trials to come.  It has been nice hiking alone again, as Greg and I had a very different pace to our days, but the loneliness does add a further challenge to combat.  Luckily, with the start of the summer season and the entrance into more populated parts of the state, there have been many more day hikers to interact with and pump for info regarding conditions north of here.

 Salida itself is great, easily living up to its reputation as one of the best trail towns.  While the whole city itself is relatively spread out, all the hiker needs are centered in the small historic district which is crammed full of restaurants, bars, an outfitter, a Safeway, the library and the PO.  All of life's needs as far as we are concerned.  There is even a river complete with whitewater rafting runs going straight through town; it reminds me a little of Bend, OR, in its outdoorsiness.  Sadly, I'll have to be hiking out soon, but given that the next stretch looks pretty idyllic, and that the town stops come very frequently for a little bit, I'm not too worried.  Anyway, time to hit the trail, talk to you later.