Acclimation Hike... Are we Ready?

7/30 Berthoud Pass

Today is acclimation hike day.  We have gathered by a way of a multitude of pathways.  Claudia just finished chairing a golf outing to raise money for Sue Jergens Memorial Golf Outing.  Bec was chasing after a consultant at work, who was leaving a large path of extra work for her.  Marybeth just finished a hike around Mount Blanc in Europe and then drove 12 hours to join us in Colorado.  Pat was tending a sore foot.  I have been traveling and presenting, and finally, Kathi's Mom had just passed away.  We all needed a good walk in the fresh air with boundless beauty and peacefulness all around.

We headed up to Berthoud Pass.  Parking at the pass we were able to get out of the car at 11,307 feet and hike up to the Continental Divide.  While on our hike we had great views of the Indian Peaks, Long's Peak, Never Summer Range along with Grays and Torres as well as Beirstadt and Evans the local 14'ers.

Our goal for today was to travel at elevation to make sure we could all hike at or above 12,300 without issues.  We traveled 4.5 miles sat down and hung out at elevation awhile.  Pat's objective really was to see if anyone was going to puke...  If we had trouble with the elevation we would have felt sick.

After finishing our hike we stopped at the grocery on the way home to pick up a few items and then headed to Tabernash.  Cindy and Deb treated us to a home cooked meal of Fajitas.  We ate outside on the deck and listened to Marybeth and Cindy describe their hike to the top of Kilimanjaro.  Both with stories of a slow steady pace leading to the top of a great mountain, with excessive support from the people of the area who were their porters.

Before bed, Kathi and I sat down with Pat to re-plan our Colorado Trail hike that would be right after we completed the Bowen-Baker trail.  I say re-plan, because we planned to do the hike south to north, but with the change of plans due to delaying our vacation plans, we will now be hiking north to south on the CT.  We are trying to plan out how we can have Pat run "support" on our hike and do some hiking with us depending on how her foot feels.

7/31 Bowen-Baker or Bust

We all got on the road at 7:40 and to the trailhead by 9:00.  Deb and Cindy with their dogs Callie and Zoey dropped us off.  Cindy did a good job of making all of the packs seem as if we all had light packs.  Of course, all six of us are carrying over 40 pounds on our backs.  We stopped at the registration box/book and left a comment from our teams orange REI bandanas.  We are a "Force of Nature" and "A woman's place is in the wild".

On our way up the trail at the second creek crossing there was a place to soak feet and have a good sit and snack.  Here we learned we could best help everyone by doing a two woman lift to assist the owner with donning their backpack.  This is a much easier and healthier way of getting a 40 plus pack onto your back.  It sure beats hoisting and jimmying around by yourself to get it on.

We hiked around 4.5 miles to an elevation of 10,200 finding a great location next to a stream with a good amount of open area and most importantly relatively flat areas to put up tents.

As we set up our tents, Pat and Marybeth made a startling discovery.  Marybeth has a long history of forgetting something that seems pretty vital to the hiking adventure.  Before leaving the house this morning we thought Marybeth had passed the I "remembered everything"quiz.  It turns out that Marybeth forgot the tent stakes.  Pat and Marybeth had split up the weight of the tent by packing half of the tent stakes with the tent and the other half of the stakes with the rain fly.  So, only half of the stakes made the trip.  Pat and Marybeth fashioned up some just right rocks to use as weights to hold the tent in place.

When we finished setting up tents, Bec shared a treat of ice cream with us.  Bec used her insulated thermos and packed it full of ice cream, froze it overnight which helped keep it cool, and then packed it in to share with us. Hmmmmm, it was good!

After ice cream, we sat down for an early supper.  Kathi and I had jambalaya and hot chocolate.  Pat and Marybeth had Mac and cheese.  Bec and Claudia had a potpourri of dried foods.  We sat outside and chatted until the sun went behind the mountain.  The temps dropped pretty quickly, so we all went to our tents.

Overnight my big surprise was a leaky mattress pad.  I would just fall asleep and then wake up cold as my pad was flat and I was sleeping on the cold ground.  Bummer, this pad is only on its fourth night.  I think the valve is given me grief.  Temps overnight drop down into the low thirty's.

Having trouble with the pictures...
Will have to post without them.  Stay tuned