Life as a transient continues :)

So, I found the coolest place to live in Fort Collins. The only hitch in the plan, is that it's not available until the beginning of August. So...everything I own, barring some clothes, is in storage. And I have no home :) I have great friends and family who have offered to let me stay with them, but seriously!! 4 or 5 weeks? That's not just overstaying your welcome,  that's OVERSTAYING YOUR WELCOME!!

So...I had to figure out the cheapest way to live while waiting. I even called the KOA campground in Fort Collins, but it was not cheap! Even for a little ol' tent camper!! She explained that it is because it's a 'destination KOA'. Huh? Is that a real thing? 

Anyway, obviously, tuna and tortillas are cheap, and the Colorado trail starts in Denver and is 486 miles long. To Durango. Should take about a month-ish.  So..it kind of worked out perfectly!

Spent last night in Denver and had dinner with a few of my kids. And my kids and their 'significant others' surprised me with the cruiser bike of my dreams. Gotta say. I have some pretty great kids.

Storing it for me until my return. I love it!

Emily dropped Murphy and I off at the trailhead. 

The first 6.5 miles is basically a gravel road along a creek in Waterton Canyon. Gravel road. Sounds boring, eh? But before we'd even gone three miles we saw about 6 Big horn sheep.

Then we walked about another 1/4 mile, and we saw another larger big horn with the full round horn thing. He was majestic and about 50 yards away. We stopped to give him his space. He started stamping his front feet and I said, "I wonder if that's some sort of aggressive thing?"  To which he responded by lowering his head and charging us!! Took our trekking poles and started banging them together and as he got close , he veered away. Whew!! Pretty exciting start to trail! 

The trail itself is lush and green. 

And we've met lots of others who started today. Here's the group at the first water spot.

People from Denver, Louisiana, a few college grads from Rhode Island.  Good group.

This is what the trail markers look like for the CT

It is divided into 28 sections. We are just a few miles short of completing section 1.  It goes through or close to some of my favorite places in CO. Breckenridge, copper mountain, Salida, Creede, and Lake City to name a few.  It's going to be cool! And now that I have some of the big pieces of the puzzle of my life put together, I feel really good about being where I am. 

Hung my food for the first time since the AT!  Not really that bear proof, but I figure it might take a little work .

Beautiful sunset. Nice to be in the mountains again. Especially in Colorado.

Yahoo!

So, update :). Came 'home' for a few days (and by home I mean the wonderful apartment above some of my good friends garage) then I hit the road for Colorado. Kelly had not started her job yet, so she came along. 

Obligatory photo op by the Colorful Colorado sign

First big happening, was stopping in Hays, KS at Taco Grande for Kelly's first ever....SANCHO (aka food of the gods)

Best. Cheap. Mexican. Food. Ever.

We spent our first night in Denver and went to dinner at Avanti. A groovy Denver spot and my nieces, and brother-in-law joined us

Aaaand....it just so happened that another of my AT hiking friends was in town and he joined us too.  These are the relationships I was missing on the PCT! Such incredible people. This is Mobius. The girls were excited to get to meet another of the 'crazies'. 

After some bonding time with Walter, the grand dog,

Kelly and I traveled on to Fort Collins in search of a home for me. I chose Fort Collins because it has sort of a 'Lawrence- like' vibe. It's a college town, seems open- minded and progressive AND bonus, it has 21 Breweries! (We only managed to squeeze in 5 while we were there. We gave it our best effort) I checked out a few rentals, knowing that it was a tough market. I know two people in Fort Collins. Two really cool people. And they introduced me to some friends, and...long story short (I don't want to jinx it) I found an amazing spot to land. Better than I could have imagined. This was a huge piece of the puzzle.

And while we were there, squeezed in a little hike to horsetooth Rock 

Had dinner with MORE AT friends (the two cool people that I mentioned earlier) 

Kickapoo and Pogano and got to see the tiny house that they built themselves. So impressive. Before entering their home, we had to try our hand at ax throwing....

Back to Denver after a successful few nights in Fort Collins and got to have dinner with all the kids (except Kelly's boyfriend Brad sadly) Every parent of adult kids knows how great it is when you get to spend time with all your kids together. 

We toasted to new homes, new business ventures and good family. Feeling very lucky.

So...the adventure continues and I am starting to feel like the pieces are coming together.  Whew!

So....

I can't believe I am going to say this, but I am suspending my hike for now. (Can't bring myself to say quitting) One of the hardest decisions I've ever made. This trail is absolutely incredibly beautiful. But at this point, I am not enjoying it. And by enjoying, I don't mean that I expect a pine needle path through the woods with rainbows and unicorns. I enjoy a challenge. I enjoyed rock scrambling through the White Mountains in NH. I enjoyed climbing up the steep side of Forester Pass in the snow. 'ENJOY' might be a stretch for walking over the rocks of PA for a week in the rain, but I did it and I still felt like it was right where I was supposed to be. Right where I wanted to be. I haven't had that feeling here for awhile now, but I kept pushing, thinking it would come. Plus, I didn't want to be a quitter!! I've evaluated and reevaluated why. Still don't really know but here's what I've come up with. First,one of the things I loved most about the Appalachian Trail was the wonderful people. The camaraderie. I still keep in touch with so many of those incredible folks and hope I always will. Out here...in my experience, there are way fewer people. We've done days and days without seeing but maybe one other hiker. I mean, I LOVE the mountains, the forest and the solitude. But I also like people. And conversation. And laughter.

They (whoever they are) say the AT is harder physically and the PCT is hard mentally. I would have to agree.

I have been lucky to have the two best hiking partners ever with Murphy and Movin On. They have been awesome, strong, and hilarious.

But my heart is not in it. My kids are up to some cool stuff and I want to be there to see it! And, there is my move to Colorado. I'm anxious to get that figured out. The where, the what, and the when. My greeting card business. I really want to build on that. 

This is such a dramatic, beautiful part of our country. A trail to be enjoyed, not endured. I will finish it, it just won't be in one year.

So, last trail notes for awhile. Spent last night in Belden, CA, population 12. Maybe. Here's the sign as we left Belden.

Had to hitch from Belden to Quincy. 24 miles. Another part of the adventure.

Took us three partial rides...

1) a guy who climbs trees to gather seeds for a living. Took us as far as the nearest Hot Springs.

2) Ride #2- nice guy with a bit of a twitch 

who drove like a bat out of hell down windy mountain road. Took us to the turnoff for Greenville. Really happy he was only going that far!

3) Nice guy with a huge truckload of giant tree trunks that are going to be used for a sweat lodge part of a 'sun dance ceremony' for his tribe. They invited us along, and honestly I think it would have been a cool experience, but it was further than we needed to go and I have to figure out a way to get to a town with an airport at some point. (Weird 😢)

Tonight after dinner, we went to a wine bar where we met some really fun Quincy locals. Had some wine, laughed a lot and I think I have a ride to Reno on Friday, for the trek home. Somehow things usually work out if you open yourself up. 

Today was a very emotional day. Stopping my hike is not something I take lightly. Thanks to all my family, friends at home and AT friends, for the support and encouraging words today. (Which of course made me even more emotional) Once I had made the decision, I knew it was the right one, but it doesn't make it easier. 

So...for now...heading 'home' (although technically I am homeless :) to gather a few things and head to CO and figure out the next step.

And as for you PCT...I will be back to walk the rest of your beautiful miles. Just not today.

Buck's Lake Wilderness

Didn't get out of Quincy until late morning, but still managed to do 20 miles today. It was a day of really beautiful, gradual trail.

Cool, mossy trees.

There were tons of blowdowns in some of the sections! Had to do a lot of climbing over and around, but there was only a few very small patches of snow. Yay!!

We got to Belden at about 6:00 after a long steep climb down the mountain. Weather forecast here for the next few days is....a winter snow advisory above 6000 feet, and yep, that means snow. And winds gusting up to 50 mph on the ridges. 😝😁

Wades Lake to Quincy

Not a bad spot to camp. Right by a secluded lake.

Passed this water fall on the way down.

Hiked down to the Jamison Lake Mine with Matt and Yvonne and they gave us a ride into Qunicy. With a stop for a burger at the Frostee in Graegle. They were so kind and offered to drive us wherever we needed to go. 

They really are trail angels and I checked for real wings :). They came along right when we were pretty worn out.  Good people out here. 

Spent some of the day relaxing in Quincy to refresh.

Sierra City to Wades Lake

Got on the trail pretty early and had a big climb right off the bat. It was gradual and so not too bad. Interesting being out of the high Sierras. Mountains are not nearly as high and in the Sierras the snow is almost gone on anything below 9000 feet. Yet here, there is still a lot of snow clear down to 6500 feet on north faces, and in the woods where there isn't much sun.

The first 13 miles today flew by. Hiked past the Sierra Buttes 

And most of the trail was green with some really cool mossy pine trees.

Ate lunch on top of a mountain and it was warm and wonderful. And then...the snow patches began to pop up again. No problem. At first. Then we came to a sketchy area where the trail was buried under snow and we had to scramble down some rocks and glissade down a snow field to get back down to where we thought the trail was . And once we got in to the forest, the trail was gone again and there was 3-4 feet of snow covering the forest floor, so we had to use our gps to find our way down. Still managed to do 21 miles today, but I'm not going to lie...I'm over the snow thing!! The previous four years, snow has not been an issue out here. This was an El Niño year, meaning more moisture. It definitely makes the trail more challenging!! 

Trail? 

Got to a trail crossing at the end of the day and we were really tired. And after almost a whole day of not seeing another person, on a random trail crossing , we met a cool young couple, Matt and Yvonne...and they had a map!! We followed them down a snowy trail to Wades Lake, which was quiet and pretty and we camped down there just a little off the PCT. Good to get out of the snow!!! 

Sierra City

I am ready to walk!!! Larry picked us up for the drive to Sierra City this morning. So generous! It was an hour and a half over a mountain pass and he would not accept any compensation. Even told us to keep in touch as he has friends in Bend and a house in Ashland. What a great guy.

Sierra City is not a big place.

Tiny Main Street. We could have camped in the yard of the church or we chose to rent a room basically in the home of a local gal, Susan. It is right beside the river  with a wonderful garden.

And you know how sometimes you see something and it reminds you of something you didn't even know you'd forgotten? The wallpaper in the house...I think is the same wallpaper that was in my grandmas house in Abilene, KS. Different color, same pattern.

Talked to a few hikers in front of the general store who are heading south about what kind of trail we have ahead. (Mostly the snow situation) looks like there will be some but doable. One mile they said was sketchy, but we will be doing it about 3 days after they did, so come on sunshine, melt it down!

Up and out early tomorrow! I'm ready to roll!