Run Forest Run. Miles 1078.8 to 1199.3

Salida was warm and dry and most importantly snow free: I didn’t want to leave. Of course being an unemployed wanderer doesn’t pay as well as I’d like, so I have to watch my budget, still I ponied up for another night at the hostel on the 28th. Another guy had showed up and he had a vehicle so we decided to go to the Salida aquatic center and spend the afternoon swimming. Afterwards we returned to the hostel and I did pretty much nothing, Widesky reached the decision to stay in Salida till Saturday the 1st of June and then hitchhike to Red-Rock to catch a show with his brother. They were going to see DJ Diesel also known as Shaquille O’Neil. So Widesky wouldn’t be getting back on trail until the following Tuesday a week away.

I was still planning on hitting the trail the next day, mostly so I’d quit spending money in town but while messing around on the internet I discovered that there was a marathon on June 15th in Leadville Colorado which was a town I was already planning to resupply in. It was only 120ish miles up trail and I would have 17 days to get there but after mulling it over I went ahead and signed up.

Besides hiking the CDT and trying to complete the Triple-Crown I am also trying to run either a marathon or an ultra-marathon in each of the 50 states and on each of the seven continents. And also visit all of the National Parks. Colorado will be my 11th running state. I’ve actually been to all 50 now; that’s how all this thruhiking got started Maine was the last state I hadn’t been to so I decided to walk there on the Appalachian Trail. I’ve only ran a marathon on one Continent so far (this one) but I am slowly (very slowly) saving up the 8 grand to run the one in Antartica. I already knocked out Florida this year in January where I ran the skydive Ultra which starts with a leap at 14000 feet. Anyway I figured it would be cool to knock out Colorado while I was on trail.

Suddenly I had a bit of time to kill. Widesky and Doug , the guy with the car, had decided that on the following day , the 29th, they were going to move 3 miles out of town to the BLM land along the Arkansas River where there was free camping. They asked if I’d like to join them for a couple of days and I agreed. So the next morning I ran a few errands in town bought some bologna, cheese, and bread and Doug drove us down to the river. It was a nice campsite especially since it was free. Shortly after we got set up if started to rain so we retreated to our tents and spent the evening squirreled away listening to the sounds of rain drops pelting the canvas.

The 30th brought sunshine and fresh air. The morning was spent reading in a hammock that Doug hung up. He had gone back to town to run errands. In the afternoon two other hikers, Free and Lucy, joined us. They had gotten off trail in New Mexico and gone to Denver for a while and were currently hitching back to start hiking again.

They got their tent set up and then we all spent a while gathering firewood. We cooked hotdogs and chili for dinner that Widesky had brought out with him and shared tales around the fire until long after sundown.

The morning of the 31st came and with it I could feel the call of the trail. Even though I knew the snow was waiting I knew it was time to return. Widesky decided to come with me and do a 10 mile section and then hitch back to town. We got a ride to Wal-Mart which was on the other side of Salida closer to Monarch pass where we had to go. From there it took us a while to hitch back to the trail. Eventually a lady carried us to the Monarch Mountain lodge which was about halfway and then it took another hour to get a ride the rest.

It was after 2 in the afternoon when we got to hiking and the trail went straight up. The snow was mush and it was not a fun climb we quickly decided to walk the road that basically paralleled the trail for a while instead of postholing thru the slush. The trail actually went back down the mountain to the lodge and Widesky hitched back to the town from there while I continued on. After about a mile I came to a decent camp spot with a large enough snow free area for my tent and settled in for the night. I had reached mile 1089.5 for just over a 10 mile day.

The first of June arrived and I got to hiking around 6 am. It was a nice day and the snow wasn’t too bad that early in the morning as I could at least walk on top of it with the snowshoes. I walked by some old cabins and followed the river up to a steep climb over Chalk Creek pass at 12145 feet in elevation. It was a slippery descent down to where Hancock Lake was said to be. I suppose it was there; frozen and buried under yards deep snow, but I saw no sign as I strolled across the valley.

As the day warmed the snow softened and progress became more difficult. I reached the Alpine Tunnel trailhead which is a trail that used to be an old train track. In theory this sounded great. The trail should be nice with a relatively easy grade but as I climbed I realized the track had lain on the side of the mountain and it was now buried in snow creating a steep slope that I would have to traverse for several miles and with the warmer afternoon temperature the snow would slide and sink with every step.

Carefully working my way along the mountain side for the next few miles took hours and it was nearly 4 in the afternoon when I reached the spot where I was to turn right and make my way over the next 12000 footer. It was a really steep climb and the snow was extremely unstable so I decided to camp on a dry patch on the railroad trail and try the climb the next morning when hopefully the snow would be more stable and solid. I camped at mile 1099.2. Not even a complete ten miles in nearly 10 hours; the snow was killing me.

My camp was at 11500 feet so it was a chilly morning as I climbed out of my sleeping bag early on the 2nd and faced the slope. The snow had hardened overnight but it was still extremely slippery as I started to climb I made it about halfway up and was attempting to crawl the rest of the way driving my ice axe into the snow and pulling myself up inch by inch but the snow started to collapse. I was forced to descend and try again. I carefully crawled, slid, rolled, and fell back to the bottom and then tried to climb again on the other end of the slope.

The other side had a few trees part of the way up and I carefully climbed from tree to tree using them as anchor points and for short rest breaks. All too soon I was above them and yet again crawled out on the barren icy slope. I fought my way up, an inch at time, slowly worming my way across and up, the face growing ever steeper as I climbed. A hundred feet or so from the top I was no longer able to gain purchase with my feet at all. With an Ice axe in my right and a trekking pole in my left I was hanging; driving one at a time into the snow and pulling myself up. But the sun was heating the upper slope and melting the packed snow. I was starting to slip, my axe and pole burdened with mine and my packs weight cutting thru the snow as I picked up speed sliding down the mountain. Below me hundreds of feet down was the rocky railroad bed and trees below that so continuing to slide would be less than ideal.I was trying my best to arrest my momentum but my feet were still unable to gain purchase. My ice axe was at least slowing my descent and I saw dents in the snow below. They were frozen bear tracks crossing the cliff and I managed to wedge my toes into them stopping myself and while precariously hanging there, catching my breath, I realized storm clouds had begun to gather above my head. I knew that if I managed to find my way up and over this 12000 footer there were two more waiting on me in the next ten miles. Reluctantly I decided it was time to attack in a different direction and find a lower route.

But first I still had to get off the slope. The snow was soft and my arms were exhausted from taking the full brunt of my weight but I was slowly able to use the axe, trekking pole and bear tracks to make my way down: following the bruins path and carefully jamming my toes into each track, I spent an hour slowly descending back down to the old railroad bed. Thunder, rumbled, lightning flashed in the distance and I had no time to rest. I turned back the way I had come the day before and made my way down into the valley below.

My maps don’t show much besides the trail but I found a snow covered road that headed North and I turned that way figuring it had to go somewhere. At least I was headed North. The road led down into the San Isabel National Forest and as it got lower the snow grew less and less. The rain started to pour and I pushed on. Eventually, the road became mostly gravel and the lightning grew in intensity so I found a small pull off around 3 in the afternoon and retreated into my tent to wait out the storm. All was soaked and soggy, I wasn’t particularly sure where I was, and I didn’t know what lay ahead, but my sleeping bag was dry and I had momentarily escaped the snow. I had walked 9.8 miles that day.

The third came with sunshine and I packed up and continued my journey. I hoped eventually I would get phone signal and figure out where I was going, and a way back to the official trail further on. I hiked on and on, as I got lower I passed through a big recreation area in the National Forest and started to see people and campgrounds. The road followed alongside a river and it was a nice walk in the woods. At some point I finally got signal and was able to come up with a plan. I could follow the road I was on down to a different road that turned left and crossed the mountains at a much lower point and then led into a town called Buena Vista. I could stay somewhere around there that night and then follow forest roads to a short highway walk on 24 which would take me to 84 and that would hit the trail right before Twin Lakes CO where my next resupply box waited. I would be back on trail the following night.

With a plan in place I walked on. It was a long road walk to Buena Vista with a few scattered rain showers battering me along the way. I finally made it and while googling places to camp I discovered there was free camping on BLM land just a few miles further up. So I grabbed a burger and then went to the dollar store for a few supplies and continued on.

I hiked out into more National Forest and the road went through these really cool tunnels called the Midland tunnels. Apparently the road I was on used to be train tracks and these were old railroad tunnels. I love tunnels so it was an awesome surprise.

I spent some time enjoying them and then hiked on to the Elephant Rock Campground where I was planning to stay; a little over 24 miles from where I had awoken that morning. The road followed the Arkansas River and the campground was right alongside.

When I got there a guy named Mike yelled hello and we got to talking. He was a professional chainsaw carver and though home based in Florida had been traveling for 20 years practicing his trade. He told me he’d have burgers and beans after a while and I should come back after I got set up.

I thanked him and went to find a site. After I took care of all the camp chores I wandered back over to Mikes and he introduced me to a couple of the other campers Daria, and Ceaser. Mike was feeding everybody. Daria asked if she could take my picture and I said ok thinking she just wanted to take a pic cause this is not an uncommon request these days, but apparently she’s a professional photographer working on a project about the different aspects of health in America and she thought I’d be great for it. So she had me pose on some rocks looking distantly off into the mountains while Ceaser shined light on me. I just went with it and apparently I’m very photogenic or so I was told. She said she’d email the pics to me once she developed them.

After that the burgers were done and we all ate. A lady friend of Mike came by. She was a world traveling adventure guide on her way to a job in Alaska. Caesar and Daria were headed to Denver for a shoot at some 5 star health restaurant. Mike was killing time till his next gig at the state fair. Ceaser told me he worked for that tv show Special Victims Unit and was in charge of moving talent and gear around for it in New York where it’s filmed.A fun night with great people and an awesome meal; plus Tunnels. It had been a great day. Oh and Mike had a super cool dog.

The next morning on the 4th. I got up and Mike hollered for me to come have some coffee. Ceaser and Daria has already left before dawn. I had a cup or two made my goodbyes and headed off down the road to see what the day had in store.

The scenery was great as I followed the river eying the distant snow covered peaks that I was supposed to be crawling through. But the warm sun and spectacular weather assuaged my guilt as I happily strode on.

A few miles down the road I entered the Railroad Bridge recreation area where there was railroad bridge. It didn’t look all that different than any of the others I’d seen but it had its own recreation area, including bathrooms and a huge parking lot; plus there were lots of people looking at it and taking pictures so I guess it must have been a really good example of a bridge.

I checked it out and then continued on my way. Eventually my dirt road led out of the recreation area, across more BLM land, through the Numbers Recreation area, across the Arkansas River and out to hwy 24.

I ate a light lunch there by the river under a big ole pine tree before beginning the highway walk portion of my day. Highway 24 actually had wide shoulders that I could walk on so it wasn’t to bad. A couple of miles in I heard someone hollering as I was walking by an RV park and I turned to see a guy waving; you want a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?” He hollered? I could tell he really wanted to give me one so I shrugged jumped the barb-wire fence next to the road and ambled over. He was whipping out jars of peanut butter and jelly from a cooler and then pulled out some bread. He put half the jar of peanut butter on one slice and most of the jelly on the other slapped them together and held the 6 inch thick masterpiece out to me with a huge grin. I took it and tried to figure out the best way to take a bite without covering myself in sticky droppings. I managed to get a good hold and with an acrobatic sideways maneuver took a huge bite. Absolutely delicious. Meanwhile he was telling me I looked hungry and asking the usual questions. I explained what I was doing and he told me how awesome he thought it was then said he had to get to work. I thanked him for his hospitality and he got in his van and drove off. I was left standing there in the middle of the rv park with my sandwich. I laughed at my strange life, sat down on my pack and carefully ate my pb&j. Every now and then one of the residents would wander by and give me a look and I’d wave as they held their tongues but questioned with their eyes.

I finished my second lunch hopped back over the fence and continued on. It wasn’t long before I passed the town of Granite where a few folks still lived but the only store in town looked like it had been closed a decade or more. With no reason to dally I blew by and quickly reached hwy 84,where I turned left towards Twin Lakes and rejoined the trail at mile 1158.3 where it crossed the Twin Lakes Dam. Whilst googling camping earlier in the week I had discovered there were free spots above the lake less than 2 miles before the town. I decided I would camp there for the night and go into town in the morning so I would have all day to hang out and charge all my stuff up, my battery pack takes 6 to 7 hours to charge alone.

I found the campsites across the road and up a hill from mile 1161.4 on the trail. I got set, made some dinner and relaxed.

I awoke to a beautiful view and a short hike to the general store on the 5th.

I still had loads of time before I had to be in Leadville so I figured I’d kill most of the day there then put in a few miles and find a place to camp. Bob the new owner of the hundred year old general store was awesome. He showed me where I could plug my stuff in to charge and gave me free coffee. I talked to him for a while and wandered around town. It took less than ten minutes to see the whole place, as it’s quite small. Around noon I went to the food truck and got a chicken sandwich and fries. My parents had sent me a huge resupply box and I crammed as much as I could in my pack before leaving what was left for Widesky who was only a couple of days behind me. He was supposedly hiking with Monster again and they’d catch up with me in Leadville. I finally got all my stuff charged up and hiked out of town around 4 to climb back into the mountains.

I only went a few miles taking the Twin Lakes trail back to the CDT and climbing over lots of dead falls. I got to some campsites near the parking lot for the Mt Elbert trailhead at 1164.6 and set up. I was reading the signs and knew it would be awesome to climb the mountain as Mt Elbert’s the highest peak in the Rockies. However it wasn’t actually on trail just near it and I had already had enough crazy adventures just climbing the 12000 footers so I was doing my best to convince myself to keep hiking and ignore the mountain. But, as I drifted off to sleep I could here Mount Elbert’s call.

I dreamed of the mountain that night still swearing I wasn’t going to scale it and when I awoke on the 6th; I planned out a long 20ish mile day and started to pack up so I could get down the trail. But Mount Elbert kept calling to me and soon I realized I had to at least try it. However since I was camped at the bottom I didn’t have to carry my pack I could just leave it in my tent and only carry some snacks and water. There wasn’t a lot of information on the sign about the actual trail but the best I could figure it would be about 4 miles to the top with over 4000 feet in elevation gain and then 4 miles back to camp. Not too hard depending on the snow. I ate breakfast packed up my daypack and a little before 9 am began my ascent. It started out well with good trail and then as I climbed in elevation I hit the inevitable snow. The trail wasn’t well marked but I wasn’t the first to have crossed so I was able to follow footprints some of the time. I got lost a half dozen times but eventually found my way through the forest and once I got above tree line it was much easier to follow the trail, or at leas spot part of it in the distance and aim for it. I could even see tiny specs of people higher up in the distance. As I climbed I saw a few folks skiing down a deep valley on the other side of the ridge I was heading up. It got pretty steep for the last mile and a half or so. I went by a young couple that were having a hard time with the climb; they had started at 5 am that morning. It was an amazing place, gorgeous falls far short of describing the splendor of the high Rockies. The bright sun sparkling off the snow, high rocky ledges, the inevitable storm clouds gathering in the distance, playful marmots scampering among the rocks.

As far as climbs go it was steep, and tough but way easier than many of the ones I had faced before. I didn’t need my iceaxe at all. I only had one trekking pole cause my other one had somehow broken while strapped to the side of my pack during the road walk to Twin Lakes. When I reached the top I was a bit disappointed at the lack of a summit sign, ( not sure if there isn’t one or if it was buried under the snow), but luckily a guy from Detroit had summited just a few minutes before me and he had brought his own sign. He asked if I’d take some pictures of him and I told him sure if he’d let me borrow his sign. So we did the photo shoot thing.

He had been planning this climb for over a year and was so happy to be up there. It was fun sharing his big moment and we hung out for a while before starting our descent. On the way down we ran into the young couple again and tried to cheer them on as they were less than a mile from the top now but considering turning around. We left them sitting in the snow unsure of their decision.

The snow was heating up and postholing was pretty bad on the way down. Every few steps we would fall through the snow often up to our waists. It wasn’t anything new to me and I just kept crawling back out and making my way down but this was new to Brian and he was having a time. I would glance back and he would be over his waist in a snowbank with a look of confused shock on his face like “how the crap am I supposed to walk thru this?” It was kinda funny to see someone new to the situation after all these miles I’ve been fighting snow. We lost the trail but I knew we just needed to go down and to the right and we’d eventually hit it again. Sopping wet and with frozen feet I eventually got down below snow line again and found the trail. Brian hit it shortly thereafter. We walked back to my camp and said our goodbyes knowing we’d just shared a monumental moment in our lives at the very tip top of the Rocky Mountains and that we’d probably never cross paths again.

It was only around 2 pm but I decided to just take the rest of the day off and camp another night there. I just hung out read a book and went to bed early hoping to make miles on the morrow.

The 7th arrived and I had planned on an early start but didn’t actually get to hiking till after 7. At first the trail was great with little snow and I had high hopes for the day. As I flanked Mt Massive, I gained elevation and returned to the snow but this was a whole new type of snow. The temperatures had been warming with warm nights and 70 degree days which meant the snow wasn’t refreezing at night. It was now just deep slush. Impossible to stay on top of even with my snowshoes. Every step I’d sink in and have to yank my foot and snowshoe out or I’d step and sink and the snow would slide taking me down into the muck. Not a particularly great way to make miles, slipping and sliding and sinking and falling. I probably fell down 70 or 80 times that afternoon wading though soft snow. My pace was back down to a mile an hour or less which was a bit discouraging. I finally got down to the river where there were flat snow free patches and decided to hang it up,planning to get a super early start in the morning, hoping the snow would be hard enough to walk on for at least 4 or 5 hours. I was at mile 1176.6.

I got up a little after 4 on the 8th and went out to check and see if the snow had refrozen overnight so I could walk on it. It hadn’t at all. It was slush; six feet deep slush. I went back to bed. I forced myself to pack up a little after 7 and start wading though the snow. It was a rough day. I fell down a hundred times or more. Climbing up over the pass I was checking my maps and discovered a road about 4 miles ahead that would take me into Leadville. It was way earlier than I had planned on going in but I really wanted to get out of the snow. I made it over the pass after a long battle of walking on the slippery slopes of the mountainside. I had a rough idea of where the trail was but with it buried under the snow there was little sign of it’s passage.

There were dry patches on the way but they only made it worse as I had to slide down from the snow to the dirt and then climb back up again on the other side.

As I descended the forest grew thick and I had to force my way through the branches and wind my way through any openings I could find all while sliding down the steep snowbanks, just trying to make my way to the road somewhere in the valley below. It took almost 4 hours to complete the 3.5 miles, but I could see gravel. I was excited and slid down the roadbank on my butt; stood up tripped and face planted barely a foot from the road.

But I was free; there was supposed to be a free campground just over 3 miles down: about 4 miles out of the town so I headed that way. A truck stopped and gave me a ride and I was soon relaxing at my campsite. The Mount Massive golf course was less than a mile away and I walked over and had a cheeseburger and fries at the clubhouse. I had left the trail at mile 1181.

The 9th was Sunday and I woke up at the campground outside of Leadville. My marathon wasn’t till the 15th, the next Saturday, so I was a week early. The trail crossed highway 24 on the other side of Leadville almost 20 miles further on so I decided to leave most of my stuff in camp and slackpack over there that way I would have another 20ish miles done. I decided to avoid the snow as much as possible I took a low route around Turquoise lake and made my way on dirt roads over to Tennessee pass then hiked highway 24 for a while to where the trail crossed at mile 1199.3. I could now officially start here when I hiked out the next week. Well almost since I had hitched from the trail to the campground I still had to go back and walk that 3 miles so I will have had officially walked every mile from Mexico to here. I figured I’d do that the 10th.

From mile 1199.3 I hitched to town. I didn’t do much there that day just bought some groceries from Safeway and I went to the Family Dollar but the crazy manager lady didn’t want dirty homeless people in her store so she yelled at me and called the police. I didn’t feel like dealing with her so I just told her to tell the cops I was going downtown and left. I stopped by the visitors center grabbed a sandwich at the Tennessee Pass Cafe and then hitched back to my campsite for the night.

The 10th I just hung around camp most of the day reading, relaxing, and eating the canned soup and doughnuts, I’d bought at the store. I went out in the afternoon and walked the 3 miles up to the trail I had hitched when I came in and then hitchhiked back to camp again. I got word that Widesky and Monster were in Leadville for the night having hitched in from way back in Twin Lakes. I decided I’d try to get to town the next day and see them.

So after a relaxing evening and a night in my tent the 11th of June found me hitchhiking to town. I got a ride from a guy driving an antique Volkswagen pickup. I ran a few errands and ate breakfast at the Golden Burro cafe which had been in business since the 1930’s. They had great biscuits and gravy which is hard to find outside of the south. After I ate I wandered over to the hostel. It’s called the Colorado Trail house and I was already planning to stay there the next night and all the way till Monday but I was going over now to see Widesky and Monster.

When I arrived I found Widesky in the bunkhouse but Monster had left. Apparently he’d decided he was done walking through snow. He had sold his snowshoes and boots to Widesky and decided to hitch from Twin Lakes to Frisco Colorado, a little further North, where he planned to walk highways to Wyoming, avoiding the worst of the snow.

Widesky was hanging out for a couple of days and then hitching back to Twin Lakes so he could complete the section to Leadville. We hung out and with another guy who had actually started hiking the day before me but at some point had decided to buy a bike and ride the CDT mountain bike trail instead; we went down and took the tour of the Silver Dollar saloon which had been here since 1879. It was awesome: Doc Holiday had worked there for two years, and actually had his last gunfight right outside. Wyatt Earpp, Bat Masteron, the Daltons, and countless more had all looked in the same Diamond Dust mirrors I was looking in.

The 12th, I packed up my stuff and prepared to move to town. I started walking around 9 figuring I’d be in town early since I hadn’t had any trouble at all hitching a ride the last few days but that morning I had no luck at all and ended up walking the whole 4 miles. I still made it to town by 11 and walked by the Melanzana store where there was a huge line and I ran into Mike the hiker turned bicyclist I had met the day before. Melanzana is a clothing company that makes really awesome fleece but they are all made here in the store and you can’t buy them anywhere else in the world. People actually travel here from all over the world just to get them. Apparently they had just released the high loft hoody for this year and everybody in town was trying to get one.

I had learned about them on the AT and knew they were made in Colorado but hadn’t known it was in Leadville until My friend Dayhiker had texted me that I should get one while I was in town. I was considering it but at the moment I just wanted to get to the hostel and drop my pack.

It wasn’t very far up the road and I was soon at the Colorado Trail House. I had met Laverne the new owner when I had visited the day before. The place is awesome, in an old Victorian style house that was built over a century ago, to be the Leadville Inn. Laverne goes out of her way to make it feel like a home and not just someplace you’re staying. It’s an amazing place.

I dropped off my pack and noticed Widesky was wearing a Melanzana fleece. He had been there that morning. I went back down the block and decided I might as well buy one while I was here and then mail it back to my parents so I’d have it for next winter. I waited in line for hours and used my emergency credit card to buy a couple. They are totally worth it too, ridiculously comfortable.

Widesky hitched out to Twin Lakes to hike the section back to Leadville so he’d return in a few days. I walked down to the Pizza Hut for the lunch buffet and ate enough for 4 or 5 people. Then back to the hostel to chill out. I had bought a pair of board shorts at the thrift store so I could make use of the hot tub and I spent a couple of hours soaking.

Later a lady from Kentucky named Marion came in and she was staying in the bunk room with me. She was in town to run the marathon too.

On the 13th Marion and I made pancakes in the communal kitchen for breakfast. I worked on the gas grill at the hostel and got it going then went to Safeway and bought some frozen burgers and fixings. I grilled a burger for lunch and again for dinner enjoying the day.

The 14th came and we made more pancakes, chocolate ones with Nutella on top. A guy named Jeff introduced himself, another marathon runner. Widesky returned and was staying another couple of nights. Several more runners and another thru-hiker called HR showed up. I grilled another burger for lunch and around 330 headed downtown to pick up my running packet. I got in towards the front of the quickly growing line and got my bib and T-shirt. I got a large pizza from High Mountain Pies ( the local pizzeria) and took it back to the hostel where I ate the whole thing.

The 15th finally arrived and it was time to run. The race started at 8 am. We made more pancakes and then wandered down to the start just a couple of blocks away. The The race usually went up to Mosquito pass at over 13000 feet in elevation but they had changed the course due to the extreme snow conditions. Still there was over 4000 feet of elevation gain on the Marathon.

So it was a lot of hills. Mostly out and back. I’d run up a steep hill for several miles then turn around and run down it then turn left go to the next hill and repeat the process and so on and so on. Around mile 10 I saw a huge brown bear sitting on a road, that turned off the one I was running on, watching everybody go by. All this time in the woods and I see my first CDT bear during the run and I didn’t even have a phone or camera. All I could do was wave and continue up the hill. After the run I was told about a different bear that ran across the course and Marion sent me a picture of it. I ran the first 13 miles but walked up a lot of the hills on the second half. The highest point on the new course was around 11,700 feet. I made it across the finish line in 5 hours 45 minutes and 5 seconds. Not bad for me, my fastest time ever was 4 hours 53 minutes and something in Seattle last year. After my run, (in Leadville) they gave me tacos which were awesome! Then I headed back to the hostel took a shower and sat in the hot tub for a while. The rest of the day was just relaxing and hanging out with Marion, Widesky, Nick (another thruhiker) and the rest of the hostel guests. I plan to stay Sunday the 16th and then hike out Monday. The Journey continues…