WanderLearn Forum with Francis Tapon

Francis,

The challenge you face at this moment is making it back across Colorado by about Sept. 1. The problem is that at the higher elevations in Colorado, the snow season can start early. While the snow may not stick around Sept 1, there may be a sprinkle or two and that can make for some cold hiking and even a little trail finding. What do you think?

-- Mountain Cat

MountainCat: You're right that it nearly always snows in the Colorado mountains in Sept. However, it's rarely more than a few centimeters and is not enough to completely obsure the trail.

Moreover, I went through Colorado is May, when there was far more snow pack than there will be in Sept. Although I got lost almost everyday in May, I was able to generally stay on track. Therefore, route finding shouldn't be a problem.

Nevertheless, you're absoultely right - I must hussle to not push my luck. Unfortunately, the toughest section of Colorado is the San Juans, which I expect to deal with in the first week of October (assuming no injuries).

I just don't want to be competely cold!

Happy trails,

On your trip down, how much of the original CDT will you be doing? I know you like to always hike new trails rather than ones you have hiked before so the urge will always be there to strike a totally new path on your way down. On the other hand, since you spent most of May hiking on top of deep snow, hiking the original trail may still be new since you didn't see the much of the trail in Colorado on the way up. So will you do 80% CDT trail and 20% new? or 80% new and only 20% CDT. Are you going to play it by ear or do you already have in mind the route you will take?

One more question....Are you looking forward to the second half of this tremendous journey on the way down or are you having doubts?

-- mountain_cat

MountainCat: Great questions. Sorry for the slow response! But I'm doing about 75% new and 20% old.

I'll explain:

* About 90% of New Mexico will be new (there are so many alternates).
* About 90% of Colorado will FEEL new (because it was mostly snow covered when I went through in May - so I'm counting that as "new").
* About 75% of Wyoming will be new (Yellowstone and Wind River will be new).
* About 50% of Montana/Idaho is new (part of this is due to fires forcing me to make a new routes).

In short, I suspect at least 75% of the trail will be new stuff! And that's exciting! That's why I had few doubts on the return.

In fact, even in the sections that I had already done (e.g., around Helena, MT), I found it fun to predict what was going to be around the next corner. I was amazed how much I remembered and how much I forgot!

Maybe I'll see you at the finish line around Halloween 2007!

Take care,