Backpacking Test Hike: Gore Range Trail

On Sunday morning we got up early with intentions of going backpacking to test out our gear for our upcoming adventure on the Colorado Trail. It took much longer to pack, find a hike, eat, and get to our destination than we anticipated. At 3pm, we left from Copper Mountain and headed up the Wheeler Lakes trailhead. 

I started out blindly optimistic about the difficulty of this hike

My pack was much heavier than I hope to have it on the CT, weighing in at about 37 pounds. When we started on Sunday afternoon, I was struggling with altitude, evident by heavy breathing. My legs could easily handle what my heart would not allow. It was so frustrating to go slow because I am always in a rush. Always. We ran into some rain which was helpful for testing out our rain gear. After 3 hours of hiking we found a campsite about 3.5 miles in, just passed Wheeler Lakes. Elevation was 11300 and I had a bad headache. I slept very well and was surprisingly comfortable with my new Thermarest and trusty zero degree bag. I got "stuffy" though, and realized I might be allergic to goose down. Sad face. 

First night camp view. 

After passing Wheeler Lakes, we got on the Gore Range Trail. When we started hiking on Monday morning I was in awe and wonder at every step we took (still breathing ridiculously hard, though). I couldn't stop saying things like, "wow!" ,"oh my gosh, its sooo pretty!" and, "I am so happy, right now. This is what happiness is". It seemed that every 50 feet we hiked a new wide open view presented itself. We stopped for lunch at 10am and saw another soul pass by and talked with him a minute.

My happiness dwindled a little when David pointed out the pass we would have to go up and over. I saw the man who passed us up ahead way in the distance trudging through some snow. Crap, that did not look fun. Slowly, steadily, one foot in front of the other, one breath at a time, we made it. 

Both of us fell through this snow thigh deep at one point or another. This was the first of several snow passes we would walk through. 

 The pass offered some of the most incredible views at 11900 feet. It was hard, but it was worth all the trouble.

We hiked up, then down, then down some more, and then back up. 8.5 or 9 miles later we were much too exhausted to really care where we camped. Finding a good campsite can be more of a challenge than it seems in so much open space. We plopped down next to a pond which afforded us the only flat spot for what appeared to be miles. In the future, this will never happen again. Boggy areas with ponds equal millions or billions (trillions?) of mosquitos that ferociously attack without warning. Headache was starting to dissipate and I was starting to feel pretty good. Another night of good, comfortable sleep. 

The next morning we had an easy 5 mile hike out which was all downhill. We were popped out of the trail onto I-70 where we had to walk a mile on the interstate to get to a free shuttle off of exit 201. Hiking on the road (apparently illegal) was the most painful mile ever because the road is hard, and hot, and full of smelly traffic. We made the shuttle stop with 3 minutes to spare which was awesome because it only comes once an hour. 

Tuesday morning, getting off Gore Range trail and onto the Meadow Trail to head into Frisco. 

All in all, our gear performed wonderfully. David had a mishap with a leaky platypus bladder on the first night and learned that it should not come into the tent with us. We need to make eating more of a priority because we are not getting enough calories (we will need somewhere between 4000-6000 calories a day to avoid fatigue, nausea, and weakness when working that hard). We are carrying too much weight. Water filter is awesome and pure Colorado water is the best thing ever.