FKT - 10 Canyon Traverse

Colorado Trail Days 10 and 11

Colorado Trail Day 9

Colorado Trail Day 8

Colorado Trail Day 7

Unsupported FKT. Northbound via Collegiate West. 

Day 2 (8/27):
I was awoken by my alarm feeling relatively OK. That was not to last. I struggled over the first small 600 ft tall pass and then even more so over the following 1,600 ft tall pass. I failed to keep up with calorie intake. My breathing rate skyrocketed due to a combination of the 12k ft altitude and ketosis. Additionally, the growing back pain from my heavily laden frameless pack was debilitating. It was not confidence inspiring…. And I had a seemingly insurmountable 3,700 ft climb awaiting me later in the day.

As I trended down toward Molas Pass, rain returned, soaking everything. At Molas, I realized that my Inreach had been off, rather than hibernating, and restarted it. Now well behind schedule, I dropped down to the Animas River and crossed the Durango Silverton Railroad. The climb up into the Weminuche awaited. I paused to drink 400 calories of drink mix and eat many hundreds of additional calories. To my relief, the steady climb along Elk Creek went smoothly. I paused along the way to eat more. I reached treeline at sunset. From there, the climb steepened. 

Just as I was about to pull my headlamp, I felt the sickening softness of a trekking pole inexplicably give way. Losing use of an exceptionally-helpful trekking pole on the 2nd day would slow me down. Upon closer inspection, I discovered that it had not snapped. Rather one of the metallic ferrules on the brand-new poles had come loose and slid within the section. Leki – you failed me. After a few tries and much wasted time, I figured out how to extract the ferrule and use Leukotape to secure it.

Reaching the Continental Divide came as a relief. There was some initial confusion where maps of the CO Trail diverged. I continued North across the alpine terrain before stopping past Stony Pass at 1:46AM. This time I struggled to fall asleep. I was surprised to see a lone mountain biker pass by at 4AM.

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Nathaniel G

Colorado Trail Day 2

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FKT - 10 Canyon Traverse

Colorado Trail Days 10 and 11

Colorado Trail Day 9

Colorado Trail Day 8

Colorado Trail Day 7

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