Hiking & Backpacking

Join us on one the following dates, at an REI location near you, for a free program about our experiences on The Colorado Trail.  Book signing and sales following program.

April 20 – REI, Denver
April 22 – REI, Boulder (Happy Earth Day!)
April 27 – REI, Westminster
May 2 -REI, Lakewood
May 4 -REI, Englewood

Hiking the Colorado Trail
Join husband and wife team Phil Magistro and Apryle Craig as they present photos and stories from their 29 day thru-hike of the Colorado Trail.   The 486-mile trail starts in Denver and ends in Durango, passing through some of the most spectacular scenery in Colorado.  In addition to photos and stories, Phil and Apryle will discuss different ways you can get involved with the Colorado Trail and provide tips on packing light and planning food rations.  The Colorado Trail is right out our backdoor – whether you’re considering a weekend mountain biking trip, a month long hiking expedition, or volunteer trail work come see how you can take advantage of this amazing trail! 

June 3, 2011 Update: Fri, April 22 at 6:30pm  (Happy Earth Day!)
REI, Boulder
Cost: Free

We’ll share our photos and stories from our 29 day expedition thru-hiking The Colorado Trail.

Thank you to Kurtis, Stan, and the Estes Park Library for putting together a great summer adventure series, “Our Wide World” and for letting us share our experiences! Thank you to Bill Manning from the Colorado Trail Foundation for the great handouts, video, and support at our slideshow tonight – hope it was worth the drive! And, of course we hope you all had a great night!

Thanks to everyone who attended – if you have any additional questions, feel free to email us at philandapryle@elevatedattitude.com.

Play hard!

~Apryle and Phil

After a tough journey hiking the Colorado Trail, we arrived at the Junction Creek Trailhead in Durango around 11 a.m. on July 29. A brief trip report and some much-deserved thank-yous follow below:

Thank everyone who contributed to our making it to Durango, including but not limited to:
John and Megan
Matt and Emily
Gina and our friends at the Windspirit Cafe, Twin Lakes, CO
“Apple” the model Trail Angel
Joyce and our friends at the Princeton Hot Springs Resort, Mt. Princeton, CO
Melody and David “Grasshopper”
Melanie, Marsha, Laurie, and the team at Lake City Medical Center
Jim and Kathleen
CTF and their dedicated group of volunteer trail crews
& all of you unnamed trail angels who planted unexpected coolers full of soda, snacks, water, and inspiration along the way.

Colorado Trail Trip Report

Despite a good bit of training, the first 2 weeks were plagued with foot swelling and blisters for me. I bought my shoes too small (like many others on the trail also had) and on the third day as Phil was cleaning the pine needles out of his shoes, he inspired me to take out my insoles. Removing the insoles bought me a tad bit of extra room and I ended up throwing them out in Twin Lakes. Unfortunately, removing my insoles did not make the next hill any less steep and as we entered Long Gulch at then end of day 3, I was devastated to be feeling so exhausted.

Kenosha Pass and Georgia Pass, our first days above treeline and our first big hurdles, felt easy thanks to all the hill-workouts we had done; however, unseasonably cold weather that night had us questioning our choice of 32 degree down sleeping bags. As we headed through the beetle-kill “zombie” forests approaching Breckenridge, we met and tag-teamed with a few other trail-walkers and looked forward nachos and beer. On our first scheduled rest day, we hiked 10.5 miles, hustling over the Ten-mile range through a storm. We descended switchbacks through a lodgepole pine forest and camped in the rain next to a construction project which would serve to expand a Copper Mountain parking lot.

Another storm plagued our trip across the tundra from Searle Pass to Kokomo Pass and gave way to the longest 4.5 miles of my life down to Camp Hale. Camping at the old army bunkers led to an interesting night complete with spookily-timed gunshots, nightmares, and restlessness. This one being no exception, our camps in valley bottoms and fields left us foggy, dew-covered, frost-covered or otherwise damp, so we decided to make a habit of looking for forested campsites going forward.

We staggered in to the Lakeview Campground and were greeted by father-and-son team, Joe and Jacob, who invited us to the Colorado Trail Foundation’s camp dinner that night. We gladly accepted and about an hour later, we were eating burritos with the trail maintenance crew. They seemed surprised by our pace and we all exchanged stories over cheesecake for desert. The following day, we soaked in our rest day, sleeping in til 8 a.m., rinsing out our clothes and washing my hair before hitching in to town to pick up our resupply box. The general store had our box as well as about 25 others. We got a pizza and massive cinnamon roll next door at the Windspirit Cafe, where they let us use their phone for about 30 minutes.

We felt rejuvenated as we headed out the next day around the lakes and over the dam, but were quickly brought back to reality after completing our only “bonus” miles of the trip. We realized we missed the turn after walking about 1/2 mile on a logging road and reversed our steps to find the trail. Another pretty devastating blow to our morale. Each day seemed to balance on a knife edge – were we going to make it or was it just too hard?

The Mount Massive area and Collegiate Peaks Wilderness offered many potential diversions also known in the databook as side trips. These little jaunts would add mileage and elevation for those who weren’t quite tired enough after hiking 15-25 miles over high mountain passes for about 8-10 days straight. None of the through-hikers we met even mentioned doing any of these trips. The general gist of the Massive and Collegiate areas was: switchbacks up a nice forested mountainside, wrap around the side of the mountain, hike in and out of seasonal creek drainages, cross the trail to the summit, begin descending to the mountain’s trailhead through more pines and aspen, switchbacks down a sagebrush dessert hillside.

The road into Princeton Hot Springs was smoldering hot and indirect. We picked up our box as-planned and loaded our biggest rations into our tiny little packs. Grabbed some showers and a meal, and hiked an additional 2.5 miles by headlamp to bootleg camp, making this our longest day yet at ~22.5 miles. The next day, we pushed hard with our heavy, freshly reloaded packs to meet Matt and Emily. Around mile 15, I broke down. With 5 more miles to go that day, I just didn’t think I could make it and maybe more importantly, I really just didn’t want to. My feet hurt, my back hurt, my shoulders hurt.

That night, we camped about 1.4 miles north of Hwy 50, where we were supposed to be meeting Matt and Emily the next morning. Around 5:30am, we woke to the melodious sound of bike tires and Matt’s voice – they had found us! We hiked to Hwy 50 and threw our packs into their car for some slack-packing enjoyment. Hiked the road to the trailhead and enjoyed cold fruit tarts in honor of Emily’s birthday. We were able to leave half our ration in the car, which we would then pick up after the end of the segment Matt and Emily were to join us on. RELIEF, at last!!

Matt mountain biked and Emily and Abbey (drama-queen dog) hiked with us up over Marshall’s Pass. Beautiful weather and so great to have friends along. This truly was a turning point in the trip for me. I finally believed I could make it to Durango. Matt biked back to the car the next morning and Emily and the dog embarked with us, heading towards Sargent’s Mesa. Matt met us at Sargent’s Mesa with water and snacks. Mosquito camp that night for me and Phil. At the junction with Hwy 114, the Relief Squad met us yet again with pizza and beer, snacks, and good will. We shared dinner with fellow thru-hiker, “Eli,” and picked up our 2nd half of the split ration. What great friends we have!

The next few days brought flatter terrain, cow pastures, more rain, and tummy problems for Phil. In April, Phil was having troubles, but ignored it. Now it was back with a vengeance and Phil finally accepted that he had giardia. It poured on us for hours and the mud mixed with the cow pies and stuck to our shoes in big clumps. Phil ducked into the bushes every 20 minutes to an hour and I relieved him of some of the weight in his pack. We were hoping for a 28-30 mile day and we ended up doing about 24.

Hitched into Lake City with a lady on holiday from Holland. There was a mix-up/confusion about the hostel situation in town, so we ended up in a hotel room and went to the Med Center the next day. They were super kind there and got Phil fixed up. Another kind Lake City resident saw that we were thru-hiking and offered to take us back to the trailhead. Resupply went great at the local grocery market. Though small, they had everything a thru-hiker would need/want. Melody’s husband, David “Grasshopper”, had hiked the AT and they were always looking to payback the kindness he had received during his thru-hike.

The views kept getting better and the weather wetter as we headed towards Molas Pass, where were to pick up our next resupply. Our box was meager, especially in the snack category; we knew we had some hungry days ahead of us. The clouds loomed ominously over Hermosa Peak and Blackhawk Pass was a slap in the face as we approached what looked like the towering black gates of Mordor.

Into the San Juans, we had our best scenery of the trip. After interpreting the “Worst Sign Ever”, we skipped merrily down 26 switchbacks through an impressively steep wildflower field overlooking the spectacular Elk Creek Drainage. Camp in the trees kept us dry that night. Phil couldn’t talk about anything but donuts as we beautiful section was descending to the Kennebec Trailhead.

The last day was 11 miles to the Junction Creek Trailhead where we got a ride to Durango with a mountain biker. We spent the evening doing trail work with Jim and his friends at Trails 2000; felt good to have hiked 11 miles that morning and still have energy to swing a pulaski. Got showers and spent the night at Jim’s place. Enjoyed a delicious breakfast and picked up our rental car in the morning.

For more details, feel free to email us at philandapryle@elevatedattitude.com, or join us for one of our upcoming Colorado Trail slideshows.

Here are some upcoming trips; training for the Colorado Trail… please leave a comment or (even better!) call me if you’re interested in signing on for any of the “fun”:

Sanitarado, Boulder, CO: 22 Miles
Friday, May 21 – call for time.
What: A one-day run/hike from Mount Sanitas to Eldorado Mountain
Type of event: Mountaineering/running/hiking
Course: Point-to-Point
Elevation: 9750′ ascent
Technical Rating: Class 3
Season: Spring-Fall
Description: A one-day run/hike from Mount Sanitas to Eldorado Mountain, along Boulders front range mountains, including all points between. I will likely go the opposite way: Eldo to Sanitas.
Start: Mount Sanitas TH
1. Mount Sanitas via Sanitas Trail
2. Down Sunshine Valley Trail
3. Through Red Rocks Park, across Canyon to Flagstaff via View Point Trail
4. Up Flagstaff via Flagstaff Mountain Trail
5. Down Range View Trail to Flagstaff Road
6. Up Green via either EM Greenman or Ranger Trail
7. Down Green via Green Bear Trail to Bear Canyon
8. Up Bear Peak via Bear Peak West Ridge Trail
9. Cross to South Boulder Peak via the trail across the saddle
10. Descend Shadow Canyon to the Mesa Trailhead
11. Eldorado Mountain via Rattlesnake Gulch to North Ridge or NE Ridge
12. Descend the same route, follow road back to South Mesa TH

Never Summer Traverse
June ?? – Flexible Date(s)
C-DOT, you’re already signed on for this one!
What: A traverse of all or part of the Never Summer Range
Type of event: Mountaineering/running/hiking
Course: Point-to-Point
Distance:
Elevation:
Technical Rating:
Season: Summer
Description: A 1 to 4 day traverse of the Never Summer Range. Brutal.

Aspen, CO: Four Pass Loop
25.91 mi.
Strenuous
Four 12,000-foot passes, classic alpine views and a rugged loop around Colorado’s most-photographed peaks make this 26.5-mile backpack a Rocky Mountain epic.

Continental Divide Trail: Copper Mountain to Bakerville, CO
66.86 mi.
Strenuous *****
Travel across lush forest, grassy meadows, and exposed alpine slopes to the rocky crown of Grays Peak on this 67-mile section of the Continental Divide Trail.

Fort Collins, CO: Comanche Peak Wilderness Loop
22.26 mi.
Strenuous
Explore remote Rockies scenery and WWII history on this 22-mile hike in the Roosevelt National Forest.
Just north of Rocky Mountain National Park, the 67,500-acre Comanche Peak Wilderness features alpine meadows, rugged cirques, and mountain streams—but not Rocky Mountain’s crowds. And on this strenuous 22.3-mile loop, you’ll get a WWII plane along with your classic Rockies scenery.

Take the Beaver Creek Trail (#942) to Forest Road 142; turn right and follow it to an alternate trailhead at 1.1 miles. Drop to Beaver Creek, then watch for a glimpse of Comanche Reservoir at mile 3. Just past the lake, enter the wilderness and hike through a bluebell-strewn meadow to the Brown Lake trail junction. Head north along Brown Creek; a series of first-come, first-served campsites begins at Timberline Lake.

The next day, veer east on the Flower Trail and scope out views of the Mummy Range to the south en route to the B-17 wreck at mile 10—parts of the engine and wings are still visible from the 1944 crash. Drop to Beaver Park and join the Little Beaver Creek Trail, passing ponderosa pines and aspen groves on the way to a campsite at 16.9 miles. On your last day, take the spur at 17.2 miles to the Fish Creek Trail and follow it back to the Beaver Creek Trailhead.
TO TRAILHEAD: From Fort Collins, take US 287 north, then turn west on CO 14. Go 26 miles to Pingree Park Rd./63E; turn south and go 15.6 miles. Turn right on Forest Rd. 145/Buckhorn Rd. to Tom Bennett Campground; trailhead is 1.4 miles ahead.
Denver, CO: Deer Creek Loop
http://bp2.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip.aspx?tripId=437099
Miles: 50.00 mi.
Rating: Easy

Colorado Springs, CO: Cooldown
http://bp2.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip.aspx?tripId=131907
Miles: 34.66 mi.
Rating: Moderate
Cycling?
This hilly tour of Colorado Springs features some great cooldown spots along the way. Ride along the west side of the city with some ‘steepish’ climbs and fast downhills. Stop along the way for some amazing scenery of the city and Garden of the Gods/Pikes Peak. At Old Colorado City stop for some ice cream at the Colorado Creamery. End the ride at one of the only “beaches” that I know of in the Colorado Springs area at Prospect Lake in Memorial Park.

To make it easier to experience America’s Great Outdoors, the National Park Service is waiving entrance fees, so visitors can enjoy all 392 national parks for free April 17-25.

In addition, many national park concessioners are offering special promotions that are certain to add to your fun.