It has been 143 days on trail and 3 month of those with the most awesome hiking partner I have ever had and the CDT is done!

The last 3 days were very cold and I made the decision to use the Great Divide alternate to cut some time as it is easier to hike. I had a good last night close to Cumbres Pass were I flipped up to Canada in early June and finished on then morning of Sep. 29th.

The thruhike has been hard but fun and I am very glad to had the fortune to have met Ninja which made the journey so much more worthwhile. Now I am looking forward to the next hike with her.

I hitched into Chama to get a victory coffee and started hitching towards Denver. I needed 3 rides into Alamosa and then got a ride from an older gentleman named Ben who was headed to Denver – so I got there on the same day. Now I am waiting to catch my flight to Cincinnati and then I will be headed to Germany soon after.

[Show as slideshow]

I wanted to do the San Juans Mountain range and it was one deciding factor for flipping up to the Canadian border in June due to the amount of snow back then.

After staying in South Fork Ninja hitched with me to the Trailhead and we said our last good byes before her leaving the US to go back to Germany.

Therefore I started with both a heavy heart but also looking forward to hike through the San Juans. I pushed about 25 miles per day which was intense due to the elevation gain and losses throughout that section.

As the section stays over 11000ft for most of it the mornings were also quite cold, and to make the miles and beat the snow I started hiking before 6am most days which resulted in the need for a headlamp.

The reward was beautiful scenery and amazing sun rises. I am definitely glad to have done the Same Juans and not take the Creede Cutoff to shave off some miles.

When I reached the Trailhead at Wolf Creek pass I met Edith, a girl that just had stopped and asked if I need a ride. Also someone left a can of beer at the trail as trailmagic – I am glad to be lucky at times. I made it to Pagosa Springs before dark on the fourth day of hiking and finished all the chores that night before heading back to trail on the next morning.

[Show as slideshow]

Ninja hitched with me back to Monarch Pass with a hippie couple living in a converted delivery truck. They are collecting rocks for a living and were nice enough to drive us directly to the Trailhead.

At Monarch Pass Ninja surprised me with hiking a couple of miles up the hill before we said our goodbyes. We had agreed to meet in 3 days at the pass and I had to cover 100 miles so I got going.

The section was relatively flat for Colorado and I made good time. It was actually a little weird being alone after hiking together for three months, but I made it in time to the pass on the 3rd day were I found Ninja hiking up the hill and was very glad to see her.

We hitched to Lake City to check the hiker box for free food on the hostel and then find a hotel room, but there was a wine festival and all the hotels were booked out. So we hitched to Creede about 60 miles away and found out that there was a car show and all the hotels were booked out, too.

In the end we hitched to South Fork another 20 miles from Creede were we had an awesome stay and I opted for a rest day, before hitching back to Creede to buy a milkshake for Ninja and then hitch together back to the Trailhead where we said our last goodbye concerning the CDT.

I will continue through the San Juans towards Pagosa Springs and Ninja is hitching towards Denver to catch her flight back to Germany.

[Show as slideshow]

After getting out of Leadville we hitched to Twin Lakes and got a ride with a nice older man that drive us to the Trailhead. The trail retained quite a bit of up and downs, but it seems that since we hit the Colorado Trail section or is less total elevation change.

The nights are starting to get pretty cold but except for one day with a little rain we had clear sky for the first time in Colorado.

The section was important to Ninja, as she had already done part of it in the snow and wanted to hike to Monarch Pass to see how the trail is on normal conditions.

This also means Monarch pass was the official finish point for her and we got to celebrate yesterday with some drinks and a nice meal at a restaurant.

She will try to meet me up in the next town and then hitch to Denver to catch the flight back to Germany while I will continue to finish my hike at Chama.

There are about 280 miles left and I plan to finish by end of September and hope to not miss my hiking partner too much. Although she already started to give me some objectives along the way so I am sure it won’t be boring…

[Show as slideshow]

We made it over Gray’s Peak and the ridge walk all the way out to Breckenridge! This section is considered the hardest section of the CDT and with good reason.

We had made the conscious decision to split the way from Grand Lake to Breckenridge into 2 parts so that we could start the hike up Gray’s Peak while being rested. The path up the mountain was fairly easy to hike and we actually got a ride in a Jeep up the first mile up the mountain to the Trailhead – on of my hitchhiking goals fulfilled…

We made it to the top of the peak and started to hear thunder and lightning in the distance. We saw some mountain goats on the ridge where we were headed and took that as a good sign that the lightning would not struck there.

The ridge was a knife edge and it took is the rest of the day to get over and take the path down from Argentina pass to escape the incoming weather (while being hailed on).

The next day we went back up on the ridge and had a long day of climbing and being exposed on the ridge while the weather was being rather rough and cold again. When we made it down the ridge in the evening or was already getting dark and we were glad to be able to go to sleep.

The next section will be easier and we are taking off today towards Twin Lakes.

[Show as slideshow]

After crossing James Peak and Mt. Flora we decided to hitch out at the I-70 before ascending the highest mountain of the official CDT – Gray’s Peak.

The views were amazing again, but because we hiked through during the labor day weekend, the Backcountry was full of cars and people die to Denver being very close.

We had hiked out some fried chicken though for our first night out if town and had a relaxed start into the section. But as it is a lot of up and down we were exhausted and wanted to carry the least amount of food up Gray’s Peak.

We hope to be in Breckenridge in 3 days from now.

[Show as slideshow]

After going over a nice Ridgeline coming out of Steamboat Springs we made our way down the mountain towards highway 34 which is inside of Rocky mountain national park.

We got a hitch into Granby where we got a hotel room and the next morning we hitched back into Grand Lake where we put our packs into the Shadowcliff Lodge which is right next to the trail and slackpacked (walking without all the hear) the RMNP loop which is about 25 miles.

We got back in the evening and spent the night in the Shadowcliff Lodge which is a very cozy place. Today we will hitch back to Granby to do laundry and resupply and in the afternoon we will head back to the trail. Next stop will be Silverthorne just before Gray Peak – the highest mountain on the CDT.

[Show as slideshow]

We made it to Colorado! Another state is done – Wyoming – which was surprisingly diverse in its landscapes. We went through Yellowstone, the Tetons and the Wind River Range which all had stunning vistas. Finishing with the Wyoming Basin which can be considered a windy dust bowl we crossed into Colorado 2 days ago.

Colorado starts with a nice ridge line walk with distant views and we really enjoyed our walk towards the first stop in this state: Steamboat Springs. We got a hitch while still walking on the trail (again) by talking to a day hiker this time. I was also able to score an ice cold beer before rising down towards the town.

Ninja had the brilliant idea to head to a bowling bar a little outside of the City where she came through about 2 months ago while hitching towards the Canadian border. They remembered her and were really awesome by putting our drinks on the house and after we chatted with the owner of the place he let us camp in the front lawn of the establishment.

This morning we had a hurried pack up of our stuff to not get wet by the sprinkler system, that was build into the ground of the lawn, so we were able to to the bus to downtown where we are currently enjoying breakfast. Our next stop will be Grant Lake where the trail will start to get more and more elevation changes.

[Show as slideshow]

We had a fun week in the Basin where we skipped a few sections that Ninja had already hiked while on her way up to Montana in June. We started out in Atlantic City where we had a Beer and a Margarita – which apparently was one of the best that Ninja had on the CDT – and the barmaid had made too much and did not charge for refilling the glad twice.

After our little drink on the only bat of Atlantic City Wyoming with the immense population of 57 people we headed out into the Basin. We decided to camp at hollow creek a little of trail which was a nice campground and after doing a few more miles in the section that Ninja had already completed we hiked out and hitched to Rawlins where we planned the section to Encampment. Especially the last 20 miles are actually quite enjoyable as it goes a little higher up towards 11000ft with plenty of trees to give a little shade.

Once we got close to highway 70 where you can hitch to Encampment – a difficult hitch due to the lack of traffic, I was jokingly saying it would be nice to have a guy on an ATV take us out and back to Rawlins and also give us a soda. 2 minutes later a guy on an ATV arrived by chance and we talked him up and he offered us a ride to Encampment. And when he dropped is of he also gave us a soda – I guess I should become an oracle after I am done with the trail.

We got a ride with a friendly retired guy who drove is all the way to Rawlins which is 80 miles out of his way and also offered us to take us back to the trail once we are ready. We will be eating breakfast on us with him tomorrow and cannot believe our luck!

Today is the last rest day before we hit Colorado within this week, as we are making our way towards Steamboat Springs, CO.

[Show as slideshow]

The last few days have been breathtaking – both ways: The views on the Wind River Range and the climbing required to get to the views were taxing.

We went into the Winds from Pinedale through the New Fork Lake Trail and took the regular CDT that we were bypassing for a while since we went through the Tetons. We could have done the Knapsack Col Alternate but decided against it as we had no snow gear and the climb is very tricky. That decision was likely pretty wise, as we met a few thruhikers that went through and told us how sketchy that high pass actually was.

The regular CDT does not disappoint either and runs through rugged terrain with a lot of granite mountain walls and a very high number of lakes. The biting insects of all makes were still very active, but at least by the fact that most of that section was above 10000ft the weather was not that hot in the sun.

We had a few really nice camp sites and decided to do the Cirque of the Towers alternate which included two tough Passes and a lot of non existing trail and bush wacking but rewarded is with some of the most beautiful scenery of the CDT

We got into Lander yesterday morning and are no preparing to walk through the Wyoming Basin, which will be very dry and hot – and not as spectacular but in its own way unique with a lot of Sage brush to look at.

[Show as slideshow]