Day 76: The Copper Mountain Storm

July 5: It didn't rain during the night, but I did notice a lot of condensation started to form. Even before I went to sleep, there was a bit of condensation forming, so I threw a tarp over myself like a blanket, but it was absolutely soaked through by morning and I was feeling pretty wet. I needed to dry out a bit!

But that, I figured, could wait until later in the day. For now, I woke up and got ready, hitting the trail at 6:20am. The morning was had plenty of blue skies and sun to enjoy!

 
For the first hour of the day, I saw absolutely nobody. It was too early in the day and people weren't up and about yet, but after passing over Searle Pass, I started passing masses of people. In the second hour of the day, I probably passed no less than 30 people on foot and on bike. I couldn't go for 5 minutes without running into someone. It was simply astonishing--the number of the people on the trail. Everyone seemed to be heading up from Copper Mountain, though. It seemed like I was the only person heading down to it.

The trail headed steeply downhill after Searle Pass, toward the Copper Mountain ski resort. At this time of year, there wasn't much skiing going on, but I knew there would be restaurants and other services and I was anxious to enjoy them and hiked nearly non-stop until I arrived at around 10:30am. I used the restrooms, threw out my trash and toured the area to checked out the facilities.

There were all sorts of activities for tourists going on. They had those carts one could ride down bobsled-like courses, an American Ninja Warrior-type of contraption one could navigate, and a roller-coaster type of contraption that the trail actually passed under on my way to the resort. Some of the ski lifts were running allowing people to get up the mountain without the effort of a hike, and the place was full of visitors!

I eventually stopped at Downhill Duke’s to eat. They had an outside patio and allowed me to enjoy the views while I dined. They opened just as I arrived and I was the first customer to be seated. I ordered a burger and a Pepsi, which were very good but seemed a little pricey for what I got.

I'd end up spending most of the day at the Copper Mountain ski resort.

At the resort, I had phone service and I texted Pez who, as it turned out, was only a couple of hours behind me. I knew he was behind me on the trail, but I hadn't realized he was so close behind me, so I decided to wait around at the restaurant for him to show up. I read my Kindle and relaxed to kill the time.

During the couple of hours of waiting, dark and menacing clouds drifted in. I wondered if Pez would make it before the thunderstorm struck. I wasn't too worried about myself. I'd just move somewhere inside or under cover if rain started. No big deal for me! Not while I was in civilization, at least! =)

Pez did beat the storm, and he joined me on the patio ordering a drink but no food to save money.

We chatted for a bit, but then the rain finally arrived and we moved to a covered area on the patio and continued our chat. Later, during a lull in the rain, we moved to the patio of a closed restaurant (many of the businesses weren't open during the summer season) that was covered and get a bit more space from the crowds at the restaurant that was open.

It was there that the storm really let loose! Thunder! Lightning! And rain of biblical proportions!

"It sure is nice not to be hiking in that crap," I told Pez. He agreed. =)

The afternoon thunderstorms tended to pass relatively quickly, and I decided that I was going to hang around Copper Mountain until it had passed. Pez decided that it wouldn't be a bad idea to wait a bit either, so we wound up chatting for a few hours in all. It was a lot of fun catching up. Except for a brief chat when we saw each other at Walmart in Salida, we hadn't really connected since way back in Grants, New Mexico.

Pez checks out information on his phone while service is good. Just look at all the hair on his face! Hardly looks like the same person I met my first day on the trail! =)

Pez tried to wait out the rain, but eventually decided to keep going when it softened a bit. He had miles to do! I mean, I had miles to do as well, but I was already rethinking my original plan. The main CDT route goes up and over a big mountain pass which I remembered well from my Colorado Trail thru-hike 4 years earlier. It was a pain-in-the-ass climb, but it did have wonderful views at the top. The problem was that with this storm, there were absolutely no views from the top. It seemed like a waste of a time.

But there was also an alternate route, the Silverthorne Alternate, that I had wanted to take instead. It covered areas that I had never seen before--always a plus!--but it also got me off the main route which was annoyingly packed with way too many hikers for my taste. The Silverthorne Alternate would lead through the town of Silverthorne--thus the name--and reconnect with the main CDT a few days later. And by that point, the Colorado Trail would have split off toward Denver so the huge hoards of people on the trail should be much diminished. So I had my eyes set on the Silverthorne Alternate. Distance-wise, it was marginally shorter, but not enough to really matter. Pez wanted to stay on the main route, though, so we planned to part ways out of Copper Mountain.

However.... my plan was needing some rethinking. I had spent so much time at Copper Mountain, there was no hope I'd reach my original goal along the alternate route. And in huge a thunderstorm no less? Over a 12,000' pass? That's a hard no, but thanks. =)

The rain came down in buckets! It was a hard rain that lasted for hours!

But looking through Guthook, I noticed someone had left a comment that there was a bike path that lead directly from Copper Mountain to Frisco, through the same valley that Interstate 70 passed. It definitely wouldn't be as scenic as the official CDT or the Silverthorne Alternate, but it had several advantages. It was basically flat the entire way and well-protected from high winds and thunderstorms. And it was quite a bit shorter than either of the other two routes. In fact, it was so short, I could probably hike the last bit in the dark and make it to town in time to find lodging. I wouldn't even have to spend the night outdoors tonight!

I called the hostel in Breckenridge to ask if it was possible to move my reservation up a night. The 4th of July weekend was over. It was Monday and I hoped there might be a free bed for the night, but alas, it was not meant to be. They were booked full. I checked lodging options in the area but most places were full and the ones that weren't were way outside of my budget. Nope, I'd definitely have to sleep outside tonight.

But it meant I could get into town pretty early in the day tomorrow, and now I didn't have do any more miles today. I wondered if I could just camp out on this patio under the overhang? I'd probably be bothered by the authorities, though. Naw, I'd just go to the edge of town and find somewhere to stealth camp in the woods.

So Pez hit the road, and I continued to wait out the storm. The rain finally did stop at nearly 6:00pm. This was definitely more than the usual afternoon thunderstorm--it had rained for hours and hours and hours. And a heavy rain it was for most of that time. The clouds never went away, but at one point I could see a brief view of the ridge that the main CDT followed and I hoped it would stay clear long enough for Pez to enjoy it. It would be a shame to do that ass-kicking climb and not have any views to enjoy.

After the rain finally stopped, I continued on to the edge of town to set up camp in the woods at the base of these mountains which (at the time) I thought Pez was currently climbing up.

After the rain finally stopped, I headed out, passing through the rest of the Copper Mountain resort and connecting with the bike path heading out of town, then found a flat place to camp a few minutes walk away from the Conoco station at the edge of town. It occurred to me that I could drop by the convenience store there in the morning and buy something for breakfast in the next morning. I didn't really need anything, but I could splurge anyhow. =)

It was close enough to I-70 that I could hear the traffic from the highway all night--my only complaint about the site--but I knew that would be the case pretty much anywhere I stopped to camp along this bike path since it basically paralleled the highway all the way into Frisco.

Although the rain had stopped, the trees were still dripping with water and the clouds looked like they could resume the storm at any time, so I set up my tarp. I'd covered a measly 13.9 miles according to my GPS. It was a pathetic showing, but I didn't have to actually hike in any rain at all which was a major accomplishment for the day! Poor Pez, though. He left in the thick of it.

After setting up camp and the sun had set, I pulled out my phone and texted Pez about my location. (We hoped to meet up in town tomorrow.) He soon replied that he had reached the bike path and decided to change his own plans and would take the bike path into town as well. What?!

As it turned out, he was camped maybe an hour up the bike path from where I camped. Well shoot! If I had realized that, I'd have made the extra effort of walking a couple of miles further and camping with him. He tended to sleep in late in the morning, though. I'd likely catch up with him as he was packing up camp. We could still hike into town together. In hindsight, he could have waited out the rain too.

And with that.... another day was done. Most of the day was pretty rotten for hiking, but I was thrilled to death to have avoided all the bad weather. I felt very fortunate in that respect. =)

Home, sweet home! At least for the night. =)

Day 41: Weather Worries

May 31: I woke up and hit the trail early, but I couldn't tell you precisely what time it was I started since I failed to note it in my journal. Just that I "hit the trail early." But I definitely wanted to beat the storm that was expected to hit the area later in the afternoon, so I had an incentive to start as early as possible.

The night before, it sprinkled a bit, but it turned out to be nothing more than a light sprinkle. Lightning flashed in the dark clouds in the distance which caused Evenstar to get out of bed to set up her tent in the dark and perhaps throw out a few cuss words while I laughed. Looking directly overhead, however, I could still see the twinkling lights of the stars and given the lack of overnight rain in the forecast, I decided to hope for the best and merely threw my tarp over me like a blanket.

By morning, the sky was filled with dark clouds, but the sun eventually came out to play and the rest of the morning turned out to be quite pleasant for hiking, along with the awesome views along the route.

I also spotted another rattlesnake on the trail--my second in two days! This one didn't scare the crap out of me, however, since it was located about 10 feet off the trail and didn't even rattle until after I had already passed it and was already heading away from it. As soon as I heard it, though, I turned around to get a better look. =) I couldn't get a decent photo of it, however, since it was mostly coiled around a log and some brush that obscured it.

Early in the afternoon, Evenstar and I filled up with water at a spring. We predicted that Pez would probably camp here this night given the fact that he was starting from a few miles behind us and certainly hadn't started hiking before us since he needed a ride back to the trail before he could start hiking. And it was basically the only water source between the water cache where he left the trail and the town of Cuba which we didn't expect to reach until tomorrow. It was the logical place that Pez would stop to camp for the night. So I wrote in the sand where people clearly camp regularly "Camp Pez" in the dirt. We weren't sure if he'd notice, but we hoped for the best! 

It's hard to see, but I wrote "Camp Pez" in the dirt at this campsite since Evenstar and I predicted that he'd probably spend the night here.

Evenstar and I pushed onward, however, planning to get a few more miles in before calling it quits for the day. The trail had a few ups and downs, climbing up a plateau, then crossing it before going down the other side. Nothing was particularly strenuous until the last plateau of the day when the trail become a positive rock scramble straight up the mountain in what both Evenstar and I cursed as an "AT-style trail." WTF?! The trail had been such a pleasure to walk on, then they throw this crap in the middle of it? But at the same time, the climb up was kind of exhilarating as well.

Once I reached the top of the plateau, I immediately started looking for a place to camp. It was still early in the afternoon, but dark clouds were blowing in quickly and I had already done about 17 miles for the day. It was a good time to call it quits! I preferred a site near the edge of the plateau where I could admire the views but also among the trees so they would help block the wind.

So I walked another 10 or 15 minutes before finding a location that seemed suitable and set up camp. I set up my tarp between two trees then staked down the corners and edges and made myself comfortable. Evenstar arrived perhaps a half hour later and set her tent nearby.

The calm before the storm

And it wasn't more than a half hour later that a horrendous thunderstorm struck. Lightning! Thunder! Crack! Boom! A terrible wind tore through camp, ripping stake after stake from my tarp out of the ground. Three times I had to hammer a stake back into the ground, and I popped out the trekking pole I had used to prop up one end of the tarp to lower its profile and provide less of a surface for the wind to hit. I also popped open my umbrella to plug the hole at the one end of the my tarp where the wind was blowing rain water under it. It didn't seem safe to be at the top of a plateau in a thunderstorm, but at this point, there was nowhere else we could hide. At least we were camped among trees and not a lone high point on the plateau.

It was a wild half hour or so. I didn't know how Evenstar was doing in her tent, but I imagined she was having issues as well. But after a half hour, the intensity died down relatively quickly. The wind settled down, the lightning moved on, and we were left with nothing more than a light sprinkle the rest of the evening.

I actually came out a lot drier than I expected given the intensity of the storm, and Evenstar seemed to survive with nothing more than a few minor leaks in her tent. I was glad I had set up my tarp between two trees. If I had set the ridge line of the tarp directly into the ground, my tarp probably would have blown away completely. We had known it was going to rain this afternoon, but we had no idea of the intensity of the storm that wound up striking. That came as a surprise!

I had stopped to set up camp at 3:00pm, the storm struck about an hour later at around 4:00pm, then stopped a half hour later at 4:30pm--or at least reduced to a light sprinkle. Trapped under my tarp because of the sprinkle, I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening watching Queens Gambit on Netflix. Good times! I also wondered if Pez managed to see the "Camp Pez" note we left for him before the storm certainly wiped it clean.

And thus ended my 41st day on the trail.....

 

I absolutely loved the scenery along the edges of the plateaus!

 

 

 

 

 

 

There's a rattlesnake in this photo. Can you spot it?

 

 

 

 

 

Evenstar fills up with water at our one water source for the day.

 

 

 

The climb up this plateau was more of a rock scramble than a true trail!

 

Day 26: Pine cones are the testicles of a tree

August 10: I had been walking for several hours along a gravel road, a bit bored. And I started looking around my surrounding a little more closely. Looking for the beauty in the tiny things in life. The unusual flower that made its home on an inhospitable rock. The delicate butterfly that magically survives horrific storms. Nature is pretty amazing, really. Even the insects--perhaps not beautiful in a traditional manner--are deceptively complex creatures and little walking miracles.

And then I started looking at pine cones. They too can surprise me. They'll close up when they get wet, rainy or cold (or some combination of those) and open again when they dry out and warm. How did this inanimate object know what the weather was like?!


The simple pine cone was somehow optimized to know exactly when to release its seeds. I've heard they will open after a fire clears an area providing optimal growing conditions. And I laughed at the thought that they were the sex organs of a tree. Why was I thinking about the sex organs of a tree? In fact... they kind of resembled large testicles!

Flowers are sex organs as well, and it seems oddly amusing that people gift flowers to others all the time. Nothing says I love you like giving them the disemboweled genitals of a plant.

Plant genitals

Oh! Yes, and shove your nose in it to get a good whiff. Smells nice, eh? Perverts! =)

Yep, this is how my mind wanders when I'm bored.

The day started beautiful and I got an early start out of Northport. Jami and Josh were still sleeping when I left so I tried to pack up my gear as quietly as possible and sneaked out of the house.

Streets of Northport on my way out of town.

The trail left town by crossing over the Columbia River on a large bridge before veering off onto a gravel road where I would spend the rest of the day. The sun was shining and life was good. It wouldn't last--rain was in the forecast late in the afternoon and the good life lasted for about an hour until my mind got bored.

And now here I was, thinking about the sex organs of plants and trees. *sigh*

The road walk ahead was massive! The trail followed something like 60+ miles of road walk out of Northport. In all, I was in the middle of an 80+ mile road walk if you include the road walk into Northport as well. This section of the trail was not what made the Pacific Northwest Trail a national scenic trail.

The good news today, however, was that at least the road was gravel and it wasn't a very busy road. On average, about one vehicle would pass me each hour of the day. And the trail was relatively flat and easy.

So I made good time but I was bored out of my mind.

Dark, menacing clouds rolled in throughout the day, but it was nearing 5:00 in the afternoon when I heard the first rumble of thunder in the distance. Rain, I knew, wouldn't be far off. It was time to set up camp. I had completed nearly 20 miles so had already logged a decent day. I felt no qualms about quitting a little early to set up my tarp and get under it before the rain hit.

I walked on another 10 minutes until I reached a small clearing and proceeded to set up camp about 40 feet off from the road. Then I ducked under the tarp, still dry and comfortable.

Another 10 minutes later, a white truck came up the road and it suddenly stopped when the driver noticed my campsite. Crap. What now? Was I was trespassing or something? As far as I knew, the location was perfectly legal.

He got out of his truck and sauntered over to my campsite.

"You should know," he began, "that there's a monstrous thunderstorm heading our way."

"I know," I replied. "I can hear it already!" In his noisy truck, I wasn't sure that he had heard any thunder, but I had been hearing it for a half hour already.

"It's supposed to generate 1/4-inch hail," he told me.

Well.... crap. That's not good. That's big hail! I've never seen quarter-inch hail before. That could a problem. Especially in my exposed location.

This was not a suitable place for my tarp if 1/4" hail was supposed to hit!

We talked for a couple of more minutes before he sauntered back to his truck and drove off. I was left wondering what to do about a monstrous thunderstorm that was expected to drop 1/4-inch hail from the sky. That would probably shred my tarp and then I'd really be screwed!

I decided to move camp. I looked around nearby for a protected area. All of my gear was already spread out and it felt like the rain could start at any second. I didn't want to move my tarp then have everything get wet before I had a chance to set it up in a new location. I needed to work fast!

I decided on a location next to a small group of trees maybe 50 feet away. It wasn't an ideal location, but the trees protected me from one direction and I could set up my tarp so it had steep sides that hail could graze rather than strike full-on. There was a small depression in the dirt where it looked like cattle had often rested. Normally I tried to avoid depressions when I knew rain was in the forecast but it was fairly small and the tarp should be able to cover it entirely. I wouldn't have to worry about rain water collecting under me--in fact, the berm it formed would help keep water out.

I scrambled to set up the tent as quickly as possible--everything that had been under it was now exposed to the elements. If it started raining now, it would be bad!

I got the tarp up, then started moving my gear under with a great deal of haste. The thunder was getting louder.

A short while later, the rain finally started. First a light sprinkle then a heavy downpour. As the sun set, the lightening lit up the sky like fireworks. Boom! Boom!

After an hour, I noticed some water intrusion happening in three different places around my tarp. I built trenches to channel the water around my campsite and built up a berm which seemed to work pretty well. Until it didn't.

I was in cattle country now--and pretty sure I moved my tarp into a depression that cattle created by laying down in it regularly.

It was a couple of hours later when I felt a mushy, waterbed feeling under my groundsheet. I was astounded--where did the water come from?! I cussed. This was bad. This was really bad. There was a giant puddle under my groundsheet! I turned on my headlamp to see and quickly tried building another trench from it through a berm where it could empty, but then something even more astounding happened--the water started flowing into my campsite! It appeared the water was flowing uphill! How was this even possible?! I broke gravity!

Obviously, I know water doesn't flow uphill. It had to be an illusion. The ground outside of the berm and depression was obviously higher than the ground in the depression, but it couldn't have been by much. Maybe if I could dig the trench deeper and further out, the water would flow out in the other direction.

I kept trying to dig and the only thing that accomplished was to allow even more water to flow into my sanctuary. I cursed some more. This was all going so very very wrong....

I couldn't defeat the water. No hail had come and I wished I was back at my original location. That location was better suited for keeping water away, but I couldn't move now. Not in the middle of a torrential downpour. Every item I had would get soaking wet if I tried to move now.

I shoved all of my gear into my pack then threw my pack up on a high point at the corner of my tarp. At least it was on solid (and dry) ground. Then I pulled up my groundsheet to another small high-point at a second corner of my tarp and curled up into the fetal position. It was all the dry space I had available.

It was going to be a long night.....

So many border crossings to choose from! But I wasn't going into Canada. Nope!

The bridge across the mighty Columbia River

And the view of the Columbia from the bridge was great!

The trail passes by the Northport Raceway... but there weren't any races happening when I went by.

It looks like an old mine shaft! I wonder what they were looking for and if they found anything?

This butterfly didn't have a good day!

There's a monstrous thunderstorm coming....