Molas Pass to Durango: mile 410~ Finish
We got back on trail a little before 11 am the next day, enjoying the comfy beds in Silverton to sleep in a bit. Unfortunately, our town stop left us feeling less than recharged, as our stomachs were still upset from the stress of hiking at high elevations on such a low sleep schedule. But we returned to the San Juans excited about our last stretch, knowing that it would be just as challenging as the last few days.
The first 20 miles out of Molas pass required us to follow a different route from the official trail. The official trail traverses steep cliffy terrain which looked to be covered in just enough snow to be icy and precarious. Our first day out of town, we felt great about our navigation efforts and made good time despite the extra elevation gain on our chosen route.
The day after, we were not so lucky. Where the trail contours the cascade creek valley, we opted to avoid the cliffy terrain and cross further down valley where we could connect the Graysill creek trail back to the official route. We were able to connect a thin patch of snow through a steep treed slope to ski most of the way down, but still had to hike a little ways down to the bottom of the drainage. Based on the number of trails in the bottom of the drainage, and the marked crossing of Cascade creek, we expected to see a bridge or log crossing at the bottom of Cascade creek. Keeping an eye our for a crossing rather than checking our maps, we hiked a half mile further down the drainage than we intended and had to make our way back once again. When we did find the marked crossing, there was not only no bridge, but a creek that was flowing knee high. With no obvious crossing we chose to dawn our sneakers and ford the creek. The fresh snowmelt that was pumping down the creek was so cold it made us both scream when we got out on the other side!
We took another long transition to return to our skis and boots and started picking our way back up to the trail. The southwest facing slope was partially melted out and made for slow moving as we navigated between dry ground, downed trees and deep unsupportive snowbanks. When we finally made it back onto the trail at mid afternoon, we were exhausted and had only covered five trail miles. We moved for a few more hours, but after finding running water, made camp and resolved ourselves to spending one more day on trail than we had originally planned after the lowest mileage day we had for the whole trip! Wet snow was falling as we set up camp, and we got onto our sleeping pad relieved to be in our tent, but aware that the cold, humid night would not be an easy one.
Indeed, when we woke up before dawn the next morning, the air was frosty . As we broke camp, our toes and fingers refused to warm up. Several times Mark kindly warmed up my fingers on his body heat as we packed up, but even as we started moving, we were both seriously uncomfortable in the cold humid morning. When we finally did reach a sunny spot we were relieved, but still cold. It wouldn’t be for a few more miles that we warmed up enough stop and take off a layer. We were happy to be moving on trail and making much better progress than the day before, but our stomachs were still making it hard to eat much. Mark was having an especially rough time with his stomach, and midday his bowels betrayed him when he pooped his pants!
After running triage on his dirty underwear, we kept moving, but Mark could only keep down very small portions of water and food. We dropped off trail again to find running water for camp and got to sleep knowing that we only had two days left of hiking!
After breaking camp the next day, Mark’s stomach started to feel better and he was able to drink, eat, and poop, much more normally, although the idea of eating any of our cook food would remain to repulsive to him for the rest of the trip. We were both relieved that his stomach issues didn’t seem to be anything more serious and made good time as we traversed ridgelines heading toward Kennebec pass. As the snow warmed I was frustrated with myself for sleeping in an extra hour that morning, and Mark and I got into an argument when I wouldn’t let go of the negative rhetoric that we hadn’t started early enough that day. The outburst was exhausting, and we both felt silly for getting so upset afterward. We forgave one another, but we were drained, and could just summon the willpower not to lay down and take a nap right on the trail (but I thought we should have slept less?)! At some point during the day, both of us broke a BOA on our boots, which only added to our assurance that both of us would have to call it on these ski boots after this trip. Holes in the gaiter, packed out liners, rubber soles torn to shreds, and now broken BOA’s at least made it feel like we’d gotten the most out of them.
When we reached the highest point before Kennebec pass, we looked out and saw a road bench where we assumed that the trail climbed one last time. In our exhaustion, we misread our maps and followed the snow up to the top of Cumberland pass which we only realized when we were at the top, was not where we wanted to be. It was obvious that we were making mistakes in our exhaustion, but we were at least glad to be able to ski this mistake back down to the trail. When we reached Kennebec a short time later, we lamented the unnecessary 500 ft climb and were glad to at last be entering the Junction Creek drainage. We had one more pitch to ski and as we clicked into ski mode I realized one of my skis was broken! It would get me down that stretch of snow, but I would never ski it in other circumstances. Reaching Sliderock tail, we packed our skis and got to hiking. Only 20 miles from Durango, we booted down intermittent snow drifts to the bottom of the creek. It was a beautiful evening and we enjoyed our last night on trail by rolling out our pads and bags sans tent.
Mark woke up at 4:30 am the next morning too anxious to fall back asleep, so he heated up some hot drinks and we started for our last 15 miles of trail. The first 5 miles consisted of a final climb up to Wild Oat Mesa, and then it was all dry and downhill! The hot day coming into Durango was startling after our month in the snow, but it felt good to be in shorts and sneakers. When we started running into other hikers, we knew we were close. It was great to talk to folks, especially since we were almost done! We had only seen two other groups of people while we were on trail since the first two days out of Denver. Now, getting into the dry trails near Durango, many people congratulated us and greeted us with friendly faces. It was great to talk to other people, and by the time we got to the trailhead we already had a ride into town!
After the beating we had taken on the back half of the trip, the finish felt anticlimactic. And with our stomach’s still delicate from the physical stress, we were looking forward to eating moderate portion sizes of mild food. Our faces were wind and sunburned, we were covered in dust, we smelled terrible, our boots were broken, my skis were totaled, but we were happy and proud!
Once in Durango we headed to the Goodwill to buy cotton clothes, ate our reasonable fill of chips, guac, and a half a burrito each, then met our friend Oona who hosted us for the night.
Having friends throughout the state not only made this trip logistically easier, but was a huge mental boost for us, and it certainly felt special to finish in the company of yet another good friend! Mark left on a bus to Denver early the next morning, while I lounged with Oona and eventually got picked up by my parent’s to spend Mother’s Day with them and the rest of my family in New Mexico.
Mark started work just three days after we finished the trail, and after visiting family I’m quickly heading into a busy schedule. Our attention is already being drawn away from this huge adventure, but its certainly not something that we’ll leave behind soon. This was one of the most intense experiences either one of us has ever had, and we are proud and excited to have completed this trip. As far as we know, no one else has ever completed a ski traverse of the Colorado Trail, and after the hardship we encountered, we understand why. It is exciting for us to have this new skillset, and while it may be a while before we undertake an adventure of this nature again, we look forward to many more (shorter) ski traverses in our near future!
We can’t say thank you enough for all the support we received in making this trip possible. From our parents who make everything we do possible, to the strangers who we ran into along the way who provide positive words of encouragement, this trip wouldn’t have happened if it hadn’t been for all the incredible people in our lives!
We love hearing from friendly folks! If you have any thoughts, comments, or questions about our trip, please email us at nicolettejones13@gmail.com and markj3717@gmail.com.
Our trip was featured in the CT Tread Lines Newsletter here!