“People say that losing weight is no walk in the park. When I hear that I think, yeah, that’s the problem.” Chris Adams

Kenosha Pass, CO   Segment 6–Kenosha Pass to Breckenridge

On Sunday evening (August 3rd), Charlie stepped on a board with two nails in it. Of course he was only wearing moccasin slippers when he did it. Monday morning Charlie could not put weight on his right foot, took off work, and went to the doctors for a tetanus shot. Based on how he felt, this weekend’s hike was doubtful to occur. Amazingly, by Thursday, he put on sneakers and could walk (more like hobble) with a smile (maybe it was a grimace). Segment 6 is 32 miles total and we had planned to hike it over 2 weekends. We made the decision to try the first part of Segment 6 to Georgia Pass and test Charlie’s foot. Carol and I decided to camp in the Jefferson Creek Area and split the hike to from Kenosha Pass to Georgia Pass over two days. Even though it is a distance we could normally do in one day, concern for Charlie’s foot made this the logical choice.

August 8, 2003 We arrive at the entrance to the Jefferson Lake Area to a sign that says all campgrounds were full. After a discussion with the entry lady, she let us drive in to see if there were any openings. We found one in the Lodgepole Campground that turned out to be a great tent site. Next on the agenda is to drive up to Georgia Pass and leave the Explorer near the trail at the point we would end. The trick to this is driving the Nissan Sentra up as well so we could return to camp. A few touch and go spots but the 4WD Nissan (yeah right!) makes it and we arrive back in camp with some daylight to spare. We make a fine dinner of hot dogs and beans and sit by a fire watching the stars light up the sky. The camp is right near the halfway point for the Kenosha Pass to Georgia Pass portion. We have decided to start at the halfway point and hike up to Georgia Pass first as this is the tougher portion. This way if Charlie and his foot are too sore to hike the second day, we would be able to make up the first part easier. Time for bed.

August 9, 2003

We get up, have breakfast, and head to the trail head at the Jefferson Lake Road crossing. We get started at 7:45 AM, cross a stream and follow a flat section of trail. We are talking and walking when the trail peters out near another campground. We search for signs of it based on where the GPS is pointing to the next waypoint but do not find anything promising. The GPS points straight up a steep hill .3 tenths of a mile distance. We figure the trail must switchback and walk along the edge of the campground until we come upon a trail sign that says Georgia Pass. It does not feel right so I take a long look at the map and figure out that this is the West Jefferson Trail, which joins the Colorado trail near Georgia Pass. We backtrack to whence we came and find the real Colorado Trail clearly marked. The conversation must have been good, for us to miss so obvious a junction. This setback cost us 1.8 (luckily flat) miles and 1 hour of our time.

Carol Closer to Georgia Pass

Finally, back on track, we start our climb from 10,000 feet to eventually 11,800 feet. The hike is beautiful. We pass an old cabin set back in the woods barely visible from the trail. There is a spot overlooking Jefferson Lake and the mountains beyond it. We see quite a few mountain bikers on this section and expect we will see even more tomorrow as Kenosha Pass has easy access. At around 11,200 the trees start thinning out and the views are fantastic. We take a break, as well as several pictures, at the junction of the Colorado Trail and the west Jefferson Trail (sound familiar?). Mt Guyot, a conical shaped mountain over 13,000 feet is a spectacular sight. From this spot, every way we turn has a view that takes your breath away or maybe it is the altitude? Probably both.

Mountains to the East of Trail

We climb along the tundra for the last 200 feet in altitude and our new high spot of 11,800. There are thousands of strange red colored bugs. Some of these same bugs are green and some are brown but most are a kind of blood red. They jump off the trail as we walk. We take a short break at the high point to catch our breath and then walk down to our truck. We finish at 11:30 with a total of 7.85 miles walked. The nice thing about the short distance is that we stopped and enjoyed our surroundings more than when we are pushing ourselves on the longer distances. We sit and have lunch by the truck looking down towards Breckenridge and the trail we will follow next weekend. Another perk of the short hike is that we arrive back in camp and have time to take a nap before dinner. We have a fine dinner of Pasta, bread and beer, with roasted marshmallows for dessert when it got dark.