“There is nothing like walking to get the feel of a country. A fine landscape is like a piece of music; it must be taken at the right tempo. Even a bicycle goes too fast.” ~Paul Scott Mowrer

 Gold Hill Trail, CO August 16, 2003

 We are back to hiking with Tim, Jill, and Chevy. We are going to do about 13 miles today and the other 7 or so tomorrow. Due to the logistics of where we are staying and vehicle shuttles, we will hike from the North Fork of the Swan River to Gold Hill Trail Head in Breckenridge today. This part of the trail is fairly new and although longer than the original trail more scenic and it stays off the roads. Tomorrow we will backtrack and hike from Georgia Pass to the North Fork. As we are staying in a Condo, we have a nice breakfast of bagel and egg sandwiches and of course a banana for Charlie.

North Fork Road

We leave from the North Fork of the Swan River at 8:30 AM. We start climbing immediately and emerge from the trees on a ridge looking back at the road we took to park the Explorer. Eventually, we come to a ridge overlooking the backside of Keystone Ski Resort. We stop here for a break and snacks, which we try and do every hour or so. Our routine has been to go for an hour or slightly more and then take a refuel break. We usually stop for lunch between 11:30 and 12:30. Tim and Jill seem to cheat on our breaks, with some space age concoction called Goop, which is a pure carbohydrate energy boost. Charlie and Carol stick with the old fashion Gorp, chocolate covered snacks, nuts, granola bars, and pretzels. We also try to eat some fruit, the necessary banana or two in the morning, and an apple later.

CNC Doin’ Fine

Our high point in this section is 11,129 feet and then we have to descend back down to 9200 feet at Gold Hill. The last couple of miles, it starts to cloud up and threatens to rain. Just as we reach Tim’s truck, it starts to rain on us. We have managed to stay dry again. We finished at 2:30 PM and hiked 13.3 miles. Our moving average was an impressive 3.1 miles per hour and our overall average was 2.2 miles per hour.

We decide to check out the road to Georgia Pass from the Breckenridge side. It is supposed to be 4WD and we have to see how rough it is and how long it takes versus the alternative of driving to Jefferson and up from the south side. As we drive up the road, the rain becomes heavier. The road is fairly rough in spots but we make it to the top. It is not any faster than the longer south route and with the amount of rain may not be passable for us, so we decide to approach from the south tomorrow. We also decide to drive down the south side through Jefferson and Fairplay back to Breckenridge.

Nice Rack

As we descend, we spot two moose just off the road, a huge bull with a full set of antlers and a female. This is very exciting for us as moose are just beginning to show up this far south in Colorado. We spend quite a bit of time watching and stalking from the truck while trying to get some photos. We finally head back to town for happy hour, margaritas, and dinner. I haven’t mentioned that this has become a habit or even a tradition after our hikes. This is a definite benefit to hiking the trail in segments. Of course it doesn’t lead to much weight loss! Tonight we enjoy another benefit, a soak in a hot tub. Even though it has rained for the past several hours, we remain optimistic for tomorrow.