Foose Creek Colorado, CO Segment 15  Foose Creek to Marshall Pass  

“Thru hiking is easy, except for the hiking part”

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CNC Ready to Go

July 30, 2005. We get up, have breakfast, and tear down our camp. It is a beautiful sunny morning. We have a lot of climbing to do today, as our starting elevation is 9,560 feet and we are going over 11,900 feet. We hit the trail at 9:35 A.M. and cross over Foose Creek. The sign says 11 miles to Marshall Pass, but we are skeptical, as they have been wrong before. Most trail mileages were measured by rolling a wheel with an odometer over the trail. Not quite as accurate as GPS. We begin a very gradual climb above Foose Creek. As we climb above 10, 000 feet, we come to a meadow with a view of Mount Peck. The trail starts to climb more steeply here. As we get higher, there are more views behind us to the north, of the Collegiate Peaks. Our pace slows up as we get above 11,000 feet. The two month layoff shows through in the form of heavy breathing and frequent stops to catch our breath. We break for lunch to refuel our bodies for the remainder of the climb.

Beauty Everywhere

After lunch, more climbing, and the trees start to thin as we get above 11,600 feet. We can see the ridge top on the continental divide, which hopefully marks the high point for this segment. Tims knee must be doing Okay, as he is ahead of us climbing up the hillside. As we break out above tree line, the views are phenomenal. There are tiny alpine flowers in bloom all around us, miniature versions of their colorful larger cousins. We reach the Continental Divide and sit to enjoy our hard earned 360 degree views. We are at 11,920 feet and it took us 4 hours to go these first 5.5 to 6 miles. The last quarter mile was an almost straight up gain of 250 feet and pretty tough.

CNC On the Divide

We join the Continental Divide Trail at this point, so we once again get two trails for the hike of one. After our break, we walk along the ridge tops for a while. This is always a treat. You get that, I am on the top of the world feeling, and the views are spectacular in every direction. We hike above a ridge that still has snow cornices on it, just below the trail, and start to descend slightly. We pass by cairns constructed from white quartz which is in abundance in this one spot we are hiking through. After descending, we start to climb again to regain our lost altitude. We had barely gotten back into the trees before this climb. We push on, as this should be the last big climb of the day. Steven races ahead. Did I forget to mention that he is with us? That is probably because we have seen very little of the hike in 4th gear kid all day. He has been in front of everybody, or with the Tim and Jill racing team, for most of the hike. In fact, in the last climb he passes by Tim and me racing to the top, causing Tim to try and race both of us (a no win proposition). In doing so, he proceeds to step on my pole. The pole seems to have survived the incident. By the time I get to the top, they are still going.

Trail Beauty

I am beat, so Carol and I stop for a nice break, looking back over all the land we have just conquered. From here, we start descending and eventually join a jeep road down to Marshall Pass. We reach the pass at 4:15 P.M. for a 6 hour and 40 minute hiking day. Here are the stats. We hiked a total of 12.3 miles today. The high point was 11,920 feet and our moving average was 2.7 miles per hour. Our overall average was just below 2 mph. Our moving time was 4 hours and 31 minutes and we were stopped for 2 hours and 9 minutes. We are ready for Quincy’s in Buena Vista: prime rib dinner. Until next time. Segment 15 Miles Hiked 12.3 miles (does not include 2.9 miles hiked previously)      Total Colorado trail Miles 323.2 miles