Day 8

Mileage: 4 miles 

Elevation gain: none!

Weight of backpack: zero! 

You must be wondering why no elevation gain or backpack weight today? Well, we are not superheroes. We're actually normal people and need a break after seven days on the trail with a 30 pound pack and 5,000 foot elevation gain. 

But first, let me tell you about last night. After arriving at the wrong campsite (we were supposed to go to the opposite side of the freeway), setting up our tent, and paying the camp fee, we were on the search for water. Lo and behold: NO water at this campsite! 

Out of 11 possible campsites, there was us in one and two girls in another. They were about 3 campsites away from us. We stinkedly slivered over and asked them where the nearest water was. The reply? "Across the road". We kept staring at their big, 13 gallon water jug. And as if they could read our minds , or they wanted to get rid if us from our mountain smell,they kindly offered us some water. Thank you so much for helping us! 

This early morning those two "trail runner" Girls came by our camp site and offered us more water to start our day. So awesome!!

A much needed rest today, and why not head into a town that has the word "play" in it.. Right ?

So, there was no better way to play hookie then hitchhike to Fairplay! Amazingly enough, as Pippy was mustering up the courage to stick out her thumb for her first ever hitchhike ride, there to the left of her peripheral vision, she spied a lone backpacker. Naturally, we walked our chatty selves over and befriended the fellow backpacker from Oklahoma, "Eric" or "Okie" as he described himself.

 He was waiting for his friend "Chris" and his two dogs who happen to be heading to Fairplay at that very moment in a car! 

We barely fit in the backseat with the dogs, but we somehow made it work. The dogs weren't too mad. Thank you to Chris and Eric for letting us bombard your dogs' space, giving us a ride, and sharing your hiking tips with us!

Pippy and Hank

Zippy and Kaia, the wounded warrior . Good news is that Kaia was seen by a vet and is going to be okay.

Have you seen the show South Park? Well, apparently the town of Fairplay is where the originators of the show used to live. The kindly folks here are very near to being similar to that show. It is a homey feel and they embrace their uniqueness.

First thing first, we checked into the historic hotel of Fairplay that was built in 1873. We immersed ourselves and almost cried in joy as we took our first shower in four days. Pippy had to force Zippy to get out of the shower. After that magnificent event was over, we strolled down the street and came across the town laundry mat. 

Yup, it's in a house! It was definitely one of the best ways to become a local. 

Except, we didn't fit in very well with our pareos. Every ounce of our clothing was in the wash.

I mean c'mon look at Pippy's outfit. No one made eye contact with her. Not even old gramma Mary Jane would let her share her newspaper. But Pippy didn't care....she was overjoyed with the feeling of clean clothes!!! 

Next, we strolled the 1/4 mile long Main Street and found ourselves in a snack/gift shop calked chocolate moose. Yes, of course we bought some chocolate and met the owner of the store. 

We asked her why she moved to Fairplay,and her response was, "once I saw those mountains I never wanted to leave" . We can see why. 

Fairplay is a beautiful little town with a few historic hotels, and a very cool old mususm town called "South Park City". The Ute Indians were the first to call this place home and live off the land. Once the gold rush began, it didn't take long for mining and railroads to transform this area into a thriving community in the 1860's. The Main Street has been preserved and restored to maintain the lifestyle of that era. 

Pippy posing in front of the old town. You pay a small fee to enter and walk through all the old buildings. Totally worth it 

We met a lounging cat at the old Saloon. We were very happy to see a cat in the land of big dogs! We haven't seen a cat in weeks! Made our day!

Zippy ordering a gin and tonic...

Walking on the old town boardwalk. And yes it's cold and yes we're freezing. Us Hawaii people don't yet understand the every changing temperature range of the day. The pouring rain and whipping wind storm had just ended. 

And the view of the modern town looking down from the old town. Imagine 1,000 black leather jackets, bandanas, slicked moustaches, tight black jeans, and Harley Davidson motorcycles lining this street. The "Ladies Run" just so happens to take place tomorrow on this Main Street. Motorcycle riders from all over will come and have a huge block party! Stay tuned for a picture if we are around to people watch tomorrow. 

We will be hitting the trailhead beginning at Kenosha Pass and hiking for the next three days to Breckenridge (where we will get a massage for our hardwork). Can't wait! So until then, aloha!!!

 And thank you for everyone's amazingly motivating comments! You guys are the bomb! It keeps us going! What wonderful friends we have:) 

Day 7

Thursday, July 10, 2014

We have come to the consensus that our trail data book is tricking us. We estimated our mileage today to be 11 miles, and yet again it crept up to 12 as we approached our campsite. The trail today went up and down as the elevation began at 10,600 feet, traversed down through more beautiful flowers and picture perfect Aspen, climbed back up to 10,799 feet, and finally descended back down to our campsite elevation of 10,000 feet. We are exhausted, but the majestic beauty of Colorado keeps us going. 

We woke up freezing this morning and needed five layers of clothing and some hot tea to lure us out of our cocoons. 

We began singing the "Mr. Sun, Mr. Morning Sun" song and soon enough, he came out to play! 

Pippy posing with the "Red Watermelon" and Zippy's "Big Blue Whale"

Some highlights of our day...

We followed a trail like this through the aspen for several miles. 

Yellow daisies to make us smile outlined the well-manicured trail along with other newfound colorful wildflowers 

Hiking at our highest elevation at 10,800 feet 

The panaramic view was as far as the eye could see. Every angle we looked just made us stop and take it all in. 

Pippy was so tired by the end of the day, but she mustered up enough energy to thank Mother Earth for providing this beautiful flower-laden trail, especially the columbine. 

At the end of the day, all we want to do is just stretch out our shoulders and back. 

Awhhhhh.... We are still "hanging in there". 414 miles to go! Bring it on.

Tip of the day: At higher altitudes, it is recommended to drink 2-3 times more water than at sea level. 

Day 6

Wednesday, July 9

Woke up early to the sounds of chattering chipmunks and squawking birds. The morning view of the meadow was surreal. We watched the sun creep over the valley and enjoyed the show of highlighted greenery as the sun moved closer toward our camp.

We managed to start a fire this morning which felt nice and warm . And when the sun hit us,  it was even more amazing. We hung our tent out to dry as it was frosted over from the night.

Breakfast was made and we set off for another unsuspecting day .

Pippy enjoying the pan-cake that we made.. They fell apart but they tasted like they had won an award at a baking contest. The simple foods of life become gourmet in the back country. 

Our mid morning trek across the meadow was met by mr chipmunk on the foot bridge across the steam. He chatted loudly as if he was wishing us another beautiful day. And indeed it was.

Mr. Chippy took the picture

The view behind us is a 6 mile long meadow which we named 'Butterfly Meadow'...

There were hundreds of these happy fluttering butterflies along the trail. They seem to love to sun themselves and that is how we were able to take their picture. 

The wild flowers were equally joyful to look at. Blues, purples, vibrant yellows, delicate pinks, all perfectly put together like it was nature's florist. 

6 miles later, we leave our friendly meadow behind and begin descending down the mountain only to be further awestruck by this magnificent and epic mountain range. It looked like a painting. 

Wow....we know. So cool. You can't buy this image... You have to experience it standing right there at 10,900 feet. And yup, still no jumping jacks here. 

Not long after, Mr. thunder came along. It took us 6.7 seconds to suit ourselves and backpack up in our waterproof armor. And we can't forget the umbrella!

Although wet, rainy, tired feet, sore bodies with humongous appetites, this Colorado trail adventure is truly remarkable. Every step of the way is a new step. 

We finally reached our campsite after counting every tenth of the last mile and engulfing some caffeine energy gel. It was like another enchanted forest all to ourselves by a trickling stream that will soon lull us to sleep. 

Today's mileage totaled 11 miles and we now have trekked exactly 60 miles from Denver! Elevation campsite tonight is at 10,300 feet. It's getting chilly...time to go into our warm cocoons! 

Day 5

Tuesday, July 8th 

Slept in this morning on our "off the ground" bed in our lovely suite for the night. 

Packed up our gear, ate homemade cinnamon rolls, and departed to the trailhead with our newfound hosts. What a wonderful home stay with these two beautiful people! 

Dana "Mother Earth" and John "Paul Bunyan" . And yes there's Pippy on the right. See the braids? 

Our trail today was surrounded by wildflowers and aspen! 

There's Pippy with her favorite flower , the Colorado columbine.

Wild roses accompanied us along the aspen lined  trail.

Zippy's favorite tree.

It continued to be a perfect, beautiful day....

And then.... This is what happened. 

Dark clouds, breezy rain, clapping thunder, bolts of lightening, and...what's round, white, made of snow, hard like marble, and goes ping ping ping off your head? That's right. Very good. It was HAIL! 

But everything is still awesome! Pippy and Zippy were encased in waterproof clothing topped off with an ultralight umbrella (which is the bomb!). We highly recommend to any extended backpacker to buy one. The clothing is from Patagonia and they are excellent. We stayed dry the whole entire day! 

After three hours of storm, 9 miles, and 10,400 ft elevation later, trees opened up into this amazing meadow. 

We kept walking on over this ridge into the meadow where we scrambled as fast as we could to pitch our tent up. There was a ominous fog of yet another downpour that was like 15 ft behind us. We snuggled in our warm dry clothes and semi dry tent and went fast asleep. But not before tucking our trail friends into bed.