Great hike but thru turned into a 130 mile section....great time! Durango to spring

As usual Co kicked my arse! Trip started out great when we got lucky at Alamo rental car in Denver....only car avail was a convertible bitchin camero [emoji23]. Made the beautiful drive to durango stopping in leadville and Salida on the way...grabbed another melly. Started the trail following day in Durango mid morning took our time climbing the 16 miles on day one. Spent the next 6.5 days battling altitude as couldn’t catch my breath. I had recently bought a garmin fenix 6x pro which gives your oxygen saturation levels and mine stayed around 80% which explains why I was running out of gas! Normal is 98%. We also experienced a hellacious storm above tree line on CDT...50+ mph wind, rain, sleet, hail and snow.....glad I had the Duomid!!! long story short pup needed a slower pace to allow his paws to recover as his booties got trashed in two days on the shale and I realized my frameless 38l mld burn without a hipbelt isn’t ideal when your carrying food and water for two!!! Think I’m going to buy a HMG 3400 junction for the heavy loads! Finally had an issue arise at home so decided to bail in lake city. Looks like I’ll finish up the CT next fall if I’m not on the JMT with my cousin. Having already done the collegiate loop and the first 100 miles should be doable section hike. Damn I love Co!!!! https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...fb80f8af96.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...0f2c30c6cd.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...734f8aac62.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...a2215fd416.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...8563eed012.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...a9fdcb5a13.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...0efe32a7a1.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...905b75b5df.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...b2a45bec56.jpg


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Great pictures. Your companion is beautiful.

"only car avail was a convertible bitchin camero https://emoji.tapatalk-cdn.com/emoji23.png"

Did your folks drive it up from the Bahamas?

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Originally Posted by Puddlefish

"only car avail was a convertible bitchin camero https://emoji.tapatalk-cdn.com/emoji23.png"

Did your folks drive it up from the Bahamas?

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Just made my day

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Originally Posted by Puddlefish

"only car avail was a convertible bitchin camero https://emoji.tapatalk-cdn.com/emoji23.png"

Did your folks drive it up from the Bahamas?

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Yea it got blown over from the Bahamas!!![emoji38]what I POS it was.....as the great comedian Jay Hickman said...Camero...the Indian word for fill this Fuc!?! Up again.....


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Originally Posted by Pringles

Great pictures. Your companion is beautiful.

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Thx


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What do you feed the pup on a long hike?

Also, he doesnt carry his own food it looks like. Any reason he doesnt carry a little doggy pack?

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Originally Posted by blue indian

What do you feed the pup on a long hike?

Also, he doesnt carry his own food it looks like. Any reason he doesnt carry a little doggy pack?

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I use a mix of freeze dried Sojo food and a high cal kibble... he was lil under a year old so not going to stress his joints with pack till 2 years old...I underestimated his food needs and he ended up eating several cliff/ Lara bars along the way!!! [emoji38]3-4 cups off food per day plus oil etc gets heavy on a 4 day haul..I was able to fit it in 38l but was lil tight and way overloaded with long water carries would guess nearly 30lbs....




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Awesome pictures. So jealous. Love your hiking partner too!!!

Glad you had a fine hike SS ! Wow, that looks like a strong pooch... Did you used to have a smaller dog, like a Jack Russell or something? If you get his paws toughened up, he'll easily be able to hike anywhere you can, I would think.

Anyway, one reason I'm sorry you didn't finish the trail is that I was looking forward to hearing from you and giving you a rode from Waterton to wherever you needed to go in Denver!

At least you did perhaps the best part of the trail.

BTW, we just had a record 64 degree F temperature drop in less than 24 hours, 73 to a low of NINE degrees (broke old record by 15 degrees or so!) this morning.... but I suppose you would have been done by now if you could have continued on.

Great pics! Handsome sidekick too...

i got altitude sickness last visit out that way. Interesting about the oxygen sats being just 80%. If that is accurate it would have some Er staff moving swiftly, not a lot of room to play with if you are already that low. Do you have any pulmonary problems or do you smoke? Not judging, just curious. As I mentioned, I think I am pretty healthy but I was limited by the altitudes too. Beautiful country we live in, can’t wait to go exploring again, thanks for sharing your trip. ��

Indeed thanks for sharing great picture's I like the first one. My Colorado trip didn't go as planned either I got sick about a week before I left having chest pains and being hard headed I left to drive to twin lakes 27 hour drive I already had reservations at twin lakes lodge. I thought the chest pains would go away but didn't I pounded the water and took some day hikes around the lakes couldn't get my breathing corrected after 3 days so drove back made a doctor's appointment and found I had fluid on my heart. The doctor ordered no gym,no hikng,no work for a week. So now I'm pain free 1 week I was hurting for about 4weeks and back to the gym doing a little cardio. I'll definitely be back to Colorado what a beautiful place!! I leave in a couple hours for Massachusetts for some hiking.

You may find your pup's paws toughen up and he won't need the boots and the shale won't bother him...but it takes time. I've never put boots on my two and neither have had issues but they have some pretty tough pads at this point since they are (were) working ranch dogs. The only thing that bothers them now is when the ground is too hot.

As far as dog food goes, also check out Turbo pup bars. They aren't cheap, but cheaper than some and might make a good add in for some calories for a bigger dog. Mine can carry a week's worth of those, but only 4 days of regular food. I often soak them in water briefly as they are quite dry, plus the water helps to bulk it up and make the smaller portion sizes fill them up.

Glad to hear you are waiting to put a pack on him and taking it slow...I read so many times when people want to rush into big hikes with their young dogs and putting packs on them too early. I also recently watched Dixie's video about taking her dog on the PCT fire closures and she'd been told a dog can carry up to 25% of their weight...of course I cringed and had to correct that as 25% is way too much for any dog for more than a couple of miles. 15% is max, and that should dwindle quickly if they are carrying food.

Glad you had a great time...something awesome about being our there solo with a dog.

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Originally Posted by colorado_rob

Glad you had a fine hike SS ! Wow, that looks like a strong pooch... Did you used to have a smaller dog, like a Jack Russell or something? If you get his paws toughened up, he'll easily be able to hike anywhere you can, I would think.

Anyway, one reason I'm sorry you didn't finish the trail is that I was looking forward to hearing from you and giving you a rode from Waterton to wherever you needed to go in Denver!

At least you did perhaps the best part of the trail.

BTW, we just had a record 64 degree F temperature drop in less than 24 hours, 73 to a low of NINE degrees (broke old record by 15 degrees or so!) this morning.... but I suppose you would have been done by now if you could have continued on.

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Thanks CR! Yes I also have a 7 yr old jrt....I agree out of the 400 miles of CT I’ve done the San Juan’s we’re far more spectacular than even the CW!!!! Will definitely be back! Both pups are great hiking dogs...once my schedule allows for a looser slower schedule I’m certain they would be fine on a CT thru. I’m so jealous of yall who live in or close to this amazing state! So much natural beauty!


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Originally Posted by JNI64

Indeed thanks for sharing great picture's I like the first one. My Colorado trip didn't go as planned either I got sick about a week before I left having chest pains and being hard headed I left to drive to twin lakes 27 hour drive I already had reservations at twin lakes lodge. I thought the chest pains would go away but didn't I pounded the water and took some day hikes around the lakes couldn't get my breathing corrected after 3 days so drove back made a doctor's appointment and found I had fluid on my heart. The doctor ordered no gym,no hikng,no work for a week. So now I'm pain free 1 week I was hurting for about 4weeks and back to the gym doing a little cardio. I'll definitely be back to Colorado what a beautiful place!! I leave in a couple hours for Massachusetts for some hiking.

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That’s a loooooong drive! Glad your health is improving! If only have lil bit aloof time if highly recommend the section from Spring Creep pass to Durango.....spectacular!


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Originally Posted by DuneElliot

You may find your pup's paws toughen up and he won't need the boots and the shale won't bother him...but it takes time. I've never put boots on my two and neither have had issues but they have some pretty tough pads at this point since they are (were) working ranch dogs. The only thing that bothers them now is when the ground is too hot.

As far as dog food goes, also check out Turbo pup bars. They aren't cheap, but cheaper than some and might make a good add in for some calories for a bigger dog. Mine can carry a week's worth of those, but only 4 days of regular food. I often soak them in water briefly as they are quite dry, plus the water helps to bulk it up and make the smaller portion sizes fill them up.

Glad to hear you are waiting to put a pack on him and taking it slow...I read so many times when people want to rush into big hikes with their young dogs and putting packs on them too early. I also recently watched Dixie's video about taking her dog on the PCT fire closures and she'd been told a dog can carry up to 25% of their weight...of course I cringed and had to correct that as 25% is way too much for any dog for more than a couple of miles. 15% is max, and that should dwindle quickly if they are carrying food.

Glad you had a great time...something awesome about being our there solo with a dog.

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I thought I conditioned his pads pretty well on the asphalt and used mushers secret daily. He got cuts between his toes but his pads did fine. If I could have taken a few zeros he would have been fine...I had chafing issues with a RW pack on my jrt few years ago find it’s easier to just carry their food, with the proper pack. Plan to go back framed pack when take the pooches.


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