Fast-ish CT thru, starting in June

[Walking Thunderbird]

I think I can get 3 weeks off this summer, so I'm looking at doing a fast-ish CT thru hike. I did a pretty fast AT thru a few years ago -- I'm obviously not in that kind of shape, but I'm a distance runner, so I think I should be able to hit the trail doing pretty big miles. So, here's what I was thinking about for an itinerary (knowing that all long-distance hiking plans are made in pencil):

Days 1-4 Start to Breckenridge -- 105 miles (average about 26 miles/day)
Depending on how things are feeling, possibly take a 0 in Breckenridge
Days 5-9 or 10 Breckenridge to Salida -- 148 miles (average 25-29 miles/day)
Days 11 - 15 Salida to Silverton -- 156 miles (31 miles/day)
Days 16-18 Silverton to Durango -- 76 miles (25 miles/day, probably end mid-afternoon)

Something like that. Maybe start off a bit slower. I should be in the 8-10 lb base weight range, and I'm thinking about starting sometime late June. I hike a lot of miles because I like to be moving, and don't mind hiking long hours (but would rather not hike too much in the dark). Given the length of the days, I don't think daylight will be much of a constraint. A couple questions:
(1) How is altitude going to affect me and the pace at which I can go? I've never done much hiking at higher than about 6k. Going west, this is what I'd be starting at, and easing in, right?
(2) For those who have experience with the AT, how does the trail compare, as far as how well-graded, etc., and how fast you can expect to go? Is it something like Shenandoah (really easy), southern ME (insane), or somewhere in the middle?

Thanks a lot in advance for any help you can provide.

[Mags]

Altitude acclimation is a wildcard. For some, it has no almost no affect. Others? Even people who live here can get it about 9k ft.

My advice? If you have the, acclimate a day or two first before hitting the trail.

I think the grade is, overall, somewhere between the PCT and the AT IMO. Very well maintained and marked, too.

FWIW I did did the CT with some some alt routes that made the trail a little longer and did it in 20 days. I am pretty average as far as my "hiking abilities" go.

This was in the Fall, so less daylight...but in the summer you may have to hunker down for a bit in the afternoon if, make that when, t-storms hit. Call it a wash in terms of overall time to hike during the day.

Have fun!

[Cookerhiker]

I'll just add the obvious: with your ambitious schedule and the typical Rocky Mountain weather, you want to start each day as early as possible i.e. first light.

[Walking Thunderbird]

I'll just add the obvious: with your ambitious schedule and the typical Rocky Mountain weather, you want to start each day as early as possible i.e. first light.

Is that true even in the first half of July? My impression from reading this and other forums is that the rains are biggest from mid-July to mid-August. I was trying to avoid that by starting a bit earlier. I was thinking of starting around June 20, which would get me off the trail around July 10.

[Dogwood]

I would say that's an above avg MPD for CTers but certainly doable given what you've stated. I didn't pull up the CT elev profile but IMO for a SOBO CTer the trail gets generally harder or more strenuous around Breck/Copper Mt. Those first 4-5 days SOBO are rather easy in my mind as far as difficulty or obtaining those avg MPD you're seeking for a UL hiker acclimatized and hitting the trail in earnest decently in hiking shape. I notice you make no time allowances for resupplying or taking any zeros. Hmm! Those factors obviously play into how much time you'll take on the CT and play into your targeted avg MD. Regardless of weather for the time you anticipate thru-hiking the CT(I'll let you research the historical CT weather for your time frame), IF you are a moderate paced hiker and aren't a gung ho night hiker(I am)you still need to start early(I like starting around 7 am) to keep up with your targeted avg MPD. I think it wise to start early just so that you have a bit of wiggle room built into your agenda.

I thued the CT in the Fall(mid/late Sept - mid Oct) also when the trail was less crowded and still felt it was CROWDED with mountain bikers in a few places(between Kenosha Pass and Breck, Monarch Crest near Salida, and in the last 20 miles or so near Durango). Personally, I would not want to be a CT thru-hiker doing those sections on weekends during summer. NO WAY! Just TOO MANY MBers! Hikers were few and far between during the fall 2012 too. Only places I came into contact with groups of hikers were near Mt Elbert and Mt Massive who were peakbagging. I had already thrued the CDT and since much of the CT shares the same tread I knew the route well, what to expect as far as terrain, and resupply options. I had no major issues with rain and lightning but did experience exposure in cold windy conditions(as low as 12* with 35-40 mph gusts) and some light snowfall(less than 4"). ZERO issues with insects. I did it in a flip flop fashion(SOBO from Salida/NOBO from Salida) in 19 days of hiking avg about 25-26 per day. I was not pushing the pace(MY PACE!) achieving these avg MPD. I also added on some miles by doing a couple of longer ridgeline alternates and summits. I'm an experienced avg pace hiker in decent shape but can hike LONG days 14-16 hrs /day consistently. I also don't mind night hiking and did some of this on the CT up until about 10-11 pm after getting late morning starts(8 am). I also will take several breaks of less than 30 mins throughout the hiking day. Hope this gives some additional perspective to the wise advice Cookerhiker and Mags already gave.

[Walking Thunderbird]

I would say that's an above avg MPD for CTers but certainly doable given what you've stated. I didn't pull up the CT elev profile but IMO for a SOBO CTer the trail gets generally harder or more strenuous around Breck/Copper Mt. Those first 4-5 days SOBO are rather easy in my mind as far as difficulty or obtaining those avg MPD you're seeking for a UL hiker acclimatized and hitting the trail in earnest decently in hiking shape. I notice you make no time allowances for resupplying or taking any zeros. Hmm! Those factors obviously play into how much time you'll take on the CT and play into your targeted avg MD. Regardless of weather for the time you anticipate thru-hiking the CT(I'll let you research the historical CT weather for your time frame), IF you are a moderate paced hiker and aren't a gung ho night hiker(I am)you still need to start early(I like starting around 7 am) to keep up with your targeted avg MPD. I think it wise to start early just so that you have a bit of wiggle room built into your agenda.

I thued the CT in the Fall(mid/late Sept - mid Oct) also when the trail was less crowded and still felt it was CROWDED with mountain bikers in a few places(between Kenosha Pass and Breck, Monarch Crest near Salida, and in the last 20 miles or so near Durango). Personally, I would not want to be a CT thru-hiker doing those sections on weekends during summer. NO WAY! Just TOO MANY MBers! Hikers were few and far between during the fall 2012 too. Only places I came into contact with groups of hikers were near Mt Elbert and Mt Massive who were peakbagging. I had already thrued the CDT and since much of the CT shares the same tread I knew the route well, what to expect as far as terrain, and resupply options. I had no major issues with rain and lightning but did experience exposure in cold windy conditions(as low as 12* with 35-40 mph gusts) and some light snowfall(less than 4"). ZERO issues with insects. I did it in a flip flop fashion(SOBO from Salida/NOBO from Salida) in 19 days of hiking avg about 25-26 per day. I was not pushing the pace(MY PACE!) achieving these avg MPD. I also added on some miles by doing a couple of longer ridgeline alternates and summits. I'm an experienced avg pace hiker in decent shape but can hike LONG days 14-16 hrs /day consistently. I also don't mind night hiking and did some of this on the CT up until about 10-11 pm after getting late morning starts(8 am). I also will take several breaks of less than 30 mins throughout the hiking day. Hope this gives some additional perspective to the wise advice Cookerhiker and Mags already gave.

Thanks a lot for this in-depth explanation. Getting a lot of good advice here.

I don't tend to do zeros, as I would rather be on the trail than spend days in town. I'm thinking that I may take a zero in Breckenridge if my body is telling me to, but I'd rather not. My understanding is that Breck would be a good place to spend a day if necessary.

I tend to do resupplies by finishing up for the day late afternoon to early evening (5-7 usually), then spending the night in town and getting back on the trail early-ish the next morning. This can require a bit of advanced planning or longer days leading up to the day going into town. For this reason, I have a strong preference for easy hitches and/or near-trail towns. I tried to pick out easier ones in the itinerary above.

I actually don't mind having a good number of other hikers around. It's nice to have people to talk to at night, and people on the trail usually have better information about resupplies, trail difficulty, etc., than you can find anywhere else.

Is Salida fairly easy to get into? I wouldn't mind another stop between Breck and Silverton, but it looks like there's not much in the way of reasonable options that won't take hours to get in and out of.

[Dogwood]

For a quick down and dirty CT thru-hiker's guide check this yahoo's site out. http://www.pmags.com/colorado-trail-end-to-end-guide-2

This is Mag's CT info including info about resupplying and hitching. Well done, as all his trail beta is WITHOUT getting overly obsessed with the minute details. Yogi puts out a decent CT guide too. These folks are both experienced long distance hikers and understand what thru-hikers want so their materials concerning long trails is written from a thru-hiker perspective. There are a few resupply pts on trail or very close to the trail you might strongly consider in advance if you are on a planned tight schedule. Again, that info is in both these folk's guides. From near Monarch Pass hitching into Salida and back out to the CT isn't hard. It's well traveled and MANY CO natives are outdoorsy types so give rides to hitch hikers. BTW, there are other resupply options closer to the CT if coming off the trail near Monarch Pass. Look at both the guidebooks I mentioned. Mags CT info is free and available on line to print out if desired.

Personally, i cut out some pages from the CT Guidebook(which I didn't absolutely need). These pages contained elev profiles, history, trail description, and resupply pts. I probably did not need these pages although they helped, but were not absolutely needed, on a few occasions. I used all the Nat Geo Trails Illustrated maps which cover the CT in its entirety. i mailed about 3 of these maps at a time to my resupply pts with the cut out pages from the HEAVY CT guidebook. I went the whole way with the small and light wt CT DataBook. I took the maps and trail description pages because since I was thru-hiking the CT in the Fall when I could have gotten dumped on by more snow than I did I wanted to have lower elev alternates or escape routes if needed. That never happened. Again, I also did some off CT hiking on my CT thru-hike that these maps covered. Like Mags stated in his CT guide I also already had almost all the Nat Geo TI maps from previous hikes anyway so this map option worked for me.

[echoes]

Is Salida fairly easy to get into? I wouldn't mind another stop between Breck and Silverton, but it looks like there's not much in the way of reasonable options that won't take hours to get in and out of.

Salida is easy enough to get to and is an awesome town. Either there or Breck is a good place to take a zero. Great hostel and good restaurants in both towns.

Twin Lakes is only a mile off trail, but you would need to send a box there. Leadville is the other option, which is probably an easy hitch from Tennessee Pass, or you could yogi a ride pretty easily from Halfmoon trailhead.

If you hit San Luis Pass on a weekend you can probably get a ride into Creede, otherwise it might be hit or miss.

As for the rain, I started on June 30th a couple years ago and it rained all but a few days in the month it took me to get to Durango. Usually the rain was brief, but on several occasions I had to wait out some massive storms for 4-7 hours or so. I think 2011 had more rain than usual though.

[garlic08]

Is that true even in the first half of July? My impression from reading this and other forums is that the rains are biggest from mid-July to mid-August. I was trying to avoid that by starting a bit earlier. I was thinking of starting around June 20, which would get me off the trail around July 10.

I've experienced severe monsoon weather in the first week of July some years. Some days you get pinned down and get to rest a while, some days you don't.

Good luck on your trip.

[frogchop]

My only suggestion is to not do Breck as your town night. It's a time-suck town while the CT goes right through Copper Mountain, has a large convenience store right on the trail, and the B-Lift Pub for a good burger and beer. You can catch the free hourly shuttle into Frisco, which stops right behind the Walmart, Safeway and good outdoors outfitters store if you need a full resupply. I just see Breck as out of the way and too many distractions and time suck if you decide you don't need a full zero day, but rather just a nice hotel room and/or burger and bar.

You can obviously play this by ear, as the distance from the Gold Hill Trailhead to Copper is only 13.5 miles (I did it twice last summer). While it climbs a lot, there's only one 1 mile stretch I'd consider arduous (you'll know it when you see it, but it gets much better before the summit, so keep faith).

[fiddlehead]

1st half of July, you'll probably be slowed down somewhat by snow.
But your intentions are do-able.

I did it fast back in 2001 but after half-way, I took a break to let the snow melt and then came back and finished it right before the Leadville race in August.
Big difference between early July and August from what I saw.

Leadville would be my town choice for a zero although I have friends in Breck and Vail that would make it fun too.
Good luck and have fun.