{"id":339,"date":"2016-06-03T05:47:09","date_gmt":"2016-06-03T05:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/montybillpct.net\/blog2016\/?p=339"},"modified":"2017-05-29T14:34:08","modified_gmt":"2017-05-29T14:34:08","slug":"into-colorado","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montybillpct.net\/blog2016\/2016\/06\/03\/into-colorado\/","title":{"rendered":"Friday, June 3 Into Colorado! CHAMA"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"june-3-11\"SUMMARY:\u00a0 <\/strong>We started today at 10,800′,where winter is only reluctantly loosening is grip.\u00a0 The meadows are still brown, and were covered with frost–the many snowmelt puddles were iced over, and hooray–the muddy road was frozen!\u00a0 But before long, we were descending into spring–brilliant green grass, and creeks roaring with snowmelt.\u00a0 There was no “Welcome to Colorado” sign, but we made it to Cumbres Pass, hitched a ride to Chama, and now we are at Foster’s Hotel, built in 1881, and it is great!<\/p>\n

DETAILS:\u00a0 <\/strong>We were expecting a freezing cold night last night and had protected our gear, but turned out it was not too bad after all!\u00a0\u00a0But up here,\u00a0winter is only reluctantly losing its grip. The meadows are still brown, and only the tiniest bit of green is occasionally showing through the ice and snowmelt mud.\u00a0 We started hiking just before 6 am, and the sun was already well up (it’s June all right) and we had a clear view of the grand, snowy mountains up ahead.\u00a0 But Cerveza had told us that every day, hikers are leaving Chama and heading into the snow and making it through, so we intend to join them and give it our best shot.<\/p>\n

The further we walked, the colder it got.\u00a0 We could see our breath, and all of the brown meadows were covered with frost, while the snowmelt puddles were covered with ice.\u00a0 But hooray–that meant what would have been a muddy, slippery road was frozen solid and much easier to walk on. No more dealing with our shoes turning into mudballs!\u00a0 It was a rather barren world of brown, with only a few trees, but the views were amazing–not just the snow mountains up ahead, but the gorgeous green valleys down below.<\/p>\n

Finally the road took us down, down, down–into spring!\u00a0 Creeks were roaring with spring snowmelt, the wildflowers were carpets of color, and there were great, sweeping, intensely green meadows.\u00a0 There were no signs or any indication of where the New Mexico\/Colorado border was, but we figured we had crossed it and cheered a bit!\u00a0\u00a0 One state done, and four to\u00a0go!\u00a0 Actually, the area reminded us of the California\/Oregon border on the PCT–green meadows and trees.\u00a0\u00a0 We were glad to be on a road with bridges, though,\u00a0because the further down we got, the bigger the creeks and rivers were, to the point of unfordable.\u00a0 Finally we reached our first goal–the railroad tracks.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0info we had from reading hiker blogs plus the notes on our maps was “Follow the tracks to the train station at Cumbres Pass.”\u00a0 So we started to do that, and a little while later, along came the train!\u00a0 Wow, it was great– a real oldtime, coal-burning engine chuffing\u00a0clouds of black smoke! \u00a0We\u00a0moved over onto\u00a0the embankment to watch it go by, and had fun waving at the engineer and passengers.\u00a0\u00a0But it was still a long way to Cumbres Pass, so we finally sat down and ate the last scraps from our food bags and did a “garage sale” to air and dry our gear.\u00a0 ( We figured that it might be hard to do that in town, and we were right).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It was the first time in 2 days that we weren’t dealing with rain at lunchtime, and everything dried very quickly in the sun.\u00a0 Nice!<\/p>\n

But walking along the tracks was a bit of a pain, so we decided to scramble up and walk along the highway instead.\u00a0 Much easier going!\u00a0 When we reached the train station, we found Freebird sitting there having something to eat before he headed out, and he also confirmed that a number of hikers have made it through the snow to Pagosa Springs.\u00a0 He himself was geared up with snowshoes and ice axe.\u00a0 Ours are waiting for us in Chama!\u00a0 Poor Freebird, though–he said he got really sick and had to hitch into Chama from Hopewell Lake, then spend almost a week collapsed in bed.\u00a0 He’s feeling OK now, and is determined to carry on.<\/p>\n

We had no trouble at all hitching a ride into Chama, with a “gangbanger” guy and his girlfriend.\u00a0 He dropped us off at Fosters–Freebird said that was a good place to stay, very hiker-friendly.\u00a0 Yes, indeed!\u00a0 It’s an old hotel\/saloon, built in 1881, and still looks and feels like time has not changed it.\u00a0 We got a room upstairs, ate a big meal (we were ravenous) and then tackled “town chores.”\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Fixit went one way with our dirty clothes, headed for the laundromat, while I headed the other way to do the grocery shopping.\u00a0 It was a 1 1\/2 mile walk to the grocery store, but worth it–a great selection of food.\u00a0 What I have found about New Mexico stores is that they have LOTS of meat, at very reasonable prices, but not much by way of produce or fruit.\u00a0 Sort of the opposite of California!\u00a0 I was worried about slow going in the snow, so I got extra food just in case, and as I headed out, I was thinking, “I so do not want to WALK all the way back, carrying this stuff.”\u00a0 So I looked around the parking lot to see if I could hitch a ride with someone.<\/p>\n

I spotted a young guy putting bags of groceries into his pickup truck, so I walked up to him, explained who I was, and asked for a ride back to town.\u00a0 He very kindly said, “Sure, no problem” and made room for me.\u00a0 As we drove back, he\u00a0said he was the manager of a large ranch nearby, and that THIS week was elk calving season, so Fixit and I should soon be seeing a lot of baby elk!<\/p>\n

Back at Fosters, I spread all the food out on the bed, sorted it, and loaded our packs.\u00a0 Downstairs, things were getting pretty lively!\u00a0 The saloon\u00a0has a pool table, and there is always a game going on, plus the porch was full of jolly folks.\u00a0 We had another big meal (very good!) and then tried to do some phoning.\u00a0 No luck.\u00a0 The only place we could\u00a0get a signal was out in a parking lot, and even there, it was pretty weak.\u00a0 So we gave up, and wandered off to look at the Cumbres-Toltec railroad stuff.\u00a0 Very impressive!\u00a0 Many of the old buildings and the\u00a0equipment were in full working order, and well-cared for.\u00a0 There was a sign that said basically, “If you don’t want coal dust and cinders on your car, DON’T park anywhere near the railroad!”<\/p>\n

I love railroads, and I am so excited about riding the train back up to the pass tomorrow!\u00a0 We walked around a little bit more before going back to Fosters, and I really enjoyed the FLOWERS\u00a0 in the gardens.\u00a0 The lilacs and the poppies were in full bloom, so the air itself was scented with sweetness, and of course poppies always make things colorful!\u00a0\u00a0We climbed up the stairs to our room and collapsed.\u00a0Being on a bed again is so welcome, and it’s been a great day!<\/p>\n\n\t\t